Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library opens new Level 2 Tech Center

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – The Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library cut the ribbon on a new community tech center Monday, August. 15th.

The new Level 2 Tech Center offers free access to cutting-edge equipment and software, and the opportunity to increase technology skills.

The facility includes a fully-equipped digital art studio, two well-resourced recording studios, 30 computers and 5 small meeting rooms.

“For me the big thing is the two recording studios. We have a podcast studio with a mac and a mixer and multiple microphones that we can of course use for podcasting and probably some instrument and band stuff, to an extent and we have a video recording studio which is similarly outfitted,” says Emergent Technology Librarian, Todd Smith. “We also have two DSLRs hooked up to a pro mini that we can use to record video.”

The public will also have access to macs, adobe creative suite software, a Cricut, 3-D printer, 3-D scanner and a laminator.

“You can design an object out it on a flash drive stick it in the printer, it will look at that file and then it will deposit a heated layer of plastic in the form that you create,” says Smith.

We even got to see the 3-D printer in action, creating a tiny feather book mark.

Public Service Supervisor Debbie Stanton says the library has been setting aside money every year since 2016 to fund the center.

She says they’re already seeing the results of their work.

“So yeah this morning as soon as we opened, people were coming through the door to use the computer lab and it has been steady ever since then. So we have 30 computers, like general computers and they’ve been steady and busy all day.”

Stanton says she hopes the space will give everyone the chance to learn without feeling intimidated.

“It’s been wonderful, and I’m just so excited to see what comes from this space. I think some of the creativity that we’re gonna be able to see come through in the recording studio, in the video studios, with the 3-D design, I’m just really excited to see people’s creativity blossom in this space,” says Stanton.

Copyright 2022 WIBW. All rights reserved.