Making Connections: Planning the future of Library Makers
The recent Library Makers (LM) leadership retreat, held at the Pikes Peak Library District’s flagship 21st Century Library in Colorado Springs on September 19 & 20, 2025, marked an important moment in the community’s continued evolution. Bringing together members of the LM leadership team, the meeting combined experiential learning, strategic planning, and collective visioning to explore and support the long-term sustainability of the Library Makers community. This meeting marked the first time in LM’s existence that project leadership were able to meet face-to-face. Fittingly, Pikes Peak Library was one of LM’s charter members and contributed to the community’s inception.
The time spent in Colorado with the Leadership Team was invaluable. We really got to know one another better and worked as a team to get so much done in a short amount of time. Having this opportunity to strategize and plan together will benefit this community in the year to come. — Pam Van Halsema, Chair of LM Community Building Committee
Retreat goals
The meeting, which was funded through grant support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) had three primary goals:
- Further efforts on a sustainability plan and continuous cycle of leadership
- Share a common understanding and broaden perspectives about shared Problems of Practice that all library makers face
- Determine the best ways to provide professional development and cultivate an inclusive and supportive professional learning community
Gaining inspiration from other makerspaces
The LM retreat began with an opportunity for early arrivals to explore a local makerspace, providing a firsthand look at the breadth and creativity of making in the broader community, from ceramics and textiles to digital design and material reuse. This visit set the tone for the day: expansive thinking, curiosity, and appreciation for the diverse practices and environments that shape the library maker movement.
The group then convened at the Pikes Peak Library’s central branch, an extraordinary facility whose entire second floor has been transformed into a sprawling, highly visible makerspace. Because the building’s structure cannot support book stacks on the upper level, the library has instead devoted the space to a dynamic mix of crafting, digital fabrication, sewing, recording, and creative studios. Leadership team members toured the spaces, noting the intentional use of glass walls for transparency, the range of specialized rooms, and the rich signage that supports both wayfinding and program identity. Especially striking to attendees was the professional-grade sound and video production studio, an unexpected asset resulting from the building’s former use as a community television center and a commercial kitchen that now hosts workforce development programs in culinary skills. Throughout the tour, attendees photographed equipment, signage, display cases, and class examples, contributing to a shared documentation archive that may inform future programming and outreach.
Working Session
Following the tour, the leadership team undertook an extended working session that blended reflection on past work with forward-facing planning. As the Library Makers community’s work is rooted in making connections with people, getting to know them as well as their interests and their skills, the retreat opened with a reflective drawing exercise to build interpersonal connection and learn each other’s strengths within the group.
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A major focus of the planning session was LM’s long-term financial sustainability. While the current IMLS grant has provided a crucial foundation, the group acknowledged the need to secure new funding pathways once the grant period ends. Several strategies emerged: hosting a fee-based virtual conference in early 2027, exploring grant opportunities beyond IMLS, assessing the suitability of alternative fiscal sponsors, and launching a targeted donation drive through platforms such as GoFundMe or Kickstarter. Additional possibilities, including paid professional development offerings and fee-based programs hosted on Mighty Networks (where the LM community is hosted), were also under consideration. Participants acknowledged that while none of these initiatives alone could indefinitely sustain operations, in sum they represented a diversified approach to stabilizing LM beyond the grant period.
The discussion then turned to membership growth and community engagement, with particular attention to supporting rural, small, and tribal libraries. Leadership team members reaffirmed that creating a welcoming, inclusive, and valuable member experience on Mighty Networks across diverse library environments remains central to the organization’s identity. A consultant specializing in Mighty Networks has been contracted for a six-month period beginning in December 2025. She will guide the team through platform optimization, user experience improvements, and strategies to foster greater engagement and retention. The group anticipates that these improvements, combined with ongoing outreach at conferences and community events, will continue to expand the reach and relevance of Library Makers.
Leadership transition and sustainability also emerged as a key theme. The team reflected on the need to make leadership roles more accessible and appealing to members, reinforcing the idea that stepping into leadership is not only feasible but professionally beneficial. To reduce barriers, the organization recently revised its bylaws so that committee positions no longer require elections, only positions on the leadership team do. This shift allows for more flexible recruitment and onboarding, echoed in the plan to conduct recruitment pushes twice a year. Notably, LM’s Events Committee is currently understaffed, and targeted recruitment will be necessary to support the organization’s growing programming demands.
Problems of Practice
One of the most significant outcomes of the retreat was the continued discussion and refinement of Problems of Practice, a major initiative that will mobilize the membership to collectively identify, document, and share practical strategies for addressing five central challenges facing library makerspaces.
Each challenge will be led by “champions” from the leadership team, who will coordinate research, solicit contributions, and facilitate discussions. LM will be inviting members to join this short term initiative as ‘Solution Partners’ to help to discover creative ways that libraries, large and small, across urban and rural communities, are addressing these challenges.
Meeting in person as the Leadership Team for Library Makers had a profound effect on how members will continue to meet and communicate as leaders of the LM making community. We were able to share making stories of our own, often leading to rich discussion about the importance of the maker movement in libraries and other organizations. — Cindi Place, Chair of LM Leadership Team
The Problems of Practice project will unfold across several phases over the next couple of years: a December launch event, a series of virtual roundtable discussions in January, extensive synthesis and case study development in the spring of 2026, and a culminating professional development offering in the summer of 2027. Ultimately, the goal will be to produce a set of publications designed to support practitioners, inform the field, and strengthen the visibility of Library Makers as a national resource. LM is currently working with the National Library Makerspace Forum Project to collectively explore issues related to Problems of Practice.
Next steps
As the meeting drew to a close, committee members were encouraged to continue sharing updates about their work. Recent conference presentations by several members, as well as upcoming outreach events, including a tabling opportunity at a Nebraska maker-focused conference, underscore the organization’s growing visibility and momentum.
Taken together, the retreat offered a rare and meaningful opportunity for the leadership team to step out of day-to-day operations and engage deeply with the strategic, financial, and community-centered dimensions of Library Makers’ future. According to one of the attendees:
This retreat marked a turning point for Library Makers. By combining experiential learning with intentional planning, we left Colorado with clarity, momentum, and a shared commitment to building a resilient and inclusive maker community. — Natasha Payne-Brunson, Vice Chair of LM Leadership Team
The combination of immersive learning, collaborative planning, and structured goal-setting has positioned the organization to enter its next phase with renewed clarity and purpose. Enthusiasm generated from this gathering illustrates the commitment and dedication of LM members, and the tremendous growth and progress that this community has developed over the past few years. The work ahead is substantial, but the retreat reaffirmed the collective creativity, dedication, and leadership capacity that continue to propel Library Makers forward.
Other blog articles about Library Makers
For more information on the history and evolution of Library Makers, you can refer to two earlier blog articles in this series: The Changing Roles of Makerspaces and Libraries: Making of a National Library Maker Collective, and The Maturation and Growth of Library Makers: A National Community of Practice
