DC’s MLK Library is ‘not your mom’s library anymore’

Need to get some 3D printing done, catch a coding class or find free space for your burgeoning business? Try D.C.’s central library.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library is “not your mom’s library anymore,” said Digital Commons manager Nicholas Kerelchuk. “We see it as a full-service, one-stop shop for the entrepreneur in everybody.”
For Kerelchuk, who gave a talk on “Coworking, Collaborating, Creating at Your Library” at this year’s SXSW festival, libraries have a duty to be forward-looking.
They “have always been more cutting edge than people give us credit for,” he said. For example, he noted that they were a reliable source of internet in the 1990s — before computers moved into our homes, bedrooms and backpacks.
“Maybe one day, everyone might have 3D printing in their house,” said Kerelchuk. Until then, he said, “We allow that level playing field.”
On a recent tour of the D.C. Public Library’s central branch, Technical.ly DC found much more than dusty books:

• The Digital Commons, a $3.4 million wing opened in July 2013, is 12,000 square feet full of 50 Dell and 16 Mac computers, including “creative stations” with professional software like Adobe Creative Suite. It regular classes for coding, software and creative advice.
• 3D printing and scanning: the library will print your orders on demand ($5 for scans and $1 + 5 cents per gram for prints) — within certain constraints: no organic materials, please. MLK Library is equipped with eight 3D printers: three MakerBot 5th Gen, three MakerBot Replicator 2, a 3D Systems Cube X and a Makerbot Z18; plus a Next Engine 3D Scanner.
• Dream Lab Initiative is a free coworking space during the library’s hours of operation that hosts about 60 small businesses.
• Espresso Book Machine: the library is considering using the insta-paperback printer to restock its inventory of classics that are in the public domain. “Why aren’t we printing them in-house and using this as a self-feeding machine?” Kerelchuk pondered.

Also, in the spring, the library will be opening two new spaces:

• A 900-square-foot “fabrication lab” that will include more 3D printers, as well as CNC machines, which use deductive manufacturing for higher precision.
• A 1,000-square-foot AV studio, which will include:
  1. A digital production studio for electronic music and other sounds
  2. A voice-over studio
  3. A master control room and studio (with a green screen, ceiling lights, etc.) for full live bands, short films or stop-motion animation.

The construction and equipment for these additions will cost $300,000, a library spokesman said.
The MLK Library will also temporarily relocate in 2018 for remodeling and a fifth floor addition, to be financed by $208 million in scheduled funding from the District.