{"id":35554,"date":"2024-12-12T15:07:06","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T20:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=35554"},"modified":"2024-12-19T15:36:31","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T20:36:31","slug":"library-of-things-takes-aurora-public-library-beyond-books-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/library-of-things-takes-aurora-public-library-beyond-books-media\/","title":{"rendered":"Library of Things takes Aurora Public Library beyond books, media"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Aurora Public Library has long-challenged the idea of being a place just to check out a book or for quiet study; now it\u2019s a place that can help you get your household projects done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This month, the Aurora Public Library (APL) is excited to roll out its \u201cLibrary of Things,\u201d a new collection of tools, small appliances, and much more that card-holders can check out for up to two weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While a Library of Things is not a new concept, it\u2019s a first for the APL and one that has been spearheaded by Victoria Dillon, APL\u2019s Manager of Access and Collections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dillon says the initiative will be \u201creally life-changing for some people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe idea of the Library of Things is kind of the same ethos as the Library itself: you borrow a book, it\u2019s all about sharing and borrowing. Here, you\u2019re borrowing something you can use,\u201d says Dillon. \u201cA lot of other York Region libraries have already got on this and we\u2019re almost late to this, I think.  At APL, we\u2019re not a traditional library; the library is pretty loud and it\u2019s not that silent place you think of growing up. We\u2019re always trying to be non-traditional, I think, and having this non-traditional collection is something we should have had a long time ago, frankly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acquiring items for the Library of Things will be an ongoing process, and members of the public are encouraged to reach out with suggestions of what they would like to see up for grabs, but as the program launches, they have 15 items available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These include a digital camera, a Cricut machine, speakers, and drawing pad that users can connect to their computers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more outdoorsy patrons, there are snowshoes, walking poles, a telescope, a gardening set, fishing rods, compact camping tents, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had a feeling our community was probably going to other libraries to get these things,\u201d says Dillon. \u201cNow I\u2019m in the middle of collecting information from our community as well, and we have a lot of suggestions, which is awesome. Our wish list is strong and we\u2019re just starting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One suggestion has been the addition of a drone, which Dillon says \u201cwe don\u2019t know if legally we can do that,\u201d along with a leaf blower, which is a more feasible option. Also considered for the future are children\u2019s toys, but boardgames might be a challenge from a maintenance standpoint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of libraries have boardgames, and that is great, but something like a boardgame is really tough to maintain the quality of \u2013 you\u2019re going to lose Monopoly money, you\u2019re going to lose the figurines, and having a staff member sit down and count each Monopoly dollar I don\u2019t think is a valuable use of time,\u201d says Dillon, noting they have a budget mandate of nothing over $1,000 at this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Objects that ultimately end up in the Library of Things have to be easily maintained by staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Library of Things rolls out, patrons will be able to initially check out items for 14 days, a difference from the 21 days allowed for a book, and you can renew how long you have each item up to five times if there are no other holds in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re going away for three weeks and nobody wants the hiking poles, you can renew it again and still use it on your trip,\u201d says Dillon. \u201cThese are meant to be shared and we don\u2019t want someone taking it for months and not being able to renew it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are totally open for suggestions. We have an email for suggestions and we will be happy to take any electronic suggestions as well. We want to build [the Library of Things] so it is things that people actually want. We started with things with a community pulse to see what it would be like and this is the first part of it. We really want to make it so it is made by the community not by us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTest it out, see how it works, and we would love to have you as a member to borrow everything we offer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Aurora Public Library has long-challenged the idea of being a place just to check out a book or for quiet study; now it\u2019s a place that can help you get your household projects done. This month, the Aurora Public Library (APL) is excited to roll out its \u201cLibrary of Things,\u201d a new collection of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":35555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/2024-12-12-02.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9fs","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 13:03:59","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35554"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35556,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35554\/revisions\/35556"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}