I recently went to the Chattanooga Public Library in Downtown Branch to explore all they offer to entrepreneurs and the public on their fourth floor Makerspace.
Crissy Varnell manages the entire fourth floor which has a small, dedicated staff trained in the various equipment the public can utilize in the sprawling 12,000 square-foot space.
Use of the equipment is free; you don’t even need a library card. There are some material use fees to cover items such as printer paper, vinyl stickers, buttons and a few other items. A library card is required if you want to check out certain items they have available.
Varnell said prior to 2012 the fourth floor was underutilized and served as a catch-all storage space.
The library director at the time decided to turn the space into a Makerspace, which many other public libraries already had. Varnell said, at first, it was a bit…
