A table displaying brightly colored plastic trinkets was set up to entice the imaginations of visitors to Adams Memorial Library, expanding ideas for what the whirring, beeping machine behind it can produce.

“This is our new toy, and we're loving it,” said Tracy Trotter, library director, setting up the 3-D printer. “There will definitely be practical things, and there will be ‘just for fun' things.”

The library received the printer a few weeks ago, but Trotter had the idea to provide the service at the library since 2013, when the printers first started appearing at other libraries across the country, she said.

“I really wanted one, but between then and now, there just hadn't been the financial opportunity to do it,” she said.

In January, Trotter was notified that the library would be one of 10 in the Westmoreland Library Network to receive a $1,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Westmoreland County, which administers funds donated by individuals.

Michael J. and Aimee Rusinko Kakos, a Greensburg couple passionate about libraries, established the fund that helped purchase the printer, said foundation Executive Director Jim Bendel.

“The library's going to be different 30 to 40 years from know, but it still could and should be the center of knowledge. It just might be different,” he said.

The grants were distributed to libraries that proposed creative ways to serve their communities, Bendel said.

Cesare Muccari, executive director of the Westmoreland Library Network, said libraries should take initiative with new technology like the 3-D printer at Adams.

“I think libraries have to be innovative,” he said, applauding Trotter and the Latrobe library's board members.

He also is grateful for the Kakos fund to encourage innovation.

“It's great that they're willing to allow libraries within our county to try new things,” he said.

The couple plans another round of grants up to $3,000 each this summer, Bendel said.

Trotter and library Assistant Director Kathy Tobolewski have been learning how to program the printer through trial and error, online videos and tips from other libraries.

In Western Pennsylvania, only about three libraries have 3-D printers, including the main branch of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh in Oakland, Trotter said.

They have made chocolate bunny molds for Easter, bookmarks, luggage tags, buttons and models of famous historic figures.

“You need patience, and it's been requiring more of a scientific method mindset to test all the different settings to see what's going to work the best,” Tobolewski said. “That's been a really interesting learning curve.”

The printer uses a plastic filament, resembling line made for a weed trimmer, which is melted and extruded through a moving cartridge that lays down thin strips of plastic to produce the object.

The printer can use two colors of filament simultaneously, Trotter said, such as yellow, red, black and glow-in-the-dark blue. The library may add biodegradable filament.

“That way you don't feel like that dinosaur's going to be there where we're extinct,” she said, pointing to a printer-generated yellow model of a dinosaur's head.

Visitors to the library can either browse an online database of designs or bring in their own STL file on a USB drive or SD card to be produced by the 3-D printer, Trotter said.

Librarians will use a small scale to weigh completed objects, and will charge creators 25 cents per gram.

Library board President Kathryn Elder said the board is discussing formal policies regarding the production of prohibited objects, such as weapons.

She hopes the 3-D printer encourages visitors to explore the technology.

“It's all about the future,” Elder said. “I think it's a good thing for people who use our library to see how one of these works.”

Children are mesmerized by the machine and want to learn more, Tobolewski said.

“That's one of our missions: to get people excited to learn new things, to try new things and encourage people in that direction,” she said.

Stacey Federoff is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-836-6660 or sfederoff@tribweb.com.

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