Emily and Audrey Nguyen. Abiba Biao Photos.
Second-grader Audrey Nguyen was on the hunt for a copy of “Slamwich,” a card game where players race to flip and stack a pile of cards to create a sandwich. When she didn’t find it, she settled for a copy of “Guess Who?,” a family favorite in her grandparents’ house. Thanks to a new program at the library, she'd be able to temporarily take it home—just like a book.
“It’s fun and it’s something that all the family can do,” she said.
With help from her mom, Emily Nguyen, Audrey was able to check out the game last Thursday at the new "Library of Things" in the Ives Main Library. The collection, which made its debut last week, holds an array of items including audio and visual equipment, baking and kitchen utensils, games and puzzles, health and wellness equipment, household tools, and learning kits.
It’s part of a national trend in libraries collecting miscellaneous and unconventional materials and tools to provide to patrons. Rory Martorana, public service administrator at the Ives Main Branch, said that the Library of Things was in the works dating back to 2020, inspired by the previous public service administrator Gina Bingham. When Bingham left the library, Martorana continued to nurture the seeds she had planted.
Rory Martorana and Alexandria Robison
She credits an entire team with the library’s collection, Martorana said. Working alongside Community Technology Librarian Rose Simpson, Ives Squared Manager Jennifer Gargiulo, and Library Tech Assistant Kenzie Morrison, the team set out to amass materials that range from board games to cake pans (the library lent out baking equipment for years before 2020, but that initiative was temporarily on hold during the first years of the Covid-19 pandemic).
Depending on the program’s success, the Library of Things may also be expanded to other branch locations.
For now, it is a natural extension of the library’s services, including the branch’s popular Tinker Lab. Some items that patrons routinely requested in the Tinker Lab—microphones and audio equipment, for instance—are now a part of the Library of Things.
“We had a lot of resources for people to use in the space, and then we definitely saw an interest in people wanting to take it home, especially things like the sewing machines or longer term creative projects,” said Alexandria Robison, business and nonprofit librarian at the Ives Main Branch. “And so we wanted to give people the opportunity to do that.”
She also referenced other special borrowing initiatives such as seed libraries, a resource for those looking to grow their own vegetables, herbs or flowers. Seed libraries currently exist at the Wilson, Mitchell and Fair Haven Branches.
“All of those really show, like, the diversity that libraries are,” Robison said, “ We’re knowledge bases and [are all] about building knowledge, and that looks like so many different things these days.”
Audio and visual equipment that will soon be ready for check out in early spring.
Currently, cake pans and board games are the only items available for borrowing. These items can be checked out for a maximum duration of three weeks and cannot be renewed.
All other materials in the collection are set to be in circulation in early spring. Martorana added that the borrowing agreement for these materials are still in flux. Items from the Library of Things can only be checked-out using adult NHFPL cards and patrons must sign a borrowing agreement.
Ives Squared is also taking donations to the Library of Things, with the exception of power tools.
While Audrey examined the board game section, Nguyen took time to view the collection as a whole. After hearing about the Library of Things online, Nguyen knew she wanted to make a visit as soon as possible.
“We were visiting family last summer out of state, and their library had a library of things, and I had never heard of that before, and I thought it was really cool,” Nguyen said. “So when I saw that they were starting one here, I wanted to know what they were gonna have.”
A teacher at Roberto-Clemente Leadership Academy, Nguyen regularly takes her students to the Hill-basedWilson Branch of the NHFPL, but has also set her eyes on the Ives Main library as a field trip destination. She said that she turned in her permission form earlier that day and is in the process of arranging the trip.
“I want to expose, especially my eighth graders, to the unique resources at Ives Branch that they can't necessarily get at their local branch and this is, like, a really good example of different things that would interest them,” she said.
For Vanessa Ayala, a Texas transplant who recently moved to New Haven, the Ives Branch has served as a place for her to find community during her transition. During her weekly branch visits, she scopes out the resources and programs, noting the vast resources like the 3D printer and laser cutter in the Tinker Lab.
“Back home, we didn't have this in our libraries,” she said. “Maybe probably in the bigger ones, like within the city, but at least where I lived in the suburbs, we didn't have all these resources.”
While Ayala didn’t check out anything, she hopes to check-out an embroidery machine when it becomes available and expressed her interest in trying new hobbies from the Library of Things, particularly sewing, knitting, embroidery, and crocheting. She also urged people to get their library cards.
“Just see what they have to offer. I mean, it never hurts. It's something free to do, and it's always available.”