Why Shop? In #Maine, the #LibraryOfThings Has It All (Almost).

One town’s effort to make pricey items accessible and encourage people to buy less stuff seems to be catching on.

By Cara Buckley, Aug. 20, 2025

"Here’s a short but by no means comprehensive list of items that patrons of Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick, Maine, can check out for free: A dumpling steamer. Cannoli-making tubes. A ukulele. A heated leg massager. A Happy Birthday sign. Easels. A foam ax throwing game. A KitchenAid mixer, in chrome or red.

"Mary Gerber, a retired schoolteacher, borrowed hula hoops and a cornhole game for her son’s 2022 backyard wedding, and, more recently, a spiralizer for her homegrown zucchini. Betty McNally, a retired bookkeeper, routinely borrows a loom and a drop spindle to hand-spin yarn. In late July, she checked out a root slayer to tackle the overly abundant hostas in her yard. She’d had it on hold, because there was a waiting list.
'It feels revolutionary,' Ms. McNally said. 'I’m not buying it and storing it and the great thing is it’s really useful but I’m probably only going to use it once or twice. This way, other people can use it. It’s perfection.'

"The Library of Things at Curtis Memorial Library was founded in 2018 to make pricey items accessible and encourage people to buy less stuff. It now has more than 1,500 items, all tailored to meet the needs of the roughly 22,600 people who live in Brunswick, as well as nearby #HarpswellME, which has a population of just over 5,000.

"There’s a driving kit with miniature street signs, a lesson book and a sample test to familiarize new drivers and migrants with the rules of the road. #FoodCanners, fruit tree pickers, molds for homemade Popsicles, a #FoodDehydrator and tomato strainers are offered to help people make their own food.

"Items in high demand can be checked out for only a week, and include a #GrainMill for grinding fresh flour, a nut wizard to gather acorns and other nuts, and, this being Maine, a #BlueberryRake."

Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/climate/maine-library-of-things.html

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/yoxBx

#SolarPunkSunday #CurtisMemorialLibrary #BrunswickME #LibraryOfThingsMaine #BorrowDontBuy #PreservingTheHarvest

#BangorPublicLibrary in #BangorME has a very cool #LibraryOfThings which includes nature kits, telescopes, microscopes and an oscilloscope! They also have electronics and maker's kits!

https://bangorpubliclibrary.org/services/library-of-things/

https://bangorpubliclibrary.org/services/electronics-maker-kits/

#SolarPunkSunday #MaineLibraries #RepairKits #NatureKits #SpendTimeInNature #LibrariesOfThings #LoT #LibraryOfThingsMaine #Science #LibrariesRule!

LIBRARY OF THINGS – Borrowing Beyond Books

"Obtain a Curtis Memorial Library card to borrow from our Library of Things. This collection can be browsed by category below or seen throughout our Nonfiction shelves. Oversize items can be fetched by staff and you may reserve Things for checkout just as you do a book. A listing of all kits is available in Minerva. By checking out a Thing you agree to the Borrowing and Use Guidelines.

Some items in our Library of Things are referred to as “Specialty Items”. Specialty items can only be checked out by our 18+ patrons due to legal and/or safety concerns. For a listing of these Specialty Items, see link below.

Let us know what else we should lend, share how you want to use an item, learn how to share your consumables and repair your items, find out where you can acquire items we don’t lend, or browse more of our community’s ideas at our registry. If an item does not circulate in a year, we give it to another library. Learn where else you can borrow items, why we have a Library of Things, how we support the UN Sustainable Development Goals and how you can do so too, by exploring our videos at the bottom of the page. We want to help. Get in touch!"

https://curtislibrary.com/library-of-things/

#SolarPunkSunday #BorrowDontBuy #LibraryOfThingsMaine #LibrariesOfThings #MaineLibraries #BrunwickME #HolidayCooking #HomeRepairs #Crafting #LoT #LibraryOfThings #LibrariesRule!