What is the strangest thing you have ever checked out from a library? (And I do mean “thing”).
Recently my wife came home from the University City Public Library with an Instant Pot, an unusually versatile kitchen appliance. She had requested it a few days earlier from the library in just the same way you would reserve a book. While it makes sense that someone would prefer to take a “try before you buy” approach with an item like this, it is a little surprising that a local library is the go-to place for it. In addition to Instant Pots, the library also loans out ice cream makers, donut makers, and spiralizers.
In an interview, Patrick Wall, director of University City Public Library, told me that one way the library thinks about its kitchen equipment program is that it helps patrons increase their “food literacy” and life skills.
Additionally, University City Public Library allows patrons to borrow other exotic objects such as fishing poles, binoculars, and telescopes. St. Louis County Library has a growing list of non-traditional items, including guitars, bongos, ukeleles, and xylophones, while St. Charles’ library system offers board games and lawn games, such as cornhole and croquet sets. Some libraries even offer the loan of neckties (in case you have a job interview), GoPro cameras, home improvement tools, and high-quality framed art for your house.
This approach is part of a larger international movement called “the library of things.”
David Kates, Priory’s librarian, said the purpose of some local libraries has evolved in recent years into something more like a community center and, in doing so, moved away from a narrower mission focused on loaning books. Priory’s non-traditional items are mostly technological — SD cards, flash drives, microphones, and sound mixers — and these are available to teachers and students alike. Kates said, “Libraries have to serve the needs of their patron: a library serves no purpose if no one uses it.”
“Libraries are the perfect sharing space, part of the sharing economy,” he said.
Kates believes “the library of things” approach is not just a passing fad and he predicted that it is a model that “will grow and grow.”
Back at University City’s library, Patrick Wall said its patrons have been almost universally enthusiastic about the library’s expansion of its mission. However, the expansion into non-traditional items has raised eyebrows among some legislators who authorize the public spending that supports libraries in Missouri.
“But in reality,” said Wall, “many of the financial costs are borne by other organizations.”
For example, the telescopes and binoculars were gifted by the St. Louis Astronomical Society as part of its outreach program while the fishing poles are part of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources program. The kitchen equipment loan program is funded by a grant from the state of Missouri.
Wall said the “library of things” model is not so much a radical rebranding but a “natural evolution” of what libraries can do for their communities.
The next time you are at a library, ask directly what unusual objects they have to loan out. On library websites look specifically for the phrase “the library of things” and when browsing the catalogue, see what happens if you narrow your search to “three dimensional object” — you might be surprised what you find.
