Michigan libraries lend more than books: Kayaks, canoes, tools, pans and a sewing machine

Libraries across Michigan are no longer just about books, magazines, movies and drag-queen story times.

Library patrons can check out kayaks and canoes from a library in the Upper Peninsula, or snowshoes from the Clinton-Macomb Public Library. Then there's the sewing machine at the Ferndale Area District Library, or board games and vinyl records at the Royal Oak Public Library.

Libraries call these their Libraries of Things, and their collections often include tools, seeds, musical instruments, board games, pots and pans, and kits for candle-making, jewelry-making, canning — even hunting down Bigfoot or ghosts. (Those last two kits are available from the Clinton-Macomb Public Library.)

"Your library card is the smartest card in your wallet," according to a brochure about the Novi Public Library.

The Novi library, on 10 Mile Road, does not have a library of things, but it does have a collection of magnifying equipment for checkout. Displayed near the large-print book collection, Novi offers hand-held magnifiers — helpful for reading prescriptions, lists of ingredients, thermostats and price tags, and stand magnifiers — for those with tremors or who aren't strong enough to hold a hand-held instrument for any length of time.

Many libraries also have "maker spaces" with three-dimensional printers, embroidery machines, laser cutters, and other equipment. They can convert family photos and slides into a digital format, and in the case of the Baldwin Public Library, build a scale model of an ocean liner, embroider linens, or engrave wine glasses or a cheese board.

Maker spaces, art collections

Staff at the Idea Lab inside the Baldwin library in Birmingham were also able to use their 3D printer to build a piece of a kitchen stove that had broken off, saving the owner the cost of a new appliance, said associate director Jaclyn Miller.

Librarians say the expansion to Libraries of Things, maker spaces, and other amenities, such as Novi's Read-a-Latte Cafe (serves Starbucks) and its art collection, including 1,600 tiles that depict the story of the universe from the beginning, is all about staying relevant.

But there's another benefit: the planet. Why buy a cake pan that will be used just once, then tossed and destined for a landfill, when you can check one out from the library?

The collections also allow would-be musicians to try out a new instrument before investing in one, or do-it-yourselfers the tools needed for an odd job around the house. And the creative kits in Novi allow library patrons the chance to try a new hobby — calligraphy or macrame — while they are in the building.

One of the best deals may be the four kayaks and three canoes that can be checked out for a day or two from the DeTour Area Schools and Public Library. Summer visitors to the community on Lake Huron in the far eastern corner of the Upper Peninsula can get one of these watercraft with a seasonal library card that costs $25 — and all but $5 of that is refunded if everything is returned, said Lisa Waskin, district director for the Superior District Library, a network of eight libraries on the east side of the Upper Peninsula.

"More and more people are realizing how much a library card can really offer a user," said Jeff Milo, marketing coordinator for the Ferndale Area District Library.

The Royal Oak Public Library's board games, puzzles, vinyl records, and record players are especially popular, said director Sandy Irwin.

Patrons, she said, "love that crackling sound when you set the needle down on the record. From beginning to end, you're getting the whole experience when listening to vinyl."

Wi-Fi hotspots and giant TVs

At the Clinton-Macomb Public Library, the Library of Things collection is mostly displayed on the second floor of the main library, on Romeo Plank in Clinton Township. One of the most popular items is Wi-Fi hot spots that can be borrowed and used anywhere in the continental U.S., convenient for vacationing families. But the wait can be long. The library also offers a party kit with a projector and a giant flat-screen TV for a movie night in your backyard. Most items can be checked out for two weeks, and some can be reserved.

Policies on holds, checkout lengths, and damaged returns vary from library to library.

Beyond their libraries of things and maker spaces, public libraries offer programs in their communities, such as the Ferndale library's movie trivia night, a book club that meets in a local brewery, and a puzzle tournament at yet another brewery.

"No one needs a library card to attend one of our events," said Milo of the Ferndale Area District Library.

And don't forget about the librarians themselves — information specialists who can sort through confusing or contradictory information and "check out the facts," Milo said.

"We are here to help you get good, verified information," Irwin said. And it's all free — the fact-checking, the access to newspapers that charge to view stories, access to a computer itself, or just a place to sit and do a puzzle or read a magazine.

"There's no place else in society where you can do that."

She said Royal Oak allows homeless people to rest in the library.

Library innovations extend to the Braille and Talking Book Library, a nationwide network of libraries originally set up in 1931 for veterans who were blinded in World War I. One of the latest additions is a Braille e-reader. Available in Michigan since April 2023, the device allows users to read in Braille, as opposed to listening to an audiobook, and holds hundreds of Braille books, said Scott Norris, manager of the Braille and Talking Book Library in Lansing.

About the size of a thick paperback, the device is free to qualified Braille readers.

Norris said more than 300 of these readers have been distributed statewide. (For more information contact 800-992-9012 during regular business hours.)

Recipients of the reader must read Braille and be blind, visually impaired, physically disabled and unable to hold a book or manipulate the pages, or have a "print" disability such as dyslexia.

A place to learn something new

Debbie Mikula, executive director of the Michigan Library Association, said libraries began moving beyond lending books at least a decade ago, evolving along with the rest of the world. But they also remain "community spaces, places to study, read and learn something new."

"As the world turns, so do libraries," she said. She said libraries are one of the last public places where people can connect with others, alongside fireplaces and in lounge chairs, no longer just at desks or tables.

"We're not your Grandma's library anymore," Waskin said. "We're beyond books."

Contact Jennifer Dixon: jbdixon@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan libraries lend kayaks, cake pans, tools, craft kits, more