News & Events

Virtual Conference Presentation Build a Better Book: Meaningful Making in Public Library Makerspaces October 19, 2023 1:00pm MT Presenters: Kathryn Penzkover (CU Science Discovery) and Analiza Perez-Gomez (Laredo Public Libraries)

Colorado students in Northglenn High School's Engineering Pathway took up the challenge to design accessible tools for sports and games. Using feedback from their peers, they created prototypes for playing wheelchair soccer, basketball, baseball, and table top versions of popular games like pool, air hockey, and board games. Working in...

Prof. Tamara O'Callaghan launched the first BBB honors level course at Northern Kentucky University this Fall! Students immersed themselves in tactile learning and technology, developing four multimodal children's books. With support from Clovernook's Braille Printing House, their books will be distributed to children in Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi,...

Build a Better Book Director, Stacey Forsyth was recently interviewed on the Assembling Inclusion podcast hosted by Katie Nieves Licwinko. Assembling Inclusion highlights individuals and organizations that work towards building inclusivity into our daily lives. Listen to the interview to learn more about how the Build a Better Book Project...

Students at Ma'ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls in New Jersey jumped on board their school's Build a Better Book initiative called "Making a Difference". In partnership with the School for Children with Hidden Intelligence (SCHI), Ma'ayanot students completed an in-depth STEAM and Maker course developing interactive educational toys and...

A good graphic can make a big difference to the effectiveness of a tactile project. One of Build a Better Book's favorite resources is Noun Project . This comprehensive website offers millions of free icons that translate easily into well-defined line drawings and silhouettes. BBB partner, Ian Matty at Mountain...

Building empathy is central to the Build a Better Book project and for creating inclusive and accessible materials. While much of the work done with the BBB network is focused on blindness and visual impairments, there are many overlaps with a wide range of other disabilities. The Iris Center at...

Build a Better Book was pleased to host a virtual conference on September 13-14, 2021! If you missed the conference, you can still view the session recordings on the BBB Virtual Conference 2021 webpage. Get inspired to start a Build a Better Book project at your library, school, or makerspace!

Join Stacey Forsyth and Kat Penzkover at the Make: Education Forum Virtual Event on September 24-25, 2021. In their presentation on Empathy Driven Engineering in School & Library Makerspaces, they will provide an overview of the Build a Better Book project and share examples of how K-12 teachers, librarians and...

BBB has received a 4-year National Science Foundation ITEST award! This funding will allow us to study, in collaboration with our partners, the influences of a longer-term, empathy-driven engineering experience on teens’ perceptions of engineering and STEM careers. It will also support the testing and improvement of student-designed products, as...