Library of Things Offers Patrons Some Needed -- and Unique -- Items To Borrow

Have a hankering to try a little bocce on the back lawn with summer guests?

Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a decent telescope to get a better view of Jupiter in the night’s sky?

Or maybe you are just in the mood to make a good-old fashioned Bundt cake, the kind your grandmother used to bake — only you don’t have the right kind of cake pan in your kitchen.

To find what you need, you might start by running to the store or scouring yard sales. You might try your luck on eBay, or turn to Amazon.com.

More and more often, though, you could just visit your local library.

Over the past decade, libraries have begun to radically expand the types of things they lend out to patrons. We’re talking WiFi hotspots, blood pressure screening kits, board games from Monopoly to Risk, microscopes, record players, vintage game consoles, and even thermal leak detectors just in case you want to pinpoint the source of that draft come winter.

The collections, offered under the loose title “the library of things,” typically reflect the whims and wishes of a given library staff and its patrons. So, you wouldn’t necessarily be surprised to learn that a library in Maine lends out snowshoes, or that the Southold Free Library gets plenty of calls for the fishing rods it keeps in stock from people who want to take their grandchildren snapper fishing.

Tracking down that “Eureka!” moment when some librarian somewhere thought it might be a good idea to lend out ukuleles is nigh impossible.

According to American Libraries Magazine, as early as 1904, the Newark Public Library loaned reproductions of famous paintings, so its patrons could presumably gaze at Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch” or DeVinci’s “Mona Lisa” from the comfort of their living room couch in the days before radio. But whether it was the first library to think beyond books is open to debate.

Other early examples are “the library of tools” that the Grosse Pointe Library in Michigan established during World War II, when the war effort led to shortages of garden and home tools. The collection, which was first opened to the public in 1943, remains active today.

“We certainly didn’t invent it,” said Lisa Michne, the director of the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton, but her library was an early participant, starting with beach chairs and cake pans under former Director Kelly Harris. “Libraries have always been about loaning things,” Michne added, “and now, we are just going with a new trend.”

It’s comforting to know that Bridgehampton has sewing machines if you happen to tear a seam in your favorite skinny jeans before a big date. But it also has DVD players, board games, outdoor games, and caregiver kits, which include puzzles, painting kits, and other games to help people with memory loss.

“There’s also a green aspect to it,” Michne said. “We have random things you might not want to purchase just to use them for a short time.”

Harris, who is now the director of the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor, also couldn’t put her finger on the moment when the library of things became a thing.

“It was something that just sort of started popping up all over the country,” she said. “If you worked in a library and read the journals and magazines, you started to hear these stories.”

One of the earliest examples she could recall was a library that circulated neckties so men would have a tie to wear to job interviews.

In Sag Harbor, the Roku stick, which allows a user to watch video from streaming service on their televisions, is currently a hot-ticket item.

“Sometimes, you want to try something before you go out and buy it,” Harris said, pointing to items like those Roku sticks or the podcast studio the library has in its collection. “Other times, they might be things you need only once but don’t want to have them cluttering up your house,” pointing to things like air quality monitors, laser levels, luggage scales, and other handy items — like the car diagnostic tool that will tell you if your check engine light is on because the gas cap is loose or if, instead, the catalytic converter is failing.

Most libraries limit their library of things collection to local cardholders and impose limits on how long you can keep them. In Bridgehampton, for instance, you can only keep that sewing machine for three days, so if you are planning to make new drapes, you better be prepared. On the other hand, a patron would be expected to hold on to a blood pressure screening kit for a full month to establish a proper baseline.

Mara Zonderman, director of adult services for the Westhampton Free Library, which has its own growing collection including African drums, STEAM kits for kids, and DVD and CD players, said it has developed almost randomly but is sometimes overlooked by patrons.

“You see that such and such library has something and think, we should have one of those, too,” she said. “But one of the things we deal with is people don’t know what we have. It’s like our other services — if it’s going to be a success, you have to get the word out.”

The Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton advertises its library of things prominently on its website. At Rogers, the focus is on summer fun, with some of the items available for loan including volleyball and badminton sets, ring toss games, big sprinklers, and a giant “Happy Birthday!” sign that is ideal for a child’s birthday.

“It reflects the community,” said Beth Gates, who heads the library’s reference department and oversees the collection. “A lot of people visit here for the season, and they may want to use something at their rental or when they go to the beach for the day.”

Rogers also stocks family-themed games, Kindles, Chromebooks and Wi-Fi hotspots. “You want to add something that someone might really want,” she said of what the library decides to add to its collection.

Other items fall between the cracks of whether or not they should be considered part of the library of things.

Many libraries, including Bridgehampton’s, lend out museum passes, so you can visit the Parrish Art Museum or the South Fork Natural History Museum, locally, or travel to New York City to visit the Museum of Natural History or the Frick Collection, among others.

Other libraries have seed catalogs, where you can pick and choose from a wide selection of seeds each month during the growing season. At the Westhampton Free Library, they have taken it a step further with a monthly spice club, and plans for a pollinator garden, where patrons will be able to help themselves to cuttings.

In Hampton Bays, the library has a small collection of special items, said Director Stephanie McEvoy, but is gearing up for expansion.

“Some of the things have been donated over time, and we want to populate the collection with more modern things,” she said.

To find out what its patrons want, the library has asked them to fill out a survey. “We are getting lots of feedback,” she said. “They are asking for things like coolers, badminton sets and tennis rackets.” For now, you’ll have to make do with bike locks, ukuleles or crock pots.

Denise DiPaolo, the director of the Montauk Library, already has a library of toys and is expanding its library of things now that it has completed a major renovation project. One of the items she plans to order is a bicycle tire pump. Before you ask why, know that another librarian, on hearing that, said she was going to steal the idea and buy one for her own library.

Montauk also has folding chairs and three big coffee urns. “It’s the kind of thing you’d use if you were having a big family party,” DiPaolo said of the urns. “But do you want to buy one and take up all that space in your closet?”

Most libraries tread carefully when it comes to things that could take off a finger or poke out an eye. So don’t expect to find a Daisy Red Ryder BB Gun, or a bow-and-arrow set, anytime soon. Nor, for that matter, bicycles or inline skates, although some have fretted that even a genteel game like croquet could cause liability concerns.

Generally, though, it’s things like circular saws or power drills that you’re probably better off shopping for at your local hardware store.

“We definitely shy away from things like power tools,” said Zonderman.