The 3-D printing lab in the Knowledge Commons’ new Maker Commons will enable students and faculty University-wide and from all disciplines to send 3-D print files from their location. Successfully printed items will be mailed for pickup to the main desk at the requestor’s campus library.

The new 3-D printing lab in the Libraries’ Knowledge Commons began operations with a soft opening earlier this semester. On Thursday afternoon, March 24, an open house and 3 p.m. ribbon cutting event with Provost Nick Jones will officially recognize it as open for University-wide innovation.

The lab, called the Maker Commons, gives Penn State students and faculty at all campuses the opportunity to dream up, design and print almost anything. It houses a MakerBot Innovation Center that features 32 MakerBot 3-D printers, and its consultants are available to answer questions and help with projects.

Although the lab housing the printers is in Pattee Library’s Knowledge Commons, students and faculty at all Penn State campus locations can access the printers. They can upload their designs remotely at makercommons.psu.edu, and each will be added to the queue of projects waiting to be printed. When a print request is complete, it will be sent via the same delivery system used for interlibrary loan requests, and can be picked up at the appropriate campus library’s main desk, such as Pattee Library’s Commons Services desk at University Park.

Also included in the Maker Commons is the new Invention Studio, which offers littleBits, easy-to-use electronic building blocks, for prototyping devices.

The Maker Commons is the latest partnership between the University Libraries and Penn State’s Education Technology Services, which also developed and brought the Media Commons and One Button Studio to the Knowledge Commons.