Not that long ago I attended an excellent lecture by Loyola Maryland University Engineering professor Robert Bailey in which he laid out before the audience several key points about the emergence of 3D Printing Technologies:

History:

1986: Chuck Hull patents stereolithography

1988: SLA-1 system sold commercially

1990s: Z Corp unveils 3D Printing

2005: RepRap project in the U.K. receives press coverage

2009: MakerBot CNC is available as the first commercially available printer in kit form

2010 to present: 3D Printing takes off in popularity and in media coverage

Design Software:

Solid Works

Auto Desk

Inventor

Catia

Pro/Engineer

Printing Processes:

Stereolithography

Fused Deposition Modeling

Poly Jet 3D Printing

Selective Laser Sintering

Its Use by Engineering Students: The 3D Printing allows students to go beyond mere conceptualization of a prototype to actually building a prototype. This allows them to better assess the accuracy of their prototype as well as their understanding of the design.

Cost:

Hobbyist Level: $500-$1500

Enthusiast Level: $2000-$3000

Small Business: $5000-$15000 or more

(The three levels above assume that you use plastics for printing, if you use metal it is more expensive see below)

Print Metal: $100,000 or more

Costs for Plastics: Using Fused Deposition Modeling it costs $1.00 to $10.00 per cubic inch, using PolyJet it costs $5.00 to $20.00 per cubic inch

Currently economies of scale are such that the cost prohibits large scale manufacturing and only allows for creation of prototypes

Important Developments that can shape the future:

Note: Private Enterprise is leading the way with 3D Printing, but academia is quickly following

Columbia University Medical Center: Meniscus Regenerated with 3D Printed Implant

GE using 3D Printers to make parts

Contour Crafting: Using 3D Printers to build physical structures

Local Motors is using 3D Printers to build cars

Housing in China built with 3D Printers

Building structures with 3D Printing technology will prove complex as it raises questions as to structural integrity, leaking, and whether such structures can pass building codes

Bottom Line: This technology will revolutionize manufacturing, product design, and engineering instruction. Bailey foresees the technology taking off at the personal use level.

Continuing my trend of allowing a book to speak for itself instead of me presenting a formal book review, I am sharing my favorite quotes from Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek.

“When the people have to manage dangers from inside the organization, the organization itself becomes less able to face the dangers from the outside.” (p. 14)

“The strength and endurance of a company does not come from products or services but from how well their people pull together. By creating a Circle of Safety around the people in the organization, leadership reduces the threats people feel inside the group, which frees them up to focus more time and energy to protect the organization from the constant dangers outside and seize big opportunities. Without a Circle of Safety, people are forced to spend too much time and energy protecting themselves from each other.”(p. 22)

“We’re built to work together. We are, at a deeply ingrained and biological level, social machines. And when we work to help each other, our bodies reward us for our effort so that we will continue to do it.”(p. 36)

“The cost of leadership explains Lieutenant General George Flynn of the United States Marine Corps, is “self-interest.” We wouldn’t give them (leaders) all those perks for nothing. That wouldn’t be fair. This is the reason we are so offended by the exorbitant and disproportionate compensation of some of the leaders of the investment banks. If our leaders are to enjoy the trappings of their position in the hierarchy, then we expect them to offer us protection.”(p.65)

“We don’t just trust people to obey the rules, we also trust that they know when to break them.”(p.74)

“Trust is like lubrication. It reduces friction and creates conditions much more conducive to performance.”(p.77)

“When we divorce ourselves from humanity through numerical abstraction, we are, like Milgram’s volunteers, capable of inhuman behavior.”(p.101)

“The goal of the leader is to give no orders,” Captain Marquet explains. “Leaders are to provide direction and intent and allow others to figure out what to do and how to get there.”(p.146)

“Building trust requires nothing more than telling the truth.”(p. 154)

“Cooperation doesn’t mean agreement, it means working together to advance the greater good, to serve those who rely on our protection, not to rack up wins to serve the party or ourselves.”(p. 164)

“There’s a growing body of evidence that the companies that are most successful at maximizing shareholder value over time are those that aim toward goals other than maximizing shareholder value.” (p.171 Justin Fox and Jay Lorsch wrote this in Harvard Business Review in July-August 2012)

“Leadership is about taking responsibility for lives and not numbers. Managers look after our numbers and our results and leaders look after us. All managers of metrics have an opportunity to become leaders of people. Just as every doctor in our country learned the importance of sterilizing their instruments, so too must every leader of every organization do the little things necessary to protect their people.” (p.183)

“It is not the work we remember with fondness, but the camaraderie, how the group came together to get things done.” (p.208)

“Human beings have thrived for fifty thousand years not because we are driven to serve ourselves, but because we are inspired to serve others.” (p. 213)

Readers will also want to pay attention to Next Jump as Sinek points out its lifetime employment policy.

Which major company approved a $1.50 per hour wage increase in April 2009 during the heart of the recession? You’ll have to read the book to find out!

Ray Hennessey has a great article “Decisions, Decisions: What Separates Leaders From the Rest” in Entrepreneur Magazine. His use of the Teddy Roosevelt quote says it all.

To quote President Theodore Roosevelt: “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”

What is my most helpful insight from Hennessey’s article? “Just make a decision—unambiguously, and without shame or worry.”

If librarians come across patrons needing to find partners (technical or business) to build a business than librarians should be aware of these two sites which ate CoFoundersLab and founder2be.

What about patrons that just need technical cofounders or technical support?

Jason L. Baptiste (cofounder and CEO of Onswipe) in his book The Ultralight Startup noted the following ways to find tech cofounders on pages 84 and 85:

1) Follow Hacker News at news.ycombinator.com .

2) Look into local tech meetups at www.meetup.com

3) Talk to past or current coworkers who may be knowledgeable

4) Attend Hackathons, for more information see www.StartupDigest.com

5) Check out Startup Weekends at www.startupweekend.org

For other technical assistance, check out sites like the ones listed below:

Elance, odesk, and 99designs 

I recently learned from looking at Lynn Haller’s article in Entrepreneur Magazine  about the Chicago based organization called the 3D Printer Experience. Since the American Library Association is also based in Chicago and there is every reason to believe that 3D printing will play a role in the future of libraries, librarians should take notice of the 3D Printer Experience. They do every thing from manufacturing to design to educating to holding events. Their 3D Printing Happy Hour certainly caught my attention!

I love one of the lines in the mission statement, “The 3D Printer Experience exists to foster public awareness of new and emerging technologies, and to help navigate the boundless future.”

Librarians should take a look at the 3D Printer Experience Blog and see what founder Julie Friedman Steele has to say about the organization.

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As a graduate of the University of Maryland MLS (Master of Library Science) program I received and accepted an invitation to attend the 50^th Anniversary of the University’s information school known as the iSchool, which took place last Friday.

While there were tributes to past achievements this event was far from taking a mental trip down memory lane. The vast majority of time was spent focusing on the future and what the iSchool is doing to innovate.

Here are the program updates that caught my attention.

• The MLS program is going through a process of re-envisioning the role of the degree. Take a look at the events that have been ongoing. Congratulations to my MLS classmate Lindsay Sarin who co-authored an article about this with Dr. John Bertot. The article is featured in American Libraries. This is a three year process in which year one revolves around engagement, year two looks at redesign, and year three tackles implementation. I will be waiting to see what the redesign and implementation phases look at.

• The Curation and Management of Digital Assets (CMDA) Certificate is going to have its inaugural class taking their first courses this summer. This is an important specialization that information science professionals should be aware of as it represents the future of where the archives field is going. Recent articles on their fellowship program with the National Agricultural Library are here. The faculty leading this initiative are Dr. Michael Kurtz, Dr. Richard Marciano, and Dr. Ricardo Punzalan.

• Dr. Brian Butler gave a sterling presentation on the Master of Information Management degree. This degree is very valuable. It enables students to take courses in such areas as data analytics, user interface/user experience, organizational and process analysis, strategic management of information, and technology development/ deployment. Take a look at the list of employers that the program has sent its graduates to. These include PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Consulting, IBM , Microsoft, Accenture, and many others.

Anything else that I should mention?

1 ) A talk by Professor Jimmy Lin in which he noted his two year sabbatical working at Twitter piqued my interest. I also learned about Hadoop and Spark from his talk.

2) The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Reading Group being led by Dr. Ping Wang would be something I would look into if I was a current student. .

3) Dr. Jennifer Golbeck spoke about privacy issues and showcased the website, “Take This Lollipop”. I’m not enclosing a link here as the video presentation freaked me out. You can search for it yourself.

4) Not part of the iSchool presentation, but advertised as being on campus at the business school is the Pitch Dingman event. You can pitch an idea for a business there.

In closing the mantra at the iSchool was that students learn to ask, “Why not?” instead of accepting the status quo. I am excited to learn of their innovation and to see how the iSchool grows from here.

I should note that if anyone from UMD’s iSchool wants to share any or all of the presentation slides I’d be delighted to get a copy. Given time constraints I was not able to sit in on the talks on the Master of Human Computer Interaction and the PhD program.

Last week I had the opportunity to arrange for Library Journal columnist and Associate Temple University Librarian Steven Bell to speak to the Maryland library community in a webinar format. Steven will be giving a workshop at the Maryland Library Association’s May Conference on Remarkable Leadership. Click here for registration details.

It was wonderful to listen to Steven’s comments. Although time was limited you can see Steven’s responses to participants’ questions..Check out his comments on how he created a maker event at his library. Note the use of partnership and assistance from the engineering students on campus.

The articles Steven wrote which we discussed are listed below,Librarian’s will want to take a look at these to get a glimpse into where the discussion on leadership is going.

“Creativity and Failure Go Hand in Hand”
“Learning to be a Remarkable Leader”
“Learning from the World’s Greatest Leaders”
“Thinking Your Way to a More Leaderly Presence”
“Make It a Place They Want to Work”
“Sell Your Ideas Like A Shark Is Listening”
“What’s Your Personal Mission?”

I recently learned about Flipboard. This allows users to track the news stories that matter to them based on topic. If anyone wants to comment on their use of this site feel free to do so.

Last time I focused my discussion of the Knight News Challenge winners on how libraries connected with businesses, I would like to group all the winners into the following categories.If the organizations have a link to their own website promoting their ideas I include that along with the winning entry information on the Knight News Challenge website. Otherwise the link I include just links to the winning entry information on the Knight News Challenge website.

Global Information Access:

• Library for All: The goal, “Library for All transforms access to knowledge by delivering relevant educational resources through a scalable digital library platform designed for low-bandwidth communities.” Winning Entry Information
•  Building Libraries Together: This is affiliated with the Internet Archives. The goal, “Give global communities the tools they need to save, manage and share their cultural treasures forever for free.”

Digital Preservation:

• Journalism Digital News Archives: The Journalism Digital News Archive “saves our history + heritage by preserving the nation’s born-digital news content.” Winning Entry Information

Wifi Access:

• The Libraries WhiteSpace Pilot “invites innovative, experimentally minded libraries/librarians to lead a 50-state national exploration in the use of these newly available, open shared public airwaves to geographically expand the library’s reach and furthering its mission to provide self-guided &/or assisted access to the world’s information.” Winning Entry Information

Privacy Issues:

• The Library Freedom Project “teaches librarians about privacy rights, law, and tech tools to protect patrons from dragnet surveillance.” Winning Entry Information
• @sanjoselibrary “promotes intellectual freedom and participation in the digital world through privacy literacy education.” San Jose Public Library is leading this.

E books:

• GITenberg: “Help libraries use and maintain Project Gutenberg public domain ebooks to serve their communities… with GitHub!”

Independent Video Games:

• “Establish a model digital aggregator that streams indie games (open or subscribed) to libraries & enable communities to engage in game creation.” Winning Entry Information

Patron Assistance:

BklynShare: Check out an Expert & Borrow a Skill! A new approach to knowledge sharing. ] The Brooklyn Public Library is leading this.

Your Next Skill:  The Seattle Public Library is “strengthening the community through a personalized service delivered by public librarians to help people acquire new knowledge and skills tailored to their individual goals and learning styles.”

The Community Resource Lab: Libraries Linking People to Vital Social Services. The DC Public Library is taking the lead on this project.

Maker Tools:

Make It @ Your Library: “We will share DIY, tech, and maker tools – like the kid-friendly circuit building littleBits, 3D printers, open-source electronic programming Arduino kits, easily programmable Finch Robots, and Dremel hand-held tools – with libraries through existing book sharing and delivery systems.” Winning Entry Information

Make the Things that Measure the Future: Libraries & Open Hardware “Develop, deploy, and train librarians to create and use open hardware devices that let libraries more effectively and efficiently serve their communities.”

Innovative Use of Library Space or Promotion of Library Space:

Book a Nook: Activating library workspaces through an open API

Activating the public library as a physical infrastructure for online learning:”We organize face-to-face study groups in local libraries to help first-time online learners successfully take online courses.”

Making the Invisible Visible: “a digital overlay on the in-library visit that combines mobile technology with location based sensors to reveal the full riches of the public library to our communities … in the palms of their hands.”

Promoting Electronic Access to Government and Civic Historic Information:

Culture In Transit: Digitizing and Democratizing Metropolitan New York’s Cultural Heritage. A project of Metropolitan New York Library Council ( METRO), Empire State Digital Network ( ESDN), Brooklyn Public Library, and Queens Library/ Queens Memory.

NYC Space/Time Directory: Libraries and Communities Working Together to Build Open Historical Data and Tools for Urban Time Travel. The New York Public library heads this up.

This Place Matters: Using Mobile Technology to Leverage the Resources of Libraries and Share the Stories of African Americans in Central Appalachia

Boston’s Open Data Project: The city of Boston seeks to “turn the City’s Open Data collection into a true knowledge resource by working with libraries in our community to catalog the information and provide essential context to citizens and researchers.”

Engaging the Business Community:

101: Coworking at the Public Library:The Miami Dade Public Library is using space as a valuable resource to provide “freelancers, entrepreneurs and innovators a physical place to do collaborative and creative work. These coworking spaces include conference rooms, high-speed Wi-Fi, electronic white boards, virtual conference rooms, and computers and laptops.”

Kent State University Library operates NE Ohio Regional Business Information Bureau:In this proposal Kent State, “would like to establish a Regional Business Information Bureau that could provide quality information to entrepreneurs and small business owners who could not otherwise afford access to these resources. Clients could contact the Bureau directly or be referred by public libraries, Chambers of Commerce and economic development agencies. Research consultations would be conducted by appointment in the bureau, e-mail, Skype or any relevant technology. This Bureau would also deliver various group seminars on Finance, Marketing or Information literacy concepts that would be taught by College of Business and Library faculty. Eventually, these seminars could be adapted for online tutorials.”

I like so many of the finalists of the Knight News Challenge for Libraries. Since I gear a lot of my blogging to the intersection of libraries and business, I’ll start there. So what winning entries from the Knight News Challenge for Libraries stood out for me in terms of library outreach to startup businesses and entrepreneurs?

101: Coworking at the Public Library. The Miami Dade Public Library is using space as a valuable resource to provide “freelancers, entrepreneurs and innovators a physical place to do collaborative and creative work. These coworking spaces include conference rooms, high-speed Wi-Fi, electronic white boards, virtual conference rooms, and computers and laptops.” This is a great idea. It asks the question, what can the library do to help a growing segment of the country’s economic engine and then provides a response using library space. I can’t wait to see how this evolves with Knight News funding.

Kent State University Library operates NE Ohio Regional Business Information Bureau. In this proposal Kent State, “would like to establish a Regional Business Information Bureau that could provide quality information to entrepreneurs and small business owners who could not otherwise afford access to these resources. Clients could contact the Bureau directly or be referred by public libraries, Chambers of Commerce and economic development agencies. Research consultations would be conducted by appointment in the bureau, e-mail, Skype or any relevant technology. This Bureau would also deliver various group seminars on Finance, Marketing or Information literacy concepts that would be taught by College of Business and Library faculty. Eventually, these seminars could be adapted for online tutorials.” A fantastic idea! What Miami-Dade accomplishes with space Kent State accomplishes with information provision and research consultation. Take a look at Kent State’s team. They built a relationship with their College of Business Administration and their lead librarian has an MBA. I’ll be on the lookout for updates on this venture.

Congratulations to Miami Dade Public Library and Kent State University!