Meet the metalhead makerspace librarian

Jamie’s journey with Wellington City Libraries began 23 years ago, when he started out shelving books to raise money for a high school trip. When he came back, he decided to keep working in customer service while he was training to be a geologist because of the support of the library. 

“In 2010, I was in a car accident and the library was so great during my recovery, so I decided to stay and hang out here. This was when I started getting into tech, TV, sound stuff – anything to do with it, I was involved.”  

An old colleague put the idea into his head of doing robotics and Virtual Reality (VR) in the library. It was around this time that plans for the new Waitohi Hub were being developed, and they included what would become the Makerspace. Jamie had always been interested in engineering and electronics, so he applied for the job – and got it.  

“I was given a 3D printer and a laser cutter and learned through trial and error. Did I break them? Yes. Do I still break them? Yes. Anyone that owns a 3D printer has a shelf of blobs, including me. I use them to show the kids ‘Hey, this is what it looks like when you stuff up... and that's fine,” he adds. 

Over the years, he has been improving the space, adding more gear and building up the recording studio, which now has over 1000 bookings a month. 

The first two hours are free, and the team will help if it’s your first time working with recording and sound engineering equipment.  

Jamie wants people to know that the team are there to help people bring their vision to life, and it’s a pleasure to be able to do so. 

“Usually, we know people are interested when we see them hovering around the door. We invite them in and say, ‘Do you just want to have a look?’. Then the questions start coming. We give them a tour. We try to make it as open and inclusive as possible. They start realising they can make signs or whatever they want. 

“The most interesting thing I saw being made here was a prosthetic hand. About a month or two after we opened, this dad came in and started working on it for his daughter. That was amazing.”  

One of Jamie’s favourite memories was when a group of home-schooled kids would come in each week.   

“One kid didn’t know anything about how it worked, and he started coming in quite a lot. Now he’s a YouTuber – he was given a 3D printer from a sponsor I think, and he makes his own Transformers and posts videos about it online. Now a charity comes in to run a programme for kids.”   

Jamie gets to create cool things too; he 3D printed an exact replica of the Saturn V rocket, which launched Apollo 11.   

Other things people have made include tabletop gaming scenery, a creepy ventriloquist cat skull which was “just horrifying, but it came out beautifully”, and home décor items, the plans of which, people can find online.  

 Jamie is now a key personality at the makerspace, with many coming to see him as the ‘metalhead librarian’.  

“I’m very keen on heavy metal. When I’m in the workshop, I always listen to music. Quite a few of my customers are keen on it as well. I suppose people call me the ‘Metalhead librarian’ because I used to wear a lot of band T-shirts and had very long hair. 

“Most people at Waitohi play some kind of instrument. We run Waitohi music sessions once a month where staff will get up on the stairs and perform. We’re not allowed to play metal... yet.”  

The Waitohi Makerspace is open seven days a week, except for when they have to close to clean the laser cutter. Find out more about the space and pop in to get creative.