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News and Updates

PLIX Community STEAM ShowcasePLIX Community STEAM Showcase
PLIX Community STEAM Showcase

Be inspired by thoughtful STEAM library programs from the PLIX Community in this STEAM Showcase

April 16, 2026
Words Become Music: Exploring the Speech-to-Song IllusionWords Become Music: Exploring the Speech-to-Song Illusion
Words Become Music: Exploring the Speech-to-Song Illusion

Have you ever listened to a word so much it becomes a musical sequence of sounds?

March 12, 2026
Circuits As Craft, Meet the New PLIX Intern Maggie LiCircuits As Craft, Meet the New PLIX Intern Maggie Li
Circuits As Craft, Meet the New PLIX Intern Maggie Li

Co-enthuse with our newest intern about hands-on STEAM learning, flying bisons, and making things light up!

February 24, 2026
Now What? A hands-on zine for future planning and dreamingNow What? A hands-on zine for future planning and dreaming
Now What? A hands-on zine for future planning and dreaming

After we implement an opportunity, how can we be thoughtful about next steps?

February 12, 2026
How does AI read your face?How does AI read your face?
How does AI read your face?

Deepen your understanding of Facial Recognition Technologies (FRTs) in this hands-on workshop with special guest Dr. Jaleesa Trapp!

January 15, 2026
Meet the 2025-2026 PLIX Ambassadors!Meet the 2025-2026 PLIX Ambassadors!
Meet the 2025-2026 PLIX Ambassadors!

The PLIX team is delighted to announce our fourth cohort of Library Ambassadors to spread the joy of creative STEAM learning across the U.S.

January 6, 2026
Growing Symmetries with NumbersGrowing Symmetries with Numbers
Growing Symmetries with Numbers

Craft and doodle to grow symmetries and play with numbers!

December 11, 2025
LLM-Algorithm Arcade, Part 1LLM-Algorithm Arcade, Part 1
LLM-Algorithm Arcade, Part 1

Reimagine familiar games to design new games, and learn the FUN-damentals of artificial intelligence along the way!

November 20, 2025
Meet the 2025-2026 PLIX InternsMeet the 2025-2026 PLIX Interns
Meet the 2025-2026 PLIX Interns

We're delighted to announce our second cohort of PLIX Creative STEAM Learning Interns!

November 13, 2025
Design games with creative coding in OctoStudioDesign games with creative coding in OctoStudio
Design games with creative coding in OctoStudio

Join PLIX and special guest ✨Eric Schilling 🛹 of the OctoStudio team, to design games that blend real world objects and stories from our cultures.

October 23, 2025
PLIX Facilitating Creative Learning Workshop SeriesPLIX Facilitating Creative Learning Workshop Series
PLIX Facilitating Creative Learning Workshop Series

Apply for the PLIX Creative Learning Workshop Series (Oct 16 – Nov 13th)! Deadline Sept 25th.

October 3, 2025
Transforming how local communities engage with creativity and STEAM in librariesTransforming how local communities engage with creativity and STEAM in libraries
Transforming how local communities engage with creativity and STEAM in libraries

MIT Open Learning’s Public Library Innovation Exchange collaborates with libraries and MIT researchers for playful hands-on learning experiences.

September 2, 2025
PLIX 4-year Impact ReportPLIX 4-year Impact Report
PLIX 4-year Impact Report

Celebrating the past 4 years, our first-ever PLIX impact report showcases a vibrant ecosystem of programs and resources for STEM equity in libraries.

August 26, 2025
Games over Garbage: Tracking Scores with PeersGames over Garbage: Tracking Scores with Peers
Games over Garbage: Tracking Scores with Peers

Create different ways to playfully track scores with friends!

July 10, 2025
Combining for Complexity: Tessellation StampsCombining for Complexity: Tessellation Stamps
Combining for Complexity: Tessellation Stamps

Level up STEAM learning by combining for complexity in this Beautiful Symmetry exploration with tessellation stamps!

June 26, 2025
Growing Through Facilitation: Lessons from the 2025 PLIX Creative Learning InternshipGrowing Through Facilitation: Lessons from the 2025 PLIX Creative Learning Internship
Growing Through Facilitation: Lessons from the 2025 PLIX Creative Learning Internship

Reflecting on the PLIX Intern journey this year, learning about creative learning education and thriving in public libraries

June 13, 2025
Level up Pop-up ExamplesLevel up Pop-up Examples
Level up Pop-up Examples

Level up summer STEAM learning with a variety of example types!

May 8, 2025
2025 Ambassador Showcase2025 Ambassador Showcase
2025 Ambassador Showcase

Be inspired by the photos and reflections of our PLIX Creative Learning Ambassadors’ STEAM library programs designed for their communities

April 30, 2025
PLIX Community ShowcasePLIX Community Showcase
PLIX Community Showcase

Sign up for the PLIX Community Showcase, to be inspired by the incredible library professionals and interns who ran a PLIX activity this year!

April 24, 2025
Animated Science with CartoonimatorAnimated Science with Cartoonimator
Animated Science with Cartoonimator

Try a paper-based animation tool to model physics phenomena… just in time for National Library Week's "Drawn to the Library" theme

April 10, 2025
Playful AI Truths and LiesPlayful AI Truths and Lies
Playful AI Truths and Lies

Explore our understandings of trust in collective human knowledge by in this playtest of telling creative truths and lies

March 13, 2025
Love for Place and Time: Spatial PoetryLove for Place and Time: Spatial Poetry
Love for Place and Time: Spatial Poetry

Reimagine and revisit maps of places you’ve loved, in poetic language!

February 13, 2025
Creativity and Technology with OctoStudio in BrazilCreativity and Technology with OctoStudio in Brazil
Creativity and Technology with OctoStudio in Brazil

Through a framework embodying creative learning, our Brazilian friends at Instituto Catalisador use their Circles of Invention to integrate reading, making, and narratives to bring OctoStudio to low-income families in São Paulo.

February 3, 2025
PLIX Interns: Reflections on facilitating Paper CircuitsPLIX Interns: Reflections on facilitating Paper Circuits
PLIX Interns: Reflections on facilitating Paper Circuits

PLIX Interns Daphne and Kailey reflect on facilitating Paper Circuits for the first time!

February 3, 2025
Between the Pages: An OctoStudio SidequestBetween the Pages: An OctoStudio Sidequest
Between the Pages: An OctoStudio Sidequest

Sneak between the pages of a story and give characters a sidequest!

January 16, 2025
Introducing our 2025 PLIX Creative Learning InternsIntroducing our 2025 PLIX Creative Learning Interns
Introducing our 2025 PLIX Creative Learning Interns

Our 2025 PLIX Creative Learning Interns are a select group of MIT undergraduates interested in teaching and learning in creative ways.

January 13, 2025
Collecting Data Gems to Walk with Ease, in Monett, MissouriCollecting Data Gems to Walk with Ease, in Monett, Missouri
Collecting Data Gems to Walk with Ease, in Monett, Missouri

In a Walk with Ease program for older adults, PLIX ambassador Janea Coker, Barry Lawrence Regional Library, used PLIX Data Gems to introduce data literacy skills, and fostered community connections along the way.

January 9, 2025
Fantastic Pneumatic Mind-Body ConnectionFantastic Pneumatic Mind-Body Connection
Fantastic Pneumatic Mind-Body Connection

Play with pneumatics, the power of air, to make visible your mind-body connection!

December 12, 2024
OctoStudio: Facilitating Creative and Connected Coding in Public LibrariesOctoStudio: Facilitating Creative and Connected Coding in Public Libraries
OctoStudio: Facilitating Creative and Connected Coding in Public Libraries

Different ways the PLIX team and PLIX Library Ambassadors have facilitated OctoStudio programs in public libraries, through the lens of creative learning.

November 24, 2024
Pocket Data Collecter: Data Gems Make’n’Meet WorkshopPocket Data Collecter: Data Gems Make’n’Meet Workshop
Pocket Data Collecter: Data Gems Make’n’Meet Workshop

Take ownership of your own data and collect them in your pocket!

November 14, 2024
Haunted Neighborhood: Paper Circuits Make’n’Meet Workshop Haunted Neighborhood: Paper Circuits Make’n’Meet Workshop
Haunted Neighborhood: Paper Circuits Make’n’Meet Workshop

Join us this October to try out Paper Circuits with chenille stems and create a haunted neighborhood!

October 17, 2024
Meet the 2024-2025 PLIX Ambassadors!Meet the 2024-2025 PLIX Ambassadors!
Meet the 2024-2025 PLIX Ambassadors!

The PLIX team is delighted to announce our 2024-2025 cohort of PLIX Library Ambassadors.

October 10, 2024
Reflection on Data Gems at Full STEAM AheadReflection on Data Gems at Full STEAM Ahead
Reflection on Data Gems at Full STEAM Ahead

Reflections, challenges, and facilitation tips from sharing Data Gems at a middle school summer program

September 9, 2024
Apply to be a PLIX Library AmbassadorApply to be a PLIX Library Ambassador
Apply to be a PLIX Library Ambassador

Engage your diverse library audiences through STEAM learning with PLIX and MIT in this year’s PLIX Ambassador Program

August 26, 2024
Reflections from a D&D-inspired Creative Learning Workshop at Richland Library BallentineReflections from a D&D-inspired Creative Learning Workshop at Richland Library Ballentine
Reflections from a D&D-inspired Creative Learning Workshop at Richland Library Ballentine
June 10, 2024
Mining for Data GemsMining for Data Gems
💠
Mining for Data Gems

The design of a new PLIX activity focused on data entry-ways!

June 10, 2024
Accessible Programming and Beautiful Symmetries in Marietta, GAAccessible Programming and Beautiful Symmetries in Marietta, GA
Accessible Programming and Beautiful Symmetries in Marietta, GA

PLIX Mentor Renaté adapts creative learning for a diverse audience

March 6, 2024
Meet Melissa Sprenne… Making Things Glow in Irmo, South CarolinaMeet
Meet Melissa Sprenne… Making Things Glow in Irmo, South Carolina

Mentor Interview: Melissa Sprenne and her love of making things glow with PLIX Paper Circuits

January 26, 2024
Meet the 2023–24 PLIX Creative Learning Ambassadors!Meet the 2023–24 PLIX Creative Learning Ambassadors!
Meet the 2023–24 PLIX Creative Learning Ambassadors!

Meet the amazing library professionals joining us as PLIX Ambassadors this year!

November 6, 2023
Announcing: the PLIX Ambassador Program 2023-2024!Announcing: the PLIX Ambassador Program 2023-2024!
📣
Announcing: the PLIX Ambassador Program 2023-2024!

Grow your confidence in STEAM activities with PLIX!

September 11, 2023
PLIX Play Cafe: Our Favorite MomentsPLIX Play Cafe: Our Favorite Moments
PLIX Play Cafe: Our Favorite Moments

These are some of our favorite moments from this summer’s PLIX Play Cafe

August 31, 2023
Celebrate National Library Week!Celebrate National Library Week!
Celebrate National Library Week!

PLIX team shares their favorite library memories.

April 25, 2023
Two Remix Strategies for Sustainable Creative STEM ActivitiesTwo Remix Strategies for Sustainable Creative STEM Activities
Two Remix Strategies for Sustainable Creative STEM Activities

Celebrate Earth Day 2023 with these sustainable remix strategies!

April 22, 2023
Conversation: Sustainability in LibrariesConversation: Sustainability in Libraries
Conversation: Sustainability in Libraries

Explore a conversation on sustainability in libraries

April 13, 2023
Flocks, Pods, and Gaggles: Bringing people together in-person and onlineFlocks, Pods, and Gaggles: Bringing people together in-person and online
Flocks, Pods, and Gaggles: Bringing people together in-person and online

Our hybrid workshop approach for community-building workshops

March 28, 2023
A Cheesy Workshop on Creative LearningA Cheesy Workshop on Creative Learning
A Cheesy Workshop on Creative Learning

Come catch up on the latest Facilitating Creative Learning workshop!

March 27, 2023
Celebrating and Remembering the Women who Influenced UsCelebrating and Remembering the Women who Influenced Us
Celebrating and Remembering the Women who Influenced Us

Shine a light on Women’s History Month with PLIX!

March 1, 2023
2022: A Year in Reflections2022: A Year in Reflections
2022: A Year in Reflections
December 20, 2022
Weaving Native SymmetriesWeaving Native Symmetries
Weaving Native Symmetries

Weaving Native Symmetries at the ATALM Conference

November 30, 2022
Adventures in Sonic SeasoningAdventures in Sonic Seasoning
Adventures in Sonic Seasoning

How can we encourage healthy eating through sound?

October 4, 2022
Native Flora-flatables in Eureka Springs ArkansasNative Flora-flatables in Eureka Springs Arkansas
Native Flora-flatables in Eureka Springs Arkansas

In Eureka Springs, Arkansas, the small library explores the PLIX inflatables activity as a way to engage youth with the value of native flora and fauna of the Ozarks.

July 11, 2022
Quiltmaking & Beautiful Symmetry in Rural South DakotaQuiltmaking & Beautiful Symmetry in Rural South Dakota
Quiltmaking & Beautiful Symmetry in Rural South Dakota

A small, rural library in Lake Andes, SD makes plans to collaboratively design and create a quilt inspired by the PLIX Beautiful Symmetry activity.

December 9, 2021
Call for Participation: Phase 2, Rural & Tribal LibrariesCall for Participation: Phase 2, Rural & Tribal Libraries
Call for Participation: Phase 2, Rural & Tribal Libraries

PLIX seeks library colleagues to join an effort to better understand the needs of rural and/or tribal public libraries and co-design a toolkit of learning resources explicitly tailored to them.

November 15, 2021
Meet the First PLIX Creative Learning AmbassadorsMeet the First PLIX Creative Learning Ambassadors
Meet the First PLIX Creative Learning Ambassadors

Our first cohort of Ambassadors is here! They collaborate with PLIX to build a network of library professionals who advocate for creative learning in communities and libraries by taking on leadership roles in local communities as well as online.

October 8, 2021
Announcing PLIX Creative Learning AmbassadorsAnnouncing PLIX Creative Learning Ambassadors
🎖️
Announcing PLIX Creative Learning Ambassadors

We are thrilled to announce our newest program: PLIX Creative Learning Ambassadors.

July 14, 2021
Call for Participation: Phase 1, Rural & Tribal LibrariesCall for Participation: Phase 1, Rural & Tribal Libraries
Call for Participation: Phase 1, Rural & Tribal Libraries

PLIX seeks library colleagues to join an effort to better understand the needs of rural and/or tribal public libraries and co-design a toolkit of learning resources explicitly tailored to them.

June 22, 2021
PLIX Inflatables: Reflections from the beta-testing processPLIX Inflatables: Reflections from the beta-testing process
PLIX Inflatables: Reflections from the beta-testing process

Read about our Inflatables beta-testing process from Spring 2021.

June 21, 2021
Meet the Librarian Co-Designers: Jean SlavkovskyMeet the Librarian Co-Designers: Jean Slavkovsky
Meet the Librarian Co-Designers: Jean Slavkovsky

For the fourth and final edition of our meet the co-designers series, we’re featuring Jean Slavkovsky from Homer Public Library!

June 1, 2021
PLIX Conversation Starters: An Audio ExperimentPLIX Conversation Starters: An Audio Experiment
PLIX Conversation Starters: An Audio Experiment

Check out a series of four audio-only chats about creative learning.

May 25, 2021
Meet the Librarian Co-Designers: Claudia HainesMeet the Librarian Co-Designers: Claudia Haines
Meet the Librarian Co-Designers: Claudia Haines

For the third edition of our meet the co-designers series, we’re featuring Claudia Haines from Homer Public Library!

April 20, 2021
Meet the Librarian Co-Designers: Dave FinkMeet the Librarian Co-Designers: Dave Fink
Meet the Librarian Co-Designers: Dave Fink

For our second edition of our meet the co-designers series, we’re featuring Dave Fink from Michigan City Library!

March 17, 2021
Meet the Librarian Co-Designers: Allie AffinitoMeet the Librarian Co-Designers: Allie Affinito
Meet the Librarian Co-Designers: Allie Affinito

We're kicking off a new series about some of the librarians who've participated in the co-design process with us. For our first edition, we’re featuring Allie Affinito from The New York Public Library!

February 4, 2021
Facilitating Creative Learning with Cambridge Public Library… online!Facilitating Creative Learning with Cambridge Public Library… online!
Facilitating Creative Learning with Cambridge Public Library… online!

Reflections from our professional development workshop for creative STEAM learning in public libraries

December 10, 2020
PLIX Receives IMLS Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program AwardPLIX Receives IMLS Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program Award
PLIX Receives IMLS Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program Award

This grant will enable the PLIX team to deliver in-person and online workshops to build capacity for 300 library professionals to implement creative STEAM learning programs in their libraries.

August 6, 2020
Offering Library Programs at a DistanceOffering Library Programs at a Distance
Offering Library Programs at a Distance

Open questions, tips & suggestions from the PLIX Team

July 24, 2020
PLIX@Akron: Creative learning + spooky making at the public libraryPLIX@Akron: Creative learning + spooky making at the public library
PLIX@Akron: Creative learning + spooky making at the public library

Reflections from our first-ever PLIX Workshop in Akron, Ohio.

January 23, 2020
How MIT Media Lab is Helping Libraries (DAI Heidelberg)How MIT Media Lab is Helping Libraries (DAI Heidelberg)
How MIT Media Lab is Helping Libraries (DAI Heidelberg)

Members of the PLIX team discuss creative learning in libraries at the Festival of Learning 2019 in Heidelberg, Germany.

October 24, 2019
Getting Started with Creative Learning in your Public LibraryGetting Started with Creative Learning in your Public Library
Getting Started with Creative Learning in your Public Library

Our PLIX Kits are designed to make it easy for librarians to offer creative learning programs to their patrons.

May 30, 2019
A Year of Library Innovation at the Media Lab (Bibliotech)A Year of Library Innovation at the Media Lab (Bibliotech)
A Year of Library Innovation at the Media Lab (Bibliotech)

What do tiny satellites, computers that grow plants, and an animated orange cat have in common?

October 25, 2018
MIT Media Lab Collaborates with Public Librarians (Library Journal)MIT Media Lab Collaborates with Public Librarians (Library Journal)
MIT Media Lab Collaborates with Public Librarians (Library Journal)

Recently the Media Lab has expanded beyond academic and corporate collaborations to join forces with public libraries for the Public Library Innovation Exchange (PLIX).

April 19, 2018
An Exchange Program for Public LibrariansAn Exchange Program for Public Librarians
An Exchange Program for Public Librarians

Media Lab researchers are teaming up with public librarians to design new projects and programs for libraries.

February 16, 2018
Librarian of Congress visits MITLibrarian of Congress visits MIT
Librarian of Congress visits MIT

Staff met with Carla Hayden to discuss the Public Library Innovation Exchange.

October 5, 2017
Introducing the Public Library Innovation Exchange (PLIX)Introducing the Public Library Innovation Exchange (PLIX)
Introducing the Public Library Innovation Exchange (PLIX)

Public libraries and the MIT Media Lab are kindred spirits. Together, we hope to design new programs for libraries around the country.

October 3, 2017
PLIX is a project under MIT Open Learning

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