Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Make Good Things | Make Things Good - Our Library rules for 3D Printing

Make Good Things

Make Things Good


Our library service has purchased a 3D printer and we're in the process of making it available to our community. We need some sort of rules / guidelines / policy / procedure to ensure the service is used safely and equitably. 

I've always been inspired by these kind of 'rules', which got a lot of press about 5 years ago. It looks like they originally came from the Library Loft teen space at the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County;

 “Respect yourself, respect others, respect the space.” 

They've been repeated and adapted for many other similar spaces since. 

The rules are short and simple, but pack a punch when it comes to being able to manage a space/service in a flexible, kind and equal manner.

With this in mind, I've proposed the following rules for our 3D printing service.


Make Good Things
Make Things Good


What do you think these mean? Please comment below.

My unpacking of these rules are along these lines:
Make Good Things
  • this is about making designs, objects and things that are useful, constructive, helpful, creative, beneficial and rewarding. 
  • it indicates a discouragement to make things that could harm - both physical harm and emotional / intellectual harm
Make Things Good
  • this has two meanings
  • to 'make good' is to fix things up, to repair things, to adapt and change them so that they work better than before. 
  • as well as fixing physical objects, it's about fixing the designs and ideas behind objects to improve on them
  • the second meaning is reference to making things in a quality manner - spending time doing a quality job, taking some pride in the work that you do
Keen to hear your thoughts and any changes or adaptations you might make to these rules.