Libraries
We live in a relatively small house, and space always seems to be at a premium. We shuffle clutter around in the few rooms on an occasional basis and each time we do, it feels like “we have a whole new room!” We joke about keeping one room always full of junk for a few months, and then clearing it out and getting a “free” room…of course, we’ve just moved the junk to another room that is now lost to us.
Over the years there have been a couple of libraries that we’ve used to try to minimize what we need to store at our house. Libraries not only keep things out of your own house, leaving you with more space, but they also manage and maintain items.
I don’t think I need to explain that libraries are good, though it seems like a certain set of people can’t stop bashing them. But it is worth pointing out that a library isn’t just for books. A gym is basically a library, as it has a shared resource pool that takes a membership. Many subscription services like Spotify or Netflix are libraries, holding inventory for you until you want to check it out. These things free up space in your house. A streaming service is a little different in that you have instant access to the inventory, but for physical items that just don’t work digitally like the gym and books, or toys and tools, libraries are still a great service.
Tool Libraries
In the Twin Cities, we have the Minnesota Tool Library for any tool that you could possibly need. The tool library is a great resource for those in Minneapolis or Saint Paul not only because of the thousands of tools available on a free rental basis (with annual membership), but as an education and community resource. The “librarians” at each location are knowledgeable and can typically help understand how to properly use a tool, or suggest a better tool for your job before you walk out with the wrong thing. They also offer classes, repair clinics, volunteer opportunities, and committee memberships. They even have workshop space at each of their two locations setup with tools like table saws, routers, drill presses for those jobs you don’t want to take home.
Currently, a membership can start at $120/year with some restrictions, and $250/year with no restrictions on the number of tools out at once. Further, they have opportunities for discounted memberships for those unable to afford the standard rates.
My own experience with the tool library is during a backyard landscaping project. I knew I would need a few yard tools over the course of a month or more, but I could never be sure exactly when I would need them due to weather and taking care of a newborn. Renting from the closer tool rental company wasn’t an appealing thought because those rentals were for either 4 hour chunks or daily. And if I found that one method of removing sod didn’t work well, I’d had to go back and pay for another rental on a different tool.
With the MN Tool Library, I could rent each tool for a week at time and renew without any cost, and was able to switch tools whenever necessary. The number of things I borrowed was definitely worth the annual expense, especially since I used their workshop a number of times for smaller indoor projects.
A related community resource is the TC Maker Club in Minneapolis— it is not a tool rental organization, but a great workshop for woodworking, metalworking, metalsmithing, 3D printing, sewing, electronics, and more…
Toy Libraries
As that aforementioned newborn grew, we became interested in trying to keep the number of toys in our house at a minimum. We of course still wanted to have toys available, but avoid toys that are quickly forgotten and stored for eternity in the dark corners of the basement. This doesn’t mean we don’t have some, but comparatively it’s quite a bit a less than some other homes.
The Minneapolis Toy Library has been a fantastic resource for us. They have locations in far south Minneapolis, NE Minneapolis, and Saint Paul. I have not been to the Saint Paul location, but I can speak for the Minneapolis spots: The library is packed with toys and activities. It’s floor to ceiling, but well organized either by age or activity type (“imaginary play”, “building blocks”, “musical”, “puzzles”, …). It can be busy, and many kids get a burst of free play time together with anything off the shelves while parents pick things out. But I’ve never felt that it is chaotic, and we typically get checked out after waiting a minute in line with our items.
We haven’t yet come across games that have any pieces missing, everything is bagged up and every piece is marked in Sharpie with an id#. Seriously, every log in a tub of Lincoln Logs has an id. We’ve occassionally had a broken piece, and once or twice have broken something ourselves (Tinker Toys are not tough enough for a young toddler, maybe) but we’ve just been upfront about it with the volunteer staff and it gets noted but hasn’t been a problem.
The library not only has indoor toys, but outdoor toys as well. This is great for those large items like trampolines, pedal or push bikes, wagons, etc. They have bowling sets, various sports balls, balance boards and some water items.
Membership at Minneapolis Toy Library starts at $40/year (extremely great value) but they encourage a greater contribution for those that can afford it, up to $100/year, and offer discounts for volunteers. From their membership page:
Membership from $40 – $100. We encourage members to pay the fee that feels most comfortable for their family.
- $40 – Sustains operations
- $50 – Purchase new toys
- $60 – Pay for marketing materials
- $70 – Community play opportunities
- $80 – Offer scholarships
- $90 – Space expansion
- $100 – Foundational membership
With our membership we can have 5 items out at once, with no time limit, and can return items to any location. This keeps the toys fresh as we rotate things out every couple of weeks. Each trip we bring our toddler and I feel like (or hope) she is learning about taking and returning as we ask her to do the return to the drop-off area. We can go to the library and treat it as a shopping-like experience without worrying about a meltdown over a $100 toy at Target. That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of opportunities to say “no” and for the subsequent tears, but it’s in good company and it’s not a decision forced by monetary expense, but by a checkout limit.
If you want to keep toy clutter to a minimum, a toy library is what you need.
Book Libraries
A toy library and tool library are nice to have, but let’s not snooze on the regular book library. If you haven’t given your local libraries a second look in the last 20 years for whatever reason, it’s probably about time to dig out that old library card (or more likely, get a new one). Libraries are great resources for books but have also typically morphed into great play spaces for kids. In the handful of library systems I’ve been to in the last couple of years, it’s clear that the focus has moved away from solely being a place of absolute silence and quiet reading towards being an active space for many different groups. For kids, this means children’s areas with toys, games, puzzles and drawing tables. I frequently see dress-up costumes and props, magnet tiles, trucks and cars, office equipment (dummy phones and keyboards). What’s more, they are typically rotated between branches at least once a month so the activities change.
Libraries also offer kid-oriented community events like sing- and read-along storytimes, LEGO play days, and nature talks. At the Highland Park library in Saint Paul is a regular storytime that starts at 10:30 on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. The librarian is wonderful, getting kids up and dancing with songs accompanied by her ukelele, and reading along with stuffed animals. Even better, the storytime is immediately preceded with an open gym “tot time” in the adjacent community rec center (starting at 9am and ending at 10:30).
Through the summer some storytimes are held outside, such as College Park in the Como neighborhood. Again, singing and read-alongs and typically some sort of science or art demonstration keep kids engaged. Then after it ends, there is a playground and open field within the park for burning even more energy.
Just recently did I discover another handy kid-related use of the library: We can play some computer games on pbskids.org. This is something we could do at home, but I like being able to tell my kid that the game only exists on the library computer and we can’t do it at home.
Libraries can also have more to offer adults these days, too. Some systems offer discounted or free museum or zoo passes. Some have “maker spaces”, with collections of tools or 3D printers that can be rented out (and used within the library). Even something as simple as using the library computers for their printers is handy— anything to avoid managing ink levels and costs at home. I believe that at Hennepin County Library the first 10 pages each day is free printing (though I may have misread that, in which case I think it’s 10 cents per page).
For a lot of people this stuff probably isn’t news, but I am also surprised at how many parents are unaware that the toy library exists. The same people that complain about too much junk in their house, to boot. So hopefully this has at least given you the idea of what to search for, if not the direct links to resources in your community.