MARYSVILLE — The Marysville Library will be celebrating its new Creative Commons during the “TECHcitement” event on Saturday, Nov. 2, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., but Managing Librarian Eric Spencer and Assistant Managing Librarian Jill Wubbenhorst reported that the Creative Commons area and tools are already seeing heavy use from Marysville Library patrons now, even though not all of the Creative Commons’ services are fully operational just yet.
“We have yet to install the media transfer and reproduction equipment, to record VHS onto DVD, and photos onto CDs, but that’s coming soon,” Spencer said.
“We’ll also be able to digitize LP records,” Wubbenhorst said.
“And we’ll do it for free,” Spencer said. “I’m not sure that service even exists anywhere else, beyond a few businesses.”
Spencer agreed with Wubbenhorst that the Creative Commons’ features will be as useful to entrepreneurs and small businesses as to community groups and nonprofit organizations.
“We’ve already got two iMacs, loaded with Adobe Creative Suite 6,” Spencer said. “There’s not a lot of places where you can access that full suite for free.”
“We’ll also have a Bamboo drawing tablet and pen,” Wubbenhorst said. “In the meantime, our customers began using the Creative Commons space immediately. We didn’t even need to tell them what it was for. They’ve filled in that space with youth tutoring sessions and study halls for college classes. One person had even used the whiteboards to outline her entire paper, like a brainstorming tool.”
The Creative Commons will ultimately include not only document and photo scanners, but also digital media production tools such as a green screen, a lighting kit and video equipment, in addition to the whiteboards and other furniture that can be rearranged to suit customers’ needs.
“You can edit movies and create graphics here, or lead training sessions and small group collaborative projects with the interactive Smart Boards,” Spencer said. “Through demographic surveys, we’ve determined that certain pockets of the county have higher demands for different types of services, and the Marysville population is desirous of technology services with practical applications to their lives.”
According to Spencer, not only can the lightweight chairs and tables — the latter of which feature their own built-in power outlets — be rearranged in conjunction with the whiteboards to create relatively private spaces within the otherwise mostly open Creative Commons, but the space is also ideal for group presentations on subjects such as the Affordable Care Act.
“The library is a perfect place to help people navigate through e-government,” Spencer said. “A lot of times, you need a personal email account to access certain services, and we can help you set one up right here.”
Wubbenhorst added that, later in the year, the Creative Commons is slated to host classes on reading eBooks with eReaders, tablets and other such devices.
“In November, a local writer will even drop in for a session on NaNoWriMo,” Wubbenhorst said, referring to the common abbreviation for National Novel Writing Month. “While meeting rooms are behind closed doors, this is more of a sharing space.”
Looking ahead to earlier that same month, Spencer encouraged the surrounding community to check out “TECHcitement” on Nov. 2, whose attractions will range from interactive engineering exhibits from the Pacific Science Center, and Lego animation demonstrations, to Goodwill presentations on online job searching, and tips from the Sno-Isle Libraries on whether to repair or replace unreliable appliances.
For more information about “TECHcitement,” log onto www.sno-isle.org/explore/techcitement.
