Library 21C in Colorado Springs
Becca and I were lucky enough to get to go see the new Library in Colorado Springs before it opens this weekend (June 21st). We saw a lot of incredible things. The new library takes up a huge space in an old MCI building at 1175 Chapel Hills Dr. in Colorado Springs. It’s just up the hill from the Chapel Hills Mall and Wal-Mart on North Academy.
We enjoyed the appetizers of course, but mostly we were there to see the technology and the community meeting spaces. There is a decent sized Maker Space containing three different 3D printers, a 3D scanner, a laser etcher, and a CNC routing table. This idea is huge, this technology represents a glimpse into the future of so many industries. At your public library you can now submit any project to be printed, and the only cost is for the raw weight of plastic that your design uses. (Prices to be determined still). This shows that the Pikes Peak Library District understands their future as an enabler for the information technology infrastructure for people that otherwise don’t have access.
There was also a decent start on a Video Production studio. They had a nice HD camera and a green screen and lights. There were 2 PC video editing stations as well as 1 iMac editing station. All in all a nice place to do some video projects. They say the video studio has a long ways to go.
Also on the top floor of the building is a couple of computer laps for teenagers to design and build video games. They had nice Alienware PC’s with several games as well as dev tools, Unity and ZBrush installed. Pretty cool. Lot’s of teenagers get into programming because they wanted to build their own video games.
The co-working area is on the south side of the second floor, it is pretty nice, I think they found a good balance between open and private. And, there is a wealth of conference rooms to be had in this building. There were probably 8 different rooms that I saw. All in all this felt more like a student union from college, or a big university library than it did a community library. Colorado Springs is blessed to have this kind of infrastructure in place for creative and technical people. I feel so happy that I have an option for going somewhere to make things since I don’t have space for a workshop at home. And I can see Becca and Simon coming here to spend an afternoon a lot. There is so much to do and the views are really nice.
I really really believe in this kind of effort in our community. This new facility could possibly make the Library relevant again to a whole bunch of people that would otherwise never step inside one. You did an incredible job, PPLD. Thank you!