www.montereycountynow.com september 19-25, 2024 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 19 Taking up a new hobby or hosting a birthday party can be fun, but it can also be pricey. Maybe you are curious about kitchen supplies like custom cookie cutters or a pasta maker or an ice cream maker, but not sure you will use it again, or don’t have space to store it in the kitchen. It can also be expensive, especially for something that might not make it into the regular rotation for use in the long run. Instead of putting a rain check on cooking aspirations, locals can now go to the library. Pacific Grove Public Library now loans out more than 30 kitchen items, including a rice cooker, a pasta machine, cookie cutters and cake pans in unique shapes. This is in addition to its collection of more traditional library essentials, like books, DVDs and magazines. Last year, PGPL launched its kitchen tool collection. The idea germinated in 2022, starting with brainstorming on what to do with a surplus budget the library had and the librarians’ intentions to attract more teens to the library. Since Pacific Grove High School has a strong culinary arts program, they thought cooking utensils would be the right call. Putting together a kitchen tool collection took a lot of trial and error. It started with a list of potential items, followed by a trial period from staff members and volunteers to make sure each item was safe and easy to use. After receiving feedback, they finalized the list. A cotton candy machine didn’t make the cut, but the ice cream maker and pressure cooker did. “Libraries are always responding to what their community needs,” says Diana Godwin, Pacific Grove Public Library interim director. Libraries in Pacific Grove and beyond have become a jack of all trades. Through books, readers can learn about other cultures and travel to imaginary worlds. People can also sign out e-books and audiobooks with a library card, no need to show up in person. Libraries also serve as physical community spaces where people meet to study, socialize or attend workshops to learn new topics and skills. Increasingly, they are also a space where people can sign out materials needed for the new skills they are reading about in books—backpacks to enjoy the great outdoors, toys to play with or pans to bake a cake. “We try to make it as relevant for the immediate community as possible,” says Ernesto Lizaola, community education manager at Salinas Public Library. Libraries have diversified what they offer on their shelves, and they keep evolving as those community needs change. “People have been calling it the death knell of libraries for decades, and we just continue to rise like a phoenix,” Godwin says. “We just keep re-creating ourselves.” The idea of a library of things has been around for decades. In Berkeley, the Berkeley Public Library has offered tools in its catalog since 1979. It started with $30,000 from a federal Community Development Block Grant. That was enough for 500 tools; the collection today has more than 3,500 items for carpentry, plumbing and cooking utensils like air fryers and ice cream makers. It also offers workshops for DIY projects, gardening and home maintenance. Claire Bresnahan, a Pacific Grove resident who previously lived in Oakland, used to check out tools from the local library for her DIY projects. “I would check out a hammer or a saw, and it was just such a fantastic community resource,” Bresnahan says. One goal of offering a library of things is to offer patrons a chance to “try it before you buy it;” another is to address community needs and accessibility, helping eliminate cost barriers to certain enrichment activities. “It’s a good way to get a trial basis,” Lizaola says. “Try it out: Do I like it? Do I enjoy it? It eliminates that barrier of having to buy a tent, which could be up to a couple-hundred dollars.” Another objective is to help people avoid buying unnecessary stuff that they might only use once or twice, instead creating a shared community resource. “For those temporary needs, you don’t need to own this forever. You need it once or twice and so you can borrow it from us,” says Hillary Theyer, director of Monterey County Free Libraries. “We’re always looking at the needs, and sometimes the needs walk in the door.” For example, Lunch at the Library began in Oakland in 2011, when librarians noticed their youngest patrons, some of whom stayed for hours at the library, didn’t have lunch or snacks. A decade ago, MCFL began its own Lunch at the Library program, which expanded during the pandemic. In 2022, MCFL provided 13,702 meals. Pacific Grove offers framed lithographs, which librarians say is a good way to decide what type of vibe someone wants in their home, with a short (and free) trial period. Bresnahan has checked two lithographs from the P.G. library, including a large, gold-framed reproduction of “Garden Path at Giverny,” a 1902 piece by impressionist painter Claude Monet. The image features a lively Public libraries are transforming from a destination for books into a one-stop-shop for anything you might need. By Celia Jiménez Pacific Grove Public Library offers a library of things alongside books. The collection includes (clockwise from top left) backpacks with science kits, kids’ toys and cooking utensils. Daniel Dreifuss
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAzNjQ1NQ==