The main library at Fort Bliss has added a dedicated area where patrons can get their hands dirty, make some noise and create their own do-it-yourself projects.
The Mickelsen Community Library, at 2E Sheridan Road, opened what is called a MakerSpace last summer.
This is a separate place inside the library where patrons can do crafts and renovation projects, learn to program a computer, print T-shirts or take on a myriad of other projects.
This is the first dedicated MakerSpace in an Army library, said Rachel Arizaga, the director for Morale, Welfare and Recreation-run libraries at Fort Bliss.
The MakerSpace movement began about a decade ago and “was born out of the idea that people were starting to lose touch with how to do things with their hands,” Arizaga said.
Arizaga got a $42,000 grant from Installation Management Command, and her staff helped to renovate about a…