Broward County Library’s Creation Station “Helping Hands” Project

About the Program

Category: Libraries (Best in Category)

Year: 2016

Broward County Library’s Creation Station, a community makerspace and gadget lab, partnered with Nova Southeastern University’s Occupational Therapy Department and the e-NABLE Project/3D Mechanical Hand – Maker Movement to create five plastic prosthetic hands using the Creation Station’s 3D printers. These hands were then distributed to children in need around the world. This “Helping Hands” project won the 2016 “Innovation Award” from the Florida Library Association. The “Helping Hands” were crafted and printed by Broward County Library staff using existing equipment and supplies. Student volunteers from Nova Southeastern University’s Occupational Therapy Department then assembled the prosthetic and distributed them via the e-NABLE Project. The Creation Station is the first free community center in the Broward County that allows public access to expensive equipment and software such as 3D printers, state-of-the-art computers, Leap Motion technology, color printers and more. The non-profit e-NABLE Project was founded in 2013 by Jon Schull, a research scientist, when he began coordinating offers for aid and requests for 3D printed hands. It evolved into designing/improving 3D printed prosthetic devices and building systems to distribute to children in need. Today the web-based e-NABLE Project community numbers in the thousands and has delivered hands in 37 countries.