Crafting the Future of Foley
Something exciting is happening in the basement of Foley Library. Tucked among the research materials and quiet spots for studying is the new Digital Scholarship Lab – a place to delve into your creative side and maybe even learn a new skill.
“It’s meant to be both fun and exploratory,” says Elizabeth Wawrzyniak, the digital scholarship and publishing librarian in Foley and a co-founder of the lab.
This new space features machines, technology and a dream lineup of crafting equipment ranging from a Glowforge laser printer for cutting and engraving, to a high-quality sewing machine – all available to students, staff and faculty.
Planning for the lab started in spring 2025, and after that “the whole thing came together pretty quickly,” says Wawrzyniak. She, along with faculty librarian Caitlin Bagley and a crew of student workers, teamed up with the NextGen Tech Bar and ITS to figure out exactly how they wanted the space to function. First things first – they made it a priority to fill in the gaps when it came to spaces for creation across campus. After some consultation, they discovered there was a lot of excitement around a sewing machine. It was added to the lab along with a button maker, a few more 3D printers and several high-performance computers complete with Photoshop and other software.
With some creative sourcing, the project came in under budget and even managed to put old furniture that’s been sitting in storage to use.
“We’ve been saying we ‘duct taped it’ together,” laughs Wawrzyniak. “We put a lot of stuff together in a way that was low cost and low impact on the library initially, because right now we’re in a trial phase and we want to prove that this is viable and useful to campus.”
Once they know it works, the team hopes to source funding to expand from alumni or local businesses.
The lab fits into a larger plan set in motion by Foley Dean Heather James – to transform the library into a space and a tool that can support the next few decades of academics at Gonzaga. This also happens to align with the University’s Strategic Plan, Action Four – re-imagining the learning environment. According to that pillar, Foley is set to become an academic learning common, a space for bringing faculty, staff and students together in collaboration, dialogue and mentoring.
And that’s just what Wawrzyniak and Bagley intend for the lab.
“We’re encouraging professors to incorporate the Digital Scholarship Lab into their classrooms and assignments,” Wawrzyniak says. “We want them to send their students here to utilize the equipment, and we’ll guide them through it.”
For staff, they encourage departmental trips – come check out the space and see how your team could utilize the equipment. Or stop by for personal use – work on a project you’ve always wanted to try but lacked the equipment for.
It does come at a cost – but the pricing structure is designed to keep the equipment accessible. For example, 3D printing starts as low as five cents per gram of plastic. Bagley stresses costs are essentially just to cover the price of the materials.
The Digital Scholarship Lab will officially launch in the spring, but it is available now on a trial basis every Friday through Sunday, 2-6 p.m. for personal, creative and experimental use. However, if you’d like to work on something outside of that time, Wawrzyniak says they’re happy to accommodate.