PPE/Mask-Sewing/Makerspace Project
Special Projects
After the Libraries closed to the public as a result of COVID-19, many people jumped into action to provide personal protective equipment, including cloth masks and face shields to those in need, including IPF, the MSU Health Team, Sparrow and others. Many home sewists, often donating their own cloth, produced enough masks to provide each staff member with a packet of 5 masks. Sewists included Jay Lantrip (who produced literally hundreds of masks), Ruth Ann Jones, Kelly Sattler, Joan Lindsay, Susie Garmo, Christine Tobias, Sue Depoorter, Cody Beebe, Jennie Russell, Erika Weir, Kristina Jones and her students employees. Kristina taught her students how to sew masks and oversaw an impressive production operation on 2 West throughout the summer and sewed many herself too. In addition, Kristina was responsible for keeping track of the masks that were delivered to the library and she sent them out to people in need. The team made more than 1400 face masks in all!
Jamie Moriarty and Paul Cooper oversaw the production of face shields that were donated to the campus wide PPE effort. They coordinated the production of all of the face shields by more than 20 makers in 3 states, including sending filament to makers and consulting with them on best practices. They also trained students on how to trim and sand each face shield, and collaborated with other makers across campus to find innovative ways to improve the face shield for ease of production and durability. And they had to continually fix the printers, which were not meant for large scale production. Kristina and her students also sterilized of all of the face shields and packed them in boxed for distribution. In the end, the team made over 12,000 face shields, the great majority of which were assembled in the Main Library. These face shields went out to more than 2 dozen hospitals all over the state, to hundreds of dentists, food production facilities, and of course to MSU Health Teams, IPF, the Colleges of Veterinary Medicine, Nursing and Human/Osteopathic Medicine, and Residential Housing Services. It took a great deal of teamwork and determination, but everyone worked together to make a huge difference in our community!
Library Participants
- Cody Beebe
- Don Bosman
- Rian Buckley
- Paul Cooper
- Kristina Jones
- Ruth Ann Jones
- Jay Lantrip
- Joan Lindsay
- Terri Miller
- Jamie Moriarty
- Susan O'Brien
- Rosa Olivares
- Sam Peterson
- Jennie Russell
- Kelly Sattler
- Christine Tobias
- Leo Vallejo
- Erika Weir
- Arlene Weismantel
- Paveli Wilson
- Morgan Yingling
