3-D printing: Public libraries’ latest step into the digital world

You never know when you’ll need a 3-D printer.

They can cost anywhere from $400 to $25,000, which is a bit much if you’re trying to “print� (somehow, that seems like the wrong verb) a plastic cookie-cutter you’ve downloaded off the Internet or a kids’ toy, two popular uses.

But if you live in Washington, D.C., or Cleveland, you can stop by your local public library and use one for a small fee.

Public libraries have been trying to find all sorts of ways to stay “relevant� in the modern, digital age. (This blogger thinks that providing access to the two millenniums of human knowledge stored in that archaic information system called “the printed book� will always keep them relevant, but I digress). Washington has launched a Digital Commons at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, which also boasts a Skype station and an Espresso Book Machine that allows patrons to self-publish their books, according to the website Mashable.

Now 3-D printing is the “rock star� of the Digitial Commons, manager Nicholas Kerelchuck told the Washington Post. Kerelechuck told the Post that using the printer (it requires a bit of training, which the library offers), is helping patrons expand their minds.

“They’re learning math skills, engineering skill, hard science skills,� he said. “This is future job experience. I think that in 10 years if someone has experience using a 3-D printer, they are far ahead of the curve.�

There’s a $1 base fee to use the printer, plug 5 cents per gram (about the weight of a dollar bill) for whatever you print, Mashable says.

Over in Cleveland, the 3-D printer is part of a public library initiative called the TechToyBox.

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