A session for teacher-librarians in Prince George will focus on using school facilities as creative spaces for learning.
"Makerspace is not about just consumption of information in libraries," said Heather Daly, president of teacher librarian association, who is in town for Monday's session.
"This is about creation. You're now an author and creator in your own right. You have book publishing, Lego, robotics, a sewing machine and 3-D printers."
It's been more than 10 years since the last time the provincial organization held a session in Prince George, which is part of professional development.
Daly said School District 57 is one of the more progressive regions for valuing this kind of work.
"They've traditionally really valued their teacher-librarians. They're one of two districts in north that really have a significant number," she said. "That's always been a part of the culture here with the District Learning Commons and a only a few of those remain in the province."
Five local presenters will discuss what they've been doing in their schools during the all-day session at Two Rivers Art Gallery's MakerLab.
"Makerspace is something that School District 57 is really working hard on, the vice-principal learning commons, they've had a makerspace learning team," said Daly, a Coquitlam-based educator who has been teaching for 15 years. The key is also sharing how to get started, that teachers don't necessarily need expensive tools to get creative.
Now that libraries are more flexible, they can act as a catch-all learning location depending on the needs of the school.
"They could be doing broadcast or radio in our spaces," she said, adding the session encourages rethinking library spaces, " how we could use this, and what do people want to use them for, whether it's digital, whether it's creation, we're there for whomever and whatever.
"Reading is a foundation, aspects of digital and technology, like digital citizenship, safety online, information evaluation, finding it, figuring out is it right for me for my information need."
Easy access to information online also creates the need for a new kind of literacy, she said.
"There's almost more of a need to evaluate what's out there," she said. "Evaluation skills, students need to have.
"It's a critical literacy skill."
