JAMESVILLE/DEWITT — The Community Library of DeWitt & Jamesville has debuted a new special collection for crafters, the technologically inclined, and anyone else showing the slightest interest in the rotation of equipment on hand.
The “Nest of Things” collection was launched earlier this fall in September as an extension of the library’s Hive Makerspace, a community hub where people can work on projects and experiment with art forms they hadn’t explored previously.
While the physical makerspace holds activities belonging to different disciplines week to week and contains slanted architectural drawing tables, a 3D printer, a full-size sewing machine, and a digital design station, the Nest of Things features a variety of items that can be checked out and taken on the go.
“The current collection and everything we have within it augments our Hive Makerspace,” said Cassidy Miller, the library’s assistant director for technology who began the new collection with fellow members of the tech team. “Everything currently in the physical room over there stays in that room, whereas this collection is stuff that can go home with people. So whatever it is they like doing here, now they have the opportunity to bring it home as well.”
Like the Hive, it was only natural that the Nest of Things was titled as such—both names tie in with the library’s focus on sustainability. Also, the word “bundle” is deliberately used to refer to the item packages in the new collection as a reference to the bundles of twigs that birds use to build their nests. The section is additionally strewn with flower garlands and donated pinecones wrapped in felt to look like little birds.
The collection can be found on the main level of the library at 5110 Jamesville Road, right where the nonfiction and foreign DVDs used to be before they were moved across the way and placed between the new nonfiction section and the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) books.
Miller said that several of the items in the Nest of Things had been circulated in and out of the DeWitt library before, though they were mostly retrieved from the back, requiring patrons to have to see flyers for them, stumble upon them in the catalog, or be informed by a staff member of their existence to know they were available.
“Part of the library experience is very tactile, so I wanted things to be out front for people to actually get their hands on and touch,” Miller said. “Now everything’s out here for the public to see and interact with before they check it out. Just like you’d browse a book, now you can browse these items.”
The Nest of Things collection carries, for example, a portable Cricut Joy cutter for card making, glass etching, decals and custom clothing.
“If someone runs an Etsy shop, they probably own a Cricut, and so the Cricut Joy is just the mini version of it that’s kind of easier to transport around,” Miller said.
There’s also a button press, a camera tripod, a camera stabilizer, a Blu-ray player, an introductory setup for aspiring streamers with a microphone, webcam and other accessories, and an emergency sewing bundle for quick fixes to clothing with holes or missing buttons.
Each item kit comes with instructions on how to use it, a list of every piece included with the bundle so people know what to return, and the replacement cost that will be charged to the borrower’s account if they don’t return it or in the event of a serious mishap with the materials.
The bundles can be loaned out for a period of two weeks at a time with the exception of the flower press, which can be taken out for four weeks because it requires more time to “do its thing” according to Miller.
Immediate renewals are not allowed for any of the items, and patrons must wait seven days before checking out a bundle they’ve just returned.
An item can also be reserved by going to the front desk and asking to place a hold on it if it’s not available at present.
Miller said the plan going forward is to bring items into the collection that are “non-traditional” to libraries, such as tarot cards, kites, and one-time-use lawn games like a jumbo-sized Connect Four grid.
By the end of 2023, the Community Library of DeWitt & Jamesville is expecting to acquire a tambourine, a set of bongos, a phone gimbal and knitting looms for the Nest of Things collection.
For more information, visit cldandj.org or search the library’s catalog at catalog.onlib.org.
