Playing off the popular term Internet of Things, in which everything you can imagine from refrigerators to cars is networked, Wellesley Free Library is building up a select Library of Things for loan. To emphasize this point, the library has been showcasing one of its cake pans for loan at its main desk.
“It’s not terribly unusual for libraries to loan items other than print and audio-visual media,” says Elise MacLennan, assistant director at the library. “Did you know that Olin College students can borrow tools like drill bits from their library?”
You can even borrow things like device chargers and adapters while your within the confines of the Wellesley Free Library.
As for items you might not realize you can take home: binoculars, board games, jigsaw puzzles, kits (such as this one for backyard nature surveying), kill-a-watt meters for measuring appliance electrical use, and even ukuleles.
Plans for a telescope and microscope are in the works, and more kits on themes such as bicycling are also under consideration, MacLennan says.
Wellesley Free Library loans out hundreds of thousands of items each year.
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