Fostering Innovation in the Library\u27s Experiential Studio

The paper focuses on the Harold B. Lee Library’s Experiential Studio, which is an interdisciplinary design space where students, faculty, and librarians from multiple colleges and departments can work together on solving compelling social problems. Many courses taught in the studio have employed design thinking processes to foster innovation and the studio itself is a product of design thinking with the most recent iteration having opened in January 2020. Some courses taught in the space since its inception in 2014 have been community collaborations—some local, some national, and some international. A local collaboration included working with the Lee Library to redesign its study carrels. Nationally, students collaborated with University of Maryland students and with aerospace engineers at the United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on the development of an alternate reality game called DUST designed to excite teen students (minorities and females in particular) about STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) disciplines. Internationally, BYU students using the Experiential Studio have collaborated with Fundación Paraguaya to develop the Poverty Stoplight, “a tool that seeks to activate the potential of families and communities to lift themselves out of poverty.” The Experiential Studio includes project storage, a low-fidelity maker space and supplies, two breakout rooms, and a flexible instruction/work space. Nearby service offerings include software training, equipment for checkout, a video production studio, sound booths, a multimedia lab, and a high-fidelity maker space (3D scanning and printing, wide format scanning and printing, laser cutting, sewing machine, virtual reality equipment). The concentration of these services in a particular area of the library began serendipitously, but has been purposefully pursued more recently