SOUTH DEERFIELD — Do you need a sewing machine for a project after yours broke? Did you misplace your snowshoes on a beautiful winter day? The Tilton Library has got you covered.
Through its Library of Things program, the library offers a variety of items that patrons can borrow for a few weeks and try at no cost, before deciding if they’d like to buy their own elsewhere.
“We feel it’s a growing movement across libraries,” said Director Candace Bradbury-Carlin. “The day of the shushing is over. You can have a quiet space, but there’s also that buzz of activities.”
Right now, anyone with a library card can walk into the Tilton Library and walk out with a mandolin, a Wi-Fi hotspot or a cornhole set, among many other items through the Library of Things program, which began near the end of 2019 and picked up momentum during the pandemic when many people were isolating and looking for new activities to explore at home.
“Every day people are borrowing something from the Library of Things,” she said.
The Library of Things, Bradbury-Carlin said, is part of the evolution of libraries in the 21st century to move beyond books. She noted that libraries have always had an emphasis on community, and in 2022, that means providing outlets for people to borrow creative, useful and free resources.
“The whole library is one big reference desk,” she said. “It’s a hub for information, community and sharing. I could go on and on — there’s almost nothing a library can’t do.”
Additionally, Bradbury-Carlin said the Library of Things is good for the environment because it lets someone sample something without buying it, thus preventing them from possibly using it only once or twice and then throwing it away.
“These are always circulating, so it’s sustainable,” she said.
In the future, Bradbury-Carlin hopes to add more items to the collection, including basic tools for home use, along with wheelbarrows and other bulky tools.
“We can only do so much with limited space,” Bradbury-Carlin said. That could potentially change, though, as the library has just received a $3.94 million grant from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, which would help the town expand and renovate the library.
The Library of Things is one way the Tilton Library is “spreading its wings” into the 21st century, as it explores digital content including e-books and streaming movies. On top of that, the library is also hosting several events over the summer, including Monday Night Music, which kicked off July 11.