UMSL alum Ja’Mel McCaine is the manager of the creative lab space at the Clark Family Branch of the St. Louis County Library. (Photos by Derik Holtmann)
As the creative lab manager at the Clark Family Branch of the St. Louis County Library, Ja’Mel McCaine is surrounded by artistic and innovative people every day.
And with his wide array of creative talents and life experiences – his career has included everything from graphic design to teaching high school to marketing to being the Aviation Boatswain’s Mate on the United States Navy’s USS Essex aircraft carrier – this job is an ideal fit for the University of Missouri–St. Louis alum, who earned his BFA in graphic design in 2005.
“I’m a traditional artist,” McCaine said. “My degree is in graphic design, but I’ve been drawing and painting and doodling ever since I can remember. I do music production and video production. I write short stories and films. I do a little bit of everything. 3D modeling, too. For me, creating is what drives me. Even if I’m not constantly putting things out, just the fact that I’m creating with other people and collaborating is always a pleasure.”
Another distinct pleasure of his job? One of the budding artists who frequents the Unity Foundation Teen Space – there are teen-specific hours, as well as hours when adults can use the lab, too – is a familiar face: his 12-year-old daughter.
“She tries to come to lab whenever she can, because she just loves to be in the environment and, low key, she may even like hanging with her dad,” McCaine said with a smile. “She loves to come here. She’s an artist, too, so she loves to create new things.”
McCaine joined the Navy after he graduated from Normandy High School. In his three years, he served two combat tours in Iraq and in the Middle East. On the USS Essex (LHD-2) aircraft carrier flight deck, he worked hard and was promoted to the prestigious “yellow shirt” role as Aviation Boatswain’s Mate. In that job, he signaled in the jets and harriers as they landed on the deck. After his last tour – six months at sea – he decided it was time to pursue his college education.
McCaine used his GI Bill benefits to earn his associate degree through the St. Louis Community College system, then chose UMSL to pursue his BFA. As someone who grew up in the community and knew UMSL’s reputation, it was an easy decision.
“I paid for school on my own, worked full-time all the way through UMSL,” he said. “I felt like I was always supported at UMSL. UMSL gave me a quality foundation to get out there into the world and make some money. I would always encourage somebody to go to UMSL if that’s one of their options.”
McCaine was hired at the Clark Family Branch about four months before it opened in June 2024 – he’d held a similar role with the St. Louis Public Library system – and he had the chance to shape what the space would look like, from the very beginning.
“A lot of it was like, ‘Hey, Ja’Mel, what do you think about A, B and C?’” he said. “To have that level of input and that level of trust, to create something brand-new from the ground up, that was great. Being able to hire staff members that I’ve had relationships with, that I know their abilities, I know their quality of work, and I know their work ethic, to bring those people along, that was a great boost to the lab getting off to the great start it did.”
The creative lab space McCaine manages is impressive.
There are three 3D printers – each with the larger 12-inch base – and a sound-proof studio with two individual recording rooms, plus a green screen wall with a Black Magic Cinema Camera. The lab has multiple musical instruments available, including keyboards and guitars. There is a Glowforge laser cutter, a Cricut and a sublimation printer.
The creative lab has three 3D printers, each with the larger 12-inch base. Teens and adults with a library card are given $5 in credit each month to use on the printers in the lab.
The lab also has 17 Apple iMac desktop computers, all loaded with the complete Adobe suite of creative software. McCaine and his co-workers are trained to help with everything, and maybe most importantly in their public-facing roles, to assist with every level of expertise. They can speak shop with experts who need a hand or help novices start from scratch.
“I try to articulate at their level, whether it’s kids or older adults or just somebody my age,” he said. “I try to meet them where they’re at.”
And that makes every day just a little different.
“If you’re looking to learn something, we have a lot of resources here,” he said. “This isn’t a traditional library anymore. We’re not a quiet space. You can come and learn in a place with all these resources. A lot of people come in here and say, ‘I didn’t know you had all this!’”
There are charges for the services, but they are minimal, especially compared to outside options. Plus, with a Clark Family Branch library card, each member gets $5 in use-it-or-lose-it credit that refreshes every single month. That $5 goes a long way in the creative lab.
For example, that amount covers 50 grams of filament for the 3D printers. It covers laser cutting for a half-sheet of 1/4-inch plywood and a half-sheet of acrylic. Using the Cricut, it covers 16 sheets of cardboard and a 12×12 vinyl sheet. It covers five 8.5×11 sheets on the sublimation printer.
“We had a young entrepreneur come in recently, and he had an idea for a shirt,” McCaine said. “We helped him print that idea. We showed him how to press it onto his T-shirt, so he had a couple of prototypes to show his peers.”
The value of a space like that to budding entrepreneurs is incalculable.
“It’s amazing, and it’s such a great resource for any of our students, or even founders, because they can go there and build a prototype at virtually no cost,” said Scott Morris, the director of UMSL’s Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center.
When Morris and Brittany Davis, the community engagement and operations coordinator for the EIC, went to visit the space earlier this year, Morris said he couldn’t help but think about how a similar public creative lab setup helped UMSL alum Jesse Frey launch his product, HeadLok.
“Jesse developed a working prototype through the library that saved him thousands of dollars,” Morris said. “The alternative would be to build a mold, which could cost several thousand dollars itself, then ship that out for plastic injection molding to manufacture something that may or may not even work. But instead Jesse spent like $50 on 3D printing until he got the prototype right. They even helped him learn CAD, the design software, which itself is a value to founders.”
McCaine actually met with Frey when he first visited the library, though he wasn’t the one who worked directly with him to develop the prototype. When Morris looked around the creative lab, he didn’t just see cool machines and beneficial tools; he saw opportunities to advance what has been one of his primary goals at the EIC, which is creating a supportive, sustaining ecosystem of entrepreneurs in the St. Louis region.
“There are all these resources that are available in St. Louis, and as an ecosystem, we have not done a great job of supporting one another,” Morris said. “The more referrals I can give to Ja’Mel for local businesses, the better utilized this phenomenal resource can be, and hopefully it gives them an opportunity to continue upscaling and developing their services and resources there. We can really reinforce each other.”
McCaine taught a podcasting 101 class during the library’s small business fair last October, showing interested patrons not only the basics of how to start a podcast, but how to avoid technical difficulties that can arise.
And the fact that McCaine is an UMSL alum was just icing on the entrepreneurial cake.
“The instant he found out we were from UMSL, the whole conversation changed,” Morris said. “He was so supportive of his fellow Tritons, wanting to help out the UMSL community. He’s the classic UMSL story. Our students, our alumni, have experienced all these different facets of life, and they find their path. Those experiences all build into something, and it’s great when we reconnect and can support each other in this great UMSL ecosystem.”
McCaine is eager to help.
“I had always dreamed, because I am an artist, that I was going to be an art director and do all these amazing things and work on all these amazing logos and things,” McCaine said. “The path I took was probably not something I could ever imagine, but to end up at this library, utilizing those skills I learned at UMSL and at the community colleges, I appreciate the journey. I’m not under pressure to create million-dollar logos or brochures. I’m serving the public, and same time, I’m still in that creative environment.”
