The next time you need binoculars or a Bundt pan, you may not need any money. Instead, your library card could be the key to accessing an array of items, as public libraries across the country expand beyond books and other media.
This so-called “library of things” isn’t an entirely new concept — a Newark, New Jersey, library started circulating framed paintings over a century ago, according to Alex Lent, library director at Millis Public Library in Massachusetts — but it’s now gaining momentum and expanding the role of libraries in communities.
Today, “you can check out not only a book or music, but something you can make music on,” Lent says. “We’ll probably always have books, but having unusual items and expanding what a library can be and do is the way we’re going.”
At Millis Public Library, patrons can check out items including binoculars, board games, sewing machines, pedometers, cake pans, metal detectors and even ukuleles (the latter is one of the library’s most popular items, according to Lent). For the sake of simplicity, every item (book or otherwise) at Millis Public Library carries a two-week lending period and a 10 cent per day late fee.
Meanwhile, the Baker County Library District in northeast Oregon lends items including a digital projector, GPS devices, telescope and, soon, a GoPro video camera. “It’s a trend in libraries across the country to not only meet the community’s recreational and intellectual needs, but to encourage digital literacy … for people who wouldn’t ordinarily have access to that digital technology,” says library director Perry Stokes.
Some university libraries are getting in on the action, too. For instance, the library at Montana State University offers laptops, cameras, projectors and more. Some public libraries also check out Wi-Fi hotspots, Kindles and tablets, which some people use while on vacation rather than lugging a suitcase full of books or paying for hotel Wi-Fi.
Janet Crystal, marketing communications manager for the Wilton Library in Wilton, Connecticut, says lending e-readers and tablets loaded with best-sellers gives patrons the chance to test them out for longer than they could in a store (up to three weeks). “We give them the opportunity to experiment with them, and now they’re starting to buy their own,” she says. “That shifts them to downloading free books through the library’s downloadable service.”
The Wilton Library’s telescope is another popular item that patrons can check out for a week. (They’re required to do a five-minute orientation before checking it out.) “We also loan media kits that contain books, DVDs and music centered on a theme such as a country, love of chocolate or stargazing,” Crystal adds. “We call them Mixed Bags, and they have become quite popular for date nights or girls’ nights out.” For instance, Wilton Library’s Chocolate Mixed Bag contains a chocolate cookbook by Christine McFadden, the moving “Chocolat” and the music CD “Paris: La Belle Epoque” by Yo-Yo Ma.
Beyond boosting digital literacy and fostering intellectual curiosity, lending these items also ties into the broader trend of collaborative consumption or the sharing economy. “Seldom-used tools like the stud finders or soil testers are great because you use them once or twice a year, so there’s no point in purchasing them yourself,” Lent says. He adds that a colleague in Brookline, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston where many residents live in small spaces, finds kitchen equipment to be in high demand. “[In Brookline], people have mostly apartments, and so they don’t want to have all this kitchen gear [when they’re not using it],” Lent explains.
Not surprisingly, the items offered by libraries often vary depending on the needs of their community. For instance, the Erie County Public Library in Pennsylvania lends fishing poles and tackle boxes, while the Petawawa Public Library in Ontario, Canada stocks adult and youth-sized snowshoes. After noticing that some patrons forgot their reading glasses, Stokes says his library added a small stock of reading glasses for in-library use. They also have knitting needles, since a knitting circle meets at the library.
Some libraries, like the Wilton Library, have also added makerspaces where patrons can experiment with 3-D printing, take a robotics class or convert VHS tapes to digital format. “Libraries are so much more than what people probably had in mind that they were when they were growing up,” Crystal says. “We just have so much going on, and it really becomes the heart of the community.”
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Beyond Books: Why Some Libraries Now Lend Tools, Toys and More originally appeared on usnews.com
