Hands-on learning is a key component of an engineering education. However, students face restrictions if they do not have access to all the tools and resources needed to build, run, and test their experiments. Furthermore, cost can place huge limits on students' ability to play, learn, and tinker. To try and combat these problems, the Lichtenberger Engineering Library collaborated with the College of Engineering to provide free access to the tools and resources needed.
The Tool Library started in 2012 with 38 tools and now has grown to over 150 tools. These range from 25-foot tape measures, digital calipers, and multimeters, to the latest in virtual reality, 3-D scanning and modeling, Arduino programming, and wearable technology. Over the last year, there has been a significant increase in use as more and more high tech tools were made available. Before the beginning of the 2016-17 school year, a new Creative Space was opened within the Engineering Library and the Tool Library was enhanced with 61 tools. The marketing and use in the classroom of the new space and tools increased usage for the year to 1,796 checkouts, which is around a 3% increase over previous years.