I enjoyed your post and counter-argument, Kate. 3D printers are expensive and certainly it seems wasteful to buy them if no one is going to use them. But, on the other hand, like you and others have pointed out, sometimes people don’t know what they want and can’t ask for things that they don’t know exist. An example of a big new expensive technological purchase being worth it for me is an iphone. I never had a smartphone before this year and didn’t think I needed one. Obviously I knew what they were but didn’t think it was worth the cost. After using it for only a few days I knew how wrong I was and I will never go back to a dumb phone. I think it would be interesting to examine the experiences of libraries and users who have bought and used 3D printers. Have they found it a useful purchase? Why or why not? The answers to these questions could inform other libraries’ decisions on whether to buy a 3d printer.