I often mention that the library is more than books and it’s true! We’re a hub for a lot of interests and tasks. We’re the only place in town with free, 24/7 accessible WiFi. We’re the cheapest place to print and fax. We’ve also got our wireless printing option via Princh now, so you don’t even need to use our computers if you have access to what you’re printing via your smart device. Beyond that, we also have a Library of Things.
When you think of the library, the common items that come to mind are books, DVDs, audiobooks, music, and magazines. As time goes on, we see less and less use of our CDs and magazines. Even our audiobooks use is lowering, due to the ease of use and extensive collection available via Libby. (I’m not complaining about this –I love audiobooks from Libby! No swapping discs in the car, one-touch downloads, great selection of indie authors…). Magazines are also available on Libby, if you didn’t know. And so many of us stream our music through platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, or even just playlists on YouTube.
What else do we offer though?
SO MANY THINGS.
The most obvious and hard to ignore items are our card games, puzzles, and sports equipment. I began soliciting donations and even added some of my own personal collection games to the library for circulation, starting in 2020. Of course, then the pandemic happened. Luckily, the games are searchable in the MORE Online Catalog. Anyone with a MORE library card can place a hold and have our games and puzzles sent to their library. We’ve also added a bunch of new jigsaw puzzles thanks to generosity of a patron who gave us several dozen. We even shared with Augusta!
Some of these games include favorites like UNO (and did you know about the sequel game DOS?), Yahtzee!, and Phase 10. Super fun family titles like Dutch Blitz, Trash Pandas, Zeus on the Loose, and (my personal favorite) Sleeping Queens. Plus, some unusual titles like Space Team (SO MUCH SHOUTING!), The Mind, and Gloom (which is a grim storytelling game that is a lot of fun, I swear!). We also have a non-circulating collection for Open Play gaming programs that includes titles like Munchkin (and several of It’s other editions), Dragonwood, Kingdomino, and Ticket to Ride. So, keep that in mind the next time you see a flyer or announcement for an Open Play day! You can also see this (maybe a LITTLE outdated) Master List of Games.
Next up are our Role Play Game Kits. Our most popular one is the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Kit. We also have several other popular core book sets including FATE and Starfinder. Some lesser-known titles include Paleolithic and Kobolds Ate My Baby!!!!. There is something for every age level when it comes to role play games and every kit includes a core book, laminated character sheets, dice, dry erase markers, and a folder with some basic game plot ideas. These are great for a rainy weekend, or even starting a long-term gaming group. We have other RPG books on the shelf, over in the 796 area of Nonfiction, in both the adult and kid collections.
If you’re more of an Outdoorsy person, we’ve got you covered too. Thanks to a Packer Foundation Grant that the Friends of the Library received in 2020, we now have sports and outdoor game equipment. Some of my personal favorite items are the Yard Dice, Bocce, and Croquet sets. We also have a couple of nets and racket options for badminton and tennis, as well as the new American favorite: pickleball! If you’re headed to the park and are looking for a basketball, volleyball, or football –we’ve got you covered there too. Want to play catch or practice your swing? We’ve got baseball and softball equipment too
Crafting wise, we have a Needle felting kit and an embroidery kit. They live over near the games, typically. We also received a donation of stamps, for cardmaking and scrapbooking. They are on a rack near the New Books and are divided up by theme. We don’t include any ink pads, so be aware of that!
Lastly, we have some tech that we loan out. We have a Job Seeker Kit, which includes one of our older Chromebooks, a ring light, a headset, mouse, and a resume building book. We visualized this as a good tool for a person to use to work on not just resumes and fill out applications without the time limits of our public computers, but also to do online interviews and zoom meetings during the pandemic. We were able to put it together thanks to a grant from the Chippewa Foundation.
We also have draft checkers and power meters, thanks to Xcel Energy. If you have concerns about your home’s energy efficiency, we’d love to have you check these out!
Lastly, but certainly not least, I most recently purchased an external portable PC CD/DVD drive and a 3 1/2” Floppy Disc drive. Many of you likely know that most computers today don’t come with a disc drive anymore –everything is downloaded via the internet! But we still have games and burned CDs with files that we need to access or can’t remember what’s on them. I was prompted to look for the Floppy Disc drive for that exact reason! Hopefully having these in the collection will help somebody out to recover some lost memories.
Almost all of these items, except the tech and sports equipment can have a hold placed on them in the MORE Online Catalog. For all others, you’ll have to either give us a call or stop in yourself to see what we have in on a given day. And, as an added perk to stopping in and seeing your favorite librarians (wink-wink), we have a community puzzle out for folks to work on when they visit. We hope you’ll stop to put a few pieces in place.