High schoolers in Sacramento can borrow prom dresses from their local libraries. Chicagoans can check out camping gear. Libraries in one Southern California city lend telescopes.
Some day soon, Berkeley’s libraries — which already offer tools and kitchen equipment in addition to books and physical media — might also make those kinds of items available to patrons.
A new proposal calls for expanding the system’s popular “library of things” to include everything from children’s toys and sports equipment to household items and event supplies to help patrons save money and buy less stuff. Councilmember Sophie Hahn, who also sits on the library system’s Board of Trustees, pitched the proposal as a way to address planet-harming overconsumption.
“An expanded library will save residents money and enable a higher standard of living, reduce waste, and contribute to a necessary shift away from individualized and excessive consumption toward a society uplifted by the sharing of a wider array of communal resources,” Hahn wrote in a City Council item about her proposal.
Berkeley libraries’ tool-lending program dates back to 1979, making it one of the oldest in the nation. The collection was expanded several years ago to include culinary equipment, such as air fryers and a “Frozen”-themed cake pan, plus other recent additions, such as home air quality sensors and bike repair kits.
Residents have embraced the program — its most popular item, extension cords, was checked out almost 900 times last year, nearly matching the number of times patrons borrowed the system’s most in-demand book. Weed whackers, drill bits, hedge shears and saws were checked out hundreds of times as well, a Berkeleyside analysis found.
Berkeley Public Library spokesperson Aimee Reeder said Hahn’s idea for expanding the lending program mirrors interest library officials have heard from patrons over the years.
Hahn’s proposal also suggests that libraries could offer need-based subsidies to help low-income residents use other borrowing services — such as car rental companies or outdoor equipment lent by REI — at lower cost. The City Council voted this week to endorse the proposal, though the move was symbolic since the council isn’t in charge of the library system; it will be up to library staff and its board to develop and approve any new program.
Reeder said staff plan to seek feedback from the public about the items people want libraries to offer, then develop a plan for how to implement an expansion and bring it before the board.
