Want to know if playing the ukulele, studying the night skies or tracking birds is your thing?
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A new initiative at a Seminole County library may help.
The county opened its new “Library of Things” on Aug. 31, which allows residents to borrow common items — such as musical instruments, telescopes or binoculars — to take home and explore.
It’s an effort to expand the offerings of the public library, long known mostly as a place to check out books, movie DVDs and music CDs, said Christine Patten, Seminole County’s library services manager.
“It’s just another way of reaching people,” she said.
It also comes as the circulation of traditional library materials and library visits has dropped nationwide. The library of things, an initiative used in other libraries across the country, aims to help change that.
“What we hope to do is provide physical things that help you develop new skills and experiential learning,” Patten said.
“How cool is it to take a telescope outside, look at the moon. And then go get a book and read about it and say: ‘Oh wow, I just saw that,’” she said while standing in front of a table covered with an assortment of items ready to be checked out at the Jean Rhein Central Branch Library in Casselberry.
There were birding backpacks, ukuleles, small robotic balls that teach computer coding, blood pressure kits and a variety of American Girls dolls from a collection that teaches young students about history.
The things can be borrowed by adults with valid library cards for two weeks — just like books. You’ll also be charged a late fee if you don’t return them on time.
It’s not a new concept.
The first Library of Things in the United States likely started more than a century ago when St. Louis residents could go to their local library in 1894 and borrow tennis rackets and board games, according to the Christian Science Monitor. In the 1930s, the Los Angeles Public Library added thousands of used toys to its catalog.
But the initiative has seen a resurgence nationwide in recent years, as the public institutions try to offer more services to appeal to adults and children in the modern, fast-evolving digital age.
In 2013, the Sacramento Public Library in California made a range of things, from energy meters to sewing machines to power tools, available to its patrons. That led to hundreds of libraries doing the same, after such initiatives won support from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, as part of a national campaign to reintroduce people to their community’s libraries.
The Orange County Library System kicked off its version last year. It currently offers a variety of kits to learn about the sciences and arts — including biology, pollinating insects, measuring light, crocheting and knitting. It also has blood pressure monitors and a disc golf set.
Public libraries across the country, including Seminole’s, have been expanding offerings for learning — such as story time for children — as a way to show their value to the community, according to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
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At the same time, the circulation of traditional reading, audio and video materials at public libraries nationwide dropped between 2010 and 2022, and visits to libraries fell dramatically during that same time period, according to data from the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ annual Public Library Survey.
Seminole County purchased the items for its library of things using about $15,000 from a $50,000 contribution the nonprofit Friends of the Seminole County Library System made to the county.
The remaining $35,000 of that donation is designated by the county to help pay for the library’s summer reading programs for young students, puppeteer and magician shows for young children, and other events at the five branch libraries.
Currently, the new collection is displayed on the first floor of the Jean Rhein branch, at 215 N. Oxford Road in Casselberry. Residents also can reserve items online through the library’s website, and they will be delivered within days to a nearby branch for them to pick it up.
After the items are returned, library staff will spruce them up and make them available again.
Patten said she hopes to expand on Seminole’s current collection in the coming months. Future items would be focused toward science, education and history — for example, metal detectors, microscopes and biology kits.
“But no power tools,” she said, because of the danger. Nor cooking items either — such as cake pans or skillets — because those can be easily and affordably purchased at most retail stores.
Oviedo resident Rachel Rosado curiously walked into Seminole’s new library of things last week after seeing a sign. She said the program “would be wonderful” for parents who homeschool their children or who could not afford to buy items for their curious kids.
“These are not cheap,” she said, pointing to the American Girl dolls and accompanying history books. A doll and book package costs $175 on the American Girl website.
That’s the idea behind the initiative, said Lisette Wheeler, a volunteer with the friends of the library group.
“It gives them a chance to experience something new, maybe learn something new, without going out and buying it,” she said.
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