3D Printing in an Academic
Library – One Year Later
Marc Comeau & Michael Groenendyk
3D Printing?
Is This The Future of 3D Printing?
Images: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IPhone_%28962904388%29.jpg, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Diapergenie.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NN-K125MBGPG_Grill-Mikrowelle_silber_Panasonic.gif, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wifi.svg
Or Is This?
Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Curtiss_Autoplane_1917.jpg
Should we be doing this?
Mission scope-creep?
 Novelty? Printing trinkets?
 Do people know how to use it?
 Too early to adopt?
 Could be very influential technology?
 Bring relevant tools to patrons?
 Inspiring new forms of content creation?

Why would we put a 3D Printer in
a Library?
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Importance of 3D visualization in our
culture
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Object designs
Video games, movies
Medical imaging
Mining, gas
Printer reduces barriers of bringing
digital objects into reality
 Bridge digital divide around this
technology

Will it work? Let’s Find Out!
Difficult to predict, so we’re not going to
try
 Low cost overhead + free labour
 Had a good fit for deployment
 Dive in headfirst and see if there’s water

Developing a 3D Printing Service

Research began January 2012
◦ Health and safety
◦ One of the first services of this kind
◦ Difficulty in finding relevant information
Bought a Makerbot Replicator
 Hurry up and wait (for delivery)
 Troubleshooting and testing
 Deployment to Help Desk in Killam
Learning Commons in June

Initial User Base

Launch happened during summer
◦ Different campus environment

Use by engineering and architecture
students
◦ Engineering graduate students and their thesis
projects
◦ Faculty of Architecture professor involvement
◦ Unexpected
Initial Reaction
First time seeing 3D printing in a library
 Accessibility of the printer appreciated
 Cost was also well received

◦ $1 per hour
Lots of questions
 Difficulty in bridging the gap between
questions and use

Promoting the Service
On campus promotions
 CBC interviews
 Presentations to various faculties
 Presentation at NSCAD
 Directly engaging students

Fall 2012 Semester
User base continued growing
 Much higher usage from computer
science students
 Usage from NSCC and NSCAD
 Still hard to attract students from other
faculties

Change in User Base in Winter
Steady use through Winter 2013
semester
 Increasingly used for school related
projects
 Stronger interest from science
departments like biology and chemistry
 Many questions

Change In The Broader Landscape
While our own service grew and changed,
so did everything else
 Devices
 Service offerings
 Users

Growing Popularity of 3D Printers
in Libraries
Last summer only a handful of libraries
offered 3D printing
 Now there are close to 50 libraries
 Majority in United States (38 total)
 Public libraries are the most common
providers

◦ 74% public libraries, 22% academic, 4% school
Expanding 3D Printing Industry
Investment into 3D printing start-ups
 Cheaper 3D printers – Solidoodle
 Next generation Makerbot: Replicator 2

◦ Optimized for PLA

Cube 3D printers now sold in Staples
Wider Selection
Growing variety of 3D printers to choose
from
 $500 - $5000 range
 Different printing materials

3D Printers Popular in Libraries
Replicator 2
 Solid Doodle 2
 RepRap and similar kits

◦ Mendel, Prusa, Ditto
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Stratasys
Ways Libraries Are Offering 3D
Printing

Consultation basis for many academic
libraries
◦ Little to no web presence
Demonstrations or demo sessions
 Tutorials for simple designs
 Rent the 3D printer itself

◦ Charge for plastic used
Adapting our own Service
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Purchase of two MakerBot Replicator 2s,
two more coming.
PLA plastic source in Montreal
Wider variety of materials
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Transparent
Glow-in the dark
Nylon *
Wood *
Improvement in quality and consistency of
pieces we can produce
Migrating to Replicator 2
Optimized for PLA
 Building board does not heat
 Importance of properly aligning platform
each build
 Replicator 2 build quality problems
 Difficulty in using closed source
MakerWare software
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Process Overview
Some changes in submission system
 Migration into ticket system
 Added documentation
 Plastic feeding modifications
 Benefit of being able to print multiple jobs
 Faster print times

Problems and Attempted Solutions
by Libraries
Hardware maintenance and software
learning curves
 Makerspace environments
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◦ Outside experts inside libraries
◦ Librarians attending makerspace events
Classes in 3D design
 Time set aside for librarian/student
consultations
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Monthly Users and Submissions
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Users
Submissions
New vs Repeat Users
20
18
16
14
12
10
Unique Users
8
6
4
2
0
Repeat Users
Users by Faculty
27%
34%
Engineering
Architecture
Computer Science
Other
27%
12%
User Created vs Download Models
50
45
40
35
30
Created
25
Downloaded
20
15
10
5
0
June
July
August
September October November December
January
February
March
April
Student vs Faculty Usage
98% student users
 Very few faculty users
 Faculty interest in engineering, computer
science and architecture
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◦ Links between this and developing user base
Engineering Projects
RC Cars
 Robotics parts
 Test gears and motors
 Early stage prototypes
 Rings, necklaces, etc.

Bio-Medical Engineering
Conversions of 3D models
 Visualization of human organs
 Early stage prototypes of new tools and
products

Computer Science Students
Arduino chip cases
 Robotics parts / gears
 Lots of experimenting
 Largely submissions of non-academic
designs

Architecture Students
Building models
 Self-designed
 Segments of cities
 GIS data conversion
 Google Earth

Local Business Users
Dental molds
 Product prototypes

◦ Hockey skates
◦ Toys
Building models
 GIS data visualization

Models from the 3D Model
Repository
Dalhousie Crest
 Dalhousie Engineering Logos
 Thomas McCulloch Museum
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It’s Been A Great Start
139 users, 271 model submissions
 Ongoing interest
 Including from a number of other libraries
 Service has matured
 Built local capacity
 Many challenges remain

How to Teach 3D Modelling
Lots of questions around how to create
models
 Or how to create printable models
 Open source software made available to
students
 Instructions on how to do this explained
at the Killam IT Help Desk

Current Plans
Continued promotion
 Continue to develop relationships with
existing users, especially non-traditional
 Offer basic 3D design tutorial used in
training
 Expansion to other libraries (and more)
 Load sharing amongst sites

Developing Ideas
Partnering with C@P sites to train and
collaborate on new deployments
 16 new printers going to all parts of Nova
Scotia
 Combined, 20 deployed available to the
public by the fall
 Three full-day training sessions
 Mailing list, shared knowledge base and
more

Develop a Makerspace?

Makerspace: essentially a community
space for making things
◦ Commonly see open source hardware and
software projects
◦ Arduino, Raspberry Pi, robotics
Difficulty in bringing larger, noisier
makerspace tools into a library setting
 The makers are already there, a 3D
printer will reveal them quickly

Should we be doing this?
A good amount of downloaded “trinkets”
 Operating a 3D printer is difficult due to
early adoption
 No inroads with faculty yet
 Expectations. People want a perfect
model
 Time intensive

Should we be doing this?
Students are using it, Students are
creating
 We were too early and it was awesome!
 Different disciplines are using it
 Building an awareness
 Building a literacy in emerging technology
 We’re growing, demand is increasing

Should WE be doing this?
YES!
Should YOU be doing this?
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It depends
Requires capacity, time, effort
If you build it, some will come, some won’t
Promotion will be needed, connecting the
dots for patrons
Technology is evolving, not evolved
Cost is reasonable
New kind of engagement
It’s awesome!
Questions?