UofU libraries putting idle 3D printers to work on face shields for healthcare workers

What can a library worker do to help with the COVID-19 outbreak?

As it turns out, a lot.

At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, library employees at the University of Utah never envisioned they’d play a role in helping healthcare workers on the front lines. But now, staff members at the UofU’s J. Willard Marriott Library, Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library and Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute are working together to produce and distribute face shields desperately needed in the healthcare community while facing the outbreak.

“When the U’s office of the vice president for research asked the campus community for donations of personal protective equipment (PPE), we looked to our 3D printing team immediately,” said Catherine Soehner, associate dean and director of the Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library. “Fortunately, we were able to gather the necessary supplies quickly and our team was able to get right on it.”

TJ Ferrill, head of creative spaces at the Marriott Library, and Ben Engel, user experience developer at the Eccles Health Sciences Library, came together recently to begin developing prototypes of these needed supplies. They started with face shields that are used to protect the facial area, including eyes, nose and mouth from splashes, sprays and splatters of body fluids. With help from the nationwide library and maker space community who are working together to prototype diagnostics for face shield production, Ferrill and Engel designed a version to share with Tad Morley, health executive director of outreach and network development at the university, who is leading the effort for community PPE donations.

Ferrill and Engel started production after reaching an agreement with University of Utah Health that they meet the medical- grade standards required of PPE. When all 30 3D printers are up and running, they’ll be producing approximately 300 face shields a day.

“When we first started building our 3D printing program back in 2013, we had no idea the scale at which our program would expand and how we would one day play a role that would touch so many lives,” said Alberta Comer, dean of libraries at the University of Utah. “We are fortunate to be a part of helping provide the protective shields that our healthcare workers so desperately need and we’ll continue to help in any way we can.”