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An orbital sander will be one of the items that patrons of the Roseville Public Library will be able to check out in the coming weeks. The item is part of the “library of things” collection.
New items, including a keyboard and karaoke machine pictured here, will be available for patrons of the Roseville Public Library to check out in the coming weeks.
ROSEVILLE — Ever want to play your grandma’s old records, but don’t feel like buying a record player? Want to see if your kid likes playing the keyboard before sinking hundreds of dollars into it? How about having a karaoke party?
The Roseville Public Library is set to unveil its “library of things” collection to patrons in July. Items available to check out include a boombox (with a CD and cassette player), an external CD drive, a record player, a karaoke machine, a radon detector, a memory card reader, a label maker, an orbital sander and a soil tester.
“Things you maybe don’t use often or you don’t want to invest the money into,” Leigh Romano, a librarian who put the collection together, said of the collection’s items.
Romano said the items are an offshoot of the curiosity kits that the library already offers. While the library of things is not available yet, it will be soon. Romano said patrons should check in with the library to get updates about when the collection will be available.
“We’ve just purchased them and have to do the processing of getting the labels and getting the catalog record ready to go into our system,” she said.
Patrons can also suggest what items they would like to see in the collection.
“I’m trying to order things based on people’s interest in them,” Romano said. “For right now, I’m getting things people have mentioned to me or that other libraries have. I’m open to suggestions.”
Outside of the collection, the library offers a variety of items for checkout other than books. Items include vinyl records, CDs, board games, literacy kits for kids, STEM kits for older kids and memory kits for adults struggling with memory issues. Curiosity kits are also available for those who want to try out things ranging from ghost hunting to knitting. “STEM” stands for “science, technology, engineering and math.”
Library Director Jacalynn Harvey said that one patron checked out the knitting kit after losing a headband while skiing. The library even provided the yarn in the kit.
“She took the kit home and knitted one,” Harvey said. “She wore it in to show us and said, ‘It’s perfect for skiing.’”
When the collection is available, it will be only for Roseville residents; however, Romano said this could change in the future. For more information or to suggest items to be added to the collection, call (586) 445-5407.
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