 All right, everyone. We are now going to introduce our final panel, Library of Things Beyond Traditional Lending. Library of Things are an increasingly popular way for libraries to address patron needs and to promote principles of access and sustainability. However, nontraditional library materials still come with unique challenges that require uniquely inventive solutions. In this panel, staff from libraries of various sizes discuss past and present challenges posed by their unusual collections. Share success stories when we'll take your questions on how to handle your trickiest materials. Today's panel will be moderated by Thomas Fassett, Librarian of the Sunnyvale Public Library. He will be joined by Tierney Alvarado, Librarian of the Livermore Public Library, Rain Shaw, Senior Library Assistant at the Oakland Tool Library, and Megan Stroop Tristeo of the Adult Services Librarian of the Santa Clara City Library. Can everyone hear me okay? Perfect, closer? Okay. So before I start with the questions, I kind of wanted to do like a really quick, fun kind of question to start with. So if we can go down the line and you can tell me what your most unique item in your collection is. Okay, so I'm Megan from the Santa Clara City Library and I think our most unique item is probably one of our newest ones. It's a bear canister. Does anybody know what a bear canister is? Okay, great. I had to explain it a lot more than I expected, which is I guess something we'll talk about later. Does anyone have a bear canister in their current collection? No, okay, cool. Our ice cream maker is like beyond popular. So I want to take it up, have to check it out soon and make some good ice cream. Any other ice cream makers out there in the audience? Couple? Cool. That's a hard question. I don't have, well, unique amongst the collection of power tools and hand tools. I thought that's hard. What's the least checked out item? Do you, would you know or have an idea of what the least checked item might be? Our brick cutter. Okay. Yeah, we have an electric brick cutter, so if you need to cut some bricks. That's definitely unique, yeah. Does anybody else have a brick cutter? No, awesome. Okay, so the first question I have for you is, what's something your library found unexpectedly difficult when establishing your library of things? So I wouldn't say this is so much difficult as I just didn't anticipate it and then I kept forgetting to anticipate it. So I just want to share it now in case you're adding things to your collection. I always forget about the packaging. So when I'm writing my budget or asking for money, I always forget that I probably need to get a special package or container to put this special item in so that it doesn't get damaged or so we don't lose pieces. And so it's never been like a huge deal that I haven't been able to get the packaging after but I think now finally, after like three years of adding items, I remember to add this to my budget line. So that's just one thing I would say, don't think about just the item itself but all the other departments that are going to have to touch this item, work with it, how you're gonna make it easy for them and help it last longer in your collection. That was on my notes too about packaging. Because it can be hard to anticipate what's type of packaging until you actually see the item in front of you. Cause you're like, we ordered a telescope but how big is it? Can we really fit it into that giant Rubbermaid tub or would it be better in a backpack? So it's always kind of a guessing game but it usually works out in the end. We also had some trouble figuring out how to store our collection because some of the items are just absolutely huge and it's like, oh, do you put them out like where patrons can see them? Cause wouldn't it be nice if they can like see the actual item and take it home but we ended up going with like using DVD cases as dummy cases and putting the DVD cases with a picture of the item out on display cause they would fit on our normal shelves face out and then they bring those to the front desk and we give them the actual item. So everything's stored kind of behind the scenes which makes it easier for us. I'll second that as far as storage is concerned. We circulate over 5,000 tools and we have space issues. A very small area behind the Temescal branch is where we circulate our collection from and we have a tool shed out in our parking lot but it's still, you still have to get very creative with the space in order to house tools like table saws and ladders and just larger tools. So that's always a constant thing that you have to navigate. What is your collection policy for your library of things? How do you decide which items to prioritize? So we don't have a specific, a separate collection policy right now for our library of things but usually we tend to add items that tie into other programming or services that the library is either offering or wants to start offering so that we can do cross marketing. So for example, one of the items we have right now, actually a lot of our items have to do with like the outdoors, hiking, getting outside and that's because we had a partnership with REI where REI would come in every month and do free classes for the community on like camping, hiking, getting outdoors and they were actually very great about not making it a sales pitch which I was a little worried about but they were very much, you know, you don't need to come to REI and buy a bunch of fancy stuff. This is all you need to get started and oh look, you can check this out right here while you're in the library. So tying it up with programming was really helpful. Oh, what we decided to add. Yeah, so basically programs or services that we wanted to market, what items can we do? What programs are popular in the community? The REI programs were super popular so then we knew that there were also people who would be interested in these items. So kind of tying them together that way has been pretty successful for us. At the beginning we did community surveys to kind of see what people wanted. We saw what other libraries had and then kind of well, like what sort of things do you want? And people like voted on the surveys and that gave us some ideas to start with and then we build on what's popular. So if items are getting tons of circulations we'll add more copies of that item so that people don't have to wait on long hold lists. We also think about when we're gonna, when we're thinking about purchasing something think about like, is it useful for short-term use items to check out for two weeks at a time? Can you make good use of it in two weeks? And we try to buy some items that are relatively expensive so there are things that people might not be able to afford to just buy to try it out. So this way they can kind of come to the library, use it and if they really love it they could get one for themselves. If not, just turn it back in. Yep, definitely circulation stats, paying attention to holds lists and seeing what people want. We also take verbal requests in mind when patrons ask, do you have this item? And if it's something that we don't have and we notice that we're getting asked for it then it goes on the shopping list as long as it is something that we have the storage, that we have the space to be able to circulate. So, Megan, you mentioned working with REI and putting together hiking themed kits there. Can you tell us a little bit about the advantages and disadvantages around collecting around a theme? Sure, so an advantage has definitely been that with the cross-pollination between the programs and the collection we can tell people who are checking out the items about the programs, we can tell people who are coming to the programs about the collection. I will say we got really lucky this year that the state parks passes program rolled out because we had our hiking backpacks for four or five years and they had kind of started, I mean they still checked out but they weren't as exciting as when they first came out and then once we had these park passes then it was like all the hiking backpacks were gone and then we added some new items using the California State Library grant that went along with the parks passes. So we just got lucky that that happened to be a program that kind of rejuvenated that collection. So that's definitely an advantage. I also love what Tierney said about things that are kind of expensive that people might not buy on their own. So that's kind of what we decided to buy, like a bear canister, you're probably only gonna use it a couple times a year unless you're a really super avid backpacker, backcountry hiker and so that might be something that somebody wouldn't wanna buy and store in their home to use one time for the year but that's something that you could come get from the library, see if it's useful, get your own or just keep using ours. So yeah, I think disadvantages for that, I guess maybe we have patrons who probably want some more variety but I haven't gotten that feedback yet. So when we do, we're happy to take their suggestions and add different things. So for the rest of the group, besides purchasing, how else have you sourced materials for your library of things and what are the benefits and challenges of sourcing materials in other ways? So we do accept donations. So there are certain tools that, like I've never had to use budget money for, like clamps, I've never, I've been there five years, I've never had to spend money on clamps. So we have such a vast collection of them and we continue to accept donations of them. That's just one particular tool. Some challenges with donations can be, sometimes it can be overwhelming, like you'll take an email or a phone call from a patron who says, they have an uncle that passed away and this person had like a garage full of tools and it's a mixed bag of everything. I have a, I'm in the process of completing standardizing all of our power tools. And so if it's not a brand or a model of a tool that I'm currently circulating, then that would be something that I would pass over to our friends group. So they would coordinate with that person. So sometimes patrons drop things off outside of our door when we're closed, that can be challenging. And it's, you know, most of the time people are married to their items and they think, oh, this is still good. It's just missing the battery and the charger. You know what I mean? So stuff like that can happen. You know, those are some of the challenges. It's kind of equivalent to in the book library, you know, getting the book drop, you know, surprises in the book drop of, you know, molded and incomplete, you know, series of books and things like that. So. Yeah, that's the same thing. We in general don't accept donations because people want to donate things that they think are fabulous that are not quite so fabulous. All right. So what collaborate, what, excuse me, what collaborations enabled you to lend the items that you do have? We collaborate with a local astronomy club and they gave us advice on which telescopes to buy. Our telescopes are one of our most popular items. And then we, every year we put on an astronomy night. So a program that ties in with the item so that people can come learn more about the night sky and we also collaborate with the East Bay Regional Parks. They give us parking passes and they go out with our nature backpacks. So, and we also now have the California State Park passes. So those are always great ways to get people outdoors. So for me, I get a budget from the city, from the library department. That's where the bulk of the tools come from. We do have a friends group that will sometimes pass over donations that they receive that we can circulate in our collection. So there's a partnership as well. And one of our first items that we added to our library of things in 2017, I think, was the hiking backpacks. And we did those as a partnership with our county park system. So we're the Santa Clara City Library, not the county library, but we did work with the county park system. They actually had branded backpacks. So they gave us 10 of those backpacks and then we filled them with items. And then we also would get maps, information about the county parks to put in the backpacks. People didn't have to take them to a Santa Clara county park, but those are the most accessible to where we live. So that was a nice partnership to have with them. So Rain, this question is directed to you. You work with the tool-ending library. So everything is tools, including power tools. What steps do you guys take to prevent injury with these kinds of things? So we have patrons do a separate registration with us, which includes signing a waiver. And in that waiver, they're acknowledging that they are knowledgeable about the tools that they are taking out. We also provide reference for patrons. So, you know, if a patron is taking a certain tool out and this is another reason why I wanted to standardize across like power tools so that staff can provide better reference, is to be able to explain to this patron how this tool should behave. Like don't be put off if you, you know, plug this angle grinder in and it's making this, you know, roaring noise. That's normal, you know, things like that. We inspect the tools when they go out. So if we noticed, you know, like a cut cord or something that could deem the tool unsafe to use, we won't send it out. We have a volunteer that fixes tools for us. So if a patron brings a tool back and says, hey, this tool is, you know, producing a smoky smell or it sounds funny, then we take it out of the collection, place it in Mending. We check it in-house and if we deem that it's necessary to go to our volunteer, then this person comes and they pick up the tools and they take them home and they fix them or they don't fix them and they email me and say we need to take this out of the collection and here's why, so we'll keep the parts, you know, for scraps. So that's pretty much it. Great, thank you. So for everyone, how do you deal with items that are easily damaged or have parts that easily go missing? So one of the things we've been thinking about at our library is like a board game collection and those have tiny pieces that can go missing. So how do you deal with that and what do you do when things go missing? Sure, I can speak to that. We have probably a hundred board games and we made a conscious decision not to count the pieces. We didn't feel like it was a good use of staff time to count the pieces every time, going in and out and it would drive people nuts. So we only count pieces on expensive things. So things that are relatively expensive, like we don't have a strict cut off, but maybe over like $150 for like some of the robots we have or something, we will, we have a short list of the important pieces, the essential pieces and they have pictures on the label so that staff can identify, oh, this is the cord for that. This is to match it up to make it easy. And then when you're supposed to count the parts, it pops up when you check it in in Sierra, it says like check parts and that way you know that you're supposed to check that item and most of the things we don't check. And we only, when we hear from patrons that there's a problem with it, that's when we would look at them. Yeah, we also use messages in Sierra. It'll be a pop up and say, check for eight sockets and one ratchet inside the bag. Things that we expect to go missing, like if it's a set of drill bits and there's 20 drill bits in there and the set is still serviceable if one or two or three go missing, then that's just automatically forgiven. We're not trying to shake the patron down for a drill bit. But we also have like larger drill bit sets that we don't circulate basically to replenish those sizes that go missing too. So we try to send them out as complete as possible, but if they come back incomplete, we're not gonna charge the patron for that. Okay, what's something you would like to lend, but you haven't been able to figure out the logistics to make it work. And what is challenging about this particular item? So fortunately this problem is gonna be solved for us pretty soon, hopefully in the next year or so we're gonna get a toolshed expansion. But due to the space issue that we currently have, I would like to circulate things like floor standing sanders, power washers, things like that, because we get requests from the community for those things. Shop vacs, things that, you know, I mean, if I can't, I don't wanna buy one of something that I know is gonna be really, really high demand and then I'm running a holds list forever. So it's kind of hard when you wanna provide something like that, but I can't store five of them because I don't have this, where are they gonna go? You know, so thankfully for us, that's gonna be a non-issue, probably about a year from now. That makes me think, one thing with storage is that at the beginning we had to store like a ton of items, but now like 95% of our collection is like checked out. So it's not, storage is not as a big of an issue as you might think for storing the items at the library. I think I need to dream bigger because I don't have a specific item in mind. No worries. See, how do you think non-traditional library materials are relevant to the future of libraries? I think they're critical. People have a need for these things. It's especially important to provide access to items that can truly help people in their day-to-day lives. We have patrons that come and they need to, they have a need to check out a weed eater so that they can take a landscaping job, or they have a need to check out a power drill and a level so that they can take a handyman job. So I think it's providing something that's a critical need for a lot of people in the community, especially low income people who can't buy their own tools. So kind of on that same idea, tools are a necessity for, whether it's just basic things around the house or like you said, getting a job. But what about for things like an ice cream maker? It's not a necessity, but it's fun. So how do you think that contributes to the future of libraries and the changing of collections? I think our library makes things accessible to people no matter their income. Some of these items are quite expensive. So it's a way of bringing that to the wider community and kind of expanding people's worldview with the park's passes or expensive robots, programmable robots so your kid can learn coding or we have a lot of musical instruments so you could learn guitar or ukulele or keyboard. So it helps kind of make everything more accessible. And I think it expands like the usefulness of libraries going beyond reading to a wider skill set. It also, I think lessons waste because a lot of these things you would use once and it's it in your garage and then you give it to goodwill five years later, right? And so if we can buy these items and have them used all the time versus just sitting around, I think it's better for the world. I also think that in the previous panel, I feel like they kept talking about how we just need to get people to learn that the service exists. And one of the things I wrote here in my notes was when you're choosing items, you have to think like is it just cool or is it useful? Because I think there is a tendency to wanna pick things that are cool and flashy but you gotta think about how useful is this gonna be? Is this serving the community that we want? Is this gonna be useful for people who aren't able to go out and buy their own copy of this item? I love the idea of the sharing economy very environmentally friendly. But my point was talking about how do we get people to know is that through our surveys, we know that a lot of people come to the library for the first time because they want something from the library of things. So it's bringing new people into the library and if it is a little bit flashy or a little bit cool, maybe you will, people who didn't know, didn't think the library was for them before will come in and see what else you have to offer. Great. So what's been your most popular item that you've seen circulate and how did you, or was this something that you expected to be popular? One of our most popular items are plastic toy sets. They're like plastic dinosaurs and there's like six different dinosaurs and there's like, they're mostly from learning resources and there's like insects and there's six different insects. They're like all like six inches tall and there are sets of endangered species, animals and all sorts of, and they are like, they are constantly off the shelf. And I had no idea. I thought, oh yeah, maybe somebody will like this toy but they're like crazy popular and also the ice cream maker because you can't go wrong there. I'm going to come borrow the ice cream maker. Anybody else have popular items? Demolition hammer, almost always a holds list on it. But the holds list cycles fast because we have like seven of them. So demolition hammer, I would say. Is that something you expected to be very popular or? Yeah, I've used it. Perfect. It's helpful. Our most popular items by circulation are probably our more traditional items like our digital devices. So, you know, Chromebooks, hot spots. We just threw a PLP grant. Thank you PLP. We just started, checked out in code kits. So like Chromebooks that are preloaded with coding lessons. But then yeah, I mean everything, it kind of goes in waves. Like when we have a program or when we do a marketing bump then all of a sudden everything has a holds list. So I do think one thing that I want to mention since we're talking about popular items and Rain was talking about like tools that don't work anymore. But your library of things is still a library collection. So it's not just selection. It's also de-selection, which can be really hard, especially if it's an item that a library staff member, you know, like I'll probably be really sad one day if they decide to take the bear canisters out because that was my project. But maybe they're not useful anymore. And especially when you have technology items, like we have Fitbits and we have 360 virtual reality cameras and that software is going to be obsolete someday, right? So just thinking about also when is it time to retire an item and think it for its service. I'm sorry. I just wanted to piggyback on that and say that's why we took the wallpaper steamer out of the collection. Like taking up valuable real estate on the shelf and no one has wallpaper to remove. So this next question is kind of one that we've kind of had trouble with at our library at Sunnyvale, which is the park passes. So what has been challenging about lending those park passes? And I guess more specifically, have you made any changes to your loan rules to kind of meet the demand that you've seen? Sure. There is a holds list a mile long for them. And so we have made some of them lucky day passes. That means that you can, they're just sitting at the library and if you come in, you can get it great. And you can't, some of them you can place on hold and then some are lucky day where you can't place them on hold. And I think that makes it better for people because you can't, if you are on a holds list and you're going to get the item like three months from now, you're trying to plan a vacation or something. It doesn't quite work that way. Yeah, the lucky day is great. Also offering alternatives, which isn't always the best, but like, I mean, it's a great idea, but patrons don't always appreciate it. But like the, our county parks had a free county parks day. So like really heavily promoting that everybody can go to our county parks for free on this day because maybe you're waiting for the state parks pass, but that doesn't mean that you can't go visit a park for free. So seeing what other opportunities there are for them to get a similar experience. And yeah, the lucky day ones are great. Great. And then before we go to questions, I just wanted to ask, any final thoughts on this topic from you guys, any kind of soapbox thoughts that you want to share with everybody? Not a soapbox thought, but just something that I wanted to mention that I should have mentioned earlier in the partnerships is that your other city departments can also be great partners. So we have a tool library, not as extensive as Oakland's, but we have a tool library that we got through a partnership with Silicon Valley Power, which is our municipal utility system. So, and then like for our parks department, like a family camping night. And so I sent them materials to advertise the camping and hiking materials for the families that were going. So just also looking within your city and then those partnerships, you might already have some relationships built, you know, like the legal framework if you're trying to do waivers or borrowing or things like that might already be there. So your other city departments can be great partners. Thank you for mentioning that. I forgot that we partner with PG&E. So we have some electrical tools that are on loan from PG&E. All right. Any other final thoughts there? No, I think everyone should have a library of things. Don't be afraid. I was afraid at the beginning of like, how do we do this? But you can email us. We'll be happy to help. Okay. Any questions from the audience? But for the tool library, is there like a rule since you can see how could be dangerous for something like a heavy hammer or something like that? And is there like this, you have to go directly to your car, not that you're going to be scare tactics or anything, but it does seem like they could be a little bit like if someone's reckless or, you know, someone who just wants to, because that happens anywhere, you know what I mean? It just seems like it can possibly have some danger to it. So has anything happened or has it been pretty good? It's been good. We don't have any rules around it. We have a couple of patrons that come on the bus. There's one patron in particular who would come frequently to check out a miter saw. These things are super heavy and they're huge, and he's getting on the bus with it. He has this big, huge Ikea bag that is stronger than any bag on the, any other bag on the planet, I'm guessing, because, I mean, he's holding it by the straps and he's got a miter saw in this bag. We've had patrons come on bicycles and they're leaving there with a pole saw, this extendable, you know, telescoping pole saw. And it's got a cover on it, but, you know, we haven't had any issues around that so we don't have any rules around it. But it's funny to see sometimes. I have a question about, it's maybe more for the ice cream machine, but we are interested in expanding our library of things and there's this perception that, like, we couldn't do cake pans because how will we make sure that we sterilize them, which seems a little strange, and also maybe related to that is, like, that idea of musical instruments. Like, we wouldn't want to circulate a clarinet because somebody's going to put their mouth on it. So I'm just wondering how you've either addressed those concerns or is that, like, in your disclaimer that they just have to bring it back clean? Like, that seems reasonable to me, but... Yeah, we have cake pans, we've got all sorts of cooking equipment, pasta makers, you name it. And it's just that people have to clean it themselves. We do not clean them. Everything has come back to Spickens Band so far, so I think you can trust people to do the right thing most of the time. I kind of want to add to that a little bit. We do induction cooktops at our library, and same thing, we kind of ask people to clean them themselves, but we've also partnered with our Environmental Services Department, and I think once a week they actually come in to inspect them and make sure that everything is clean. So that's kind of like a benefit of partnering, especially with another department, city department, whatever organization you're part of. So that might be something to consider as well, partnering with somebody and let them do the hard part. Yeah, and you also spoke about musical instruments. We don't purchase anything that you have to put your mouth on. So we have keyboards, ukuleles, guitars, no clarinets, no flutes. So I have a question about how you manage the holds list, because I'm thinking if it's something like a barricanister, it's because you've got a specific reservation, if it's an ice cream maker, it's because you've got a birthday party of demolition hammers because you have this specific weekend you're going to do this. So if somebody is adding their name to the holds list, they don't have any control over when they get it, or do you let them choose like what period of time they're placing the hold for? So for us, this came up, especially like you said, you're going to have a hiking reservation. I think a lot of libraries discuss this when the park passes came out. For us, our system doesn't have a way to do the calendar. We just try to educate the patrons on how to freeze and unfreeze their holds, and we let them know there's no guarantees. Fortunately, that was something we were already doing with hotspots. Our hotspots were super popular, had really long waiting lists, and a lot of people wanted the hotspot because they were going on vacation, and that's why they wanted the hotspot. So we just try to do patron education on you can freeze your hold, you can unfreeze it, this is how you can time it. We also have three-week checkouts for everything, so I think that helps a little bit with flexibility around the schedule. But it is a great question, and if there were an easy way to integrate a calendar, we have looked at it, but we have not figured out a solution yet. Yeah, we don't have a calendar either. It would be kind of helpful for some things. Whenever there are long holds lists, we do try to buy additional copies, which lessens the holds, but it can be an issue. Yeah, same. Our holds list is just in order. So what we do to manage the higher demand items is we have a short list of tools that do not renew, and those are the higher demand tools. So those tools are coming back to us after a week, as long as people are returning them on time, and we do advise patrons. There's no guarantee that you're going to get it on this particular date, but if you want it by this particular date, call us based on what number they are in the queue. We can give them a ballpark, but yeah, there's no guarantees. We just don't allow those items to renew. Bicycles. Anybody else besides San Mateo County? Check out bicycles. And also Oakland Public, who sharpens your lawnmower blades and all your saws? Is that your trusty volunteer? We have a volunteer that fixes our tools, but the sharpening, that's a two-part process. So some of our tools we sharpen in-house, and some like chainsaw chains, we have a service for that. So I have a separate service budget, particularly for the chainsaw chains. On that question, please go ahead Namiya. I was just wondering how you managed to find this wonderful volunteer who knows how to fix tools and is willing to do that. He is a part of our friends group. Yeah, I was just curious about how you went about, even before creating these collections, what steps you took to like assess your community and find out what was pertinent to each community, whether it's needs or just interest base or how you went about it, what kind of work proceeded actually implementing these collections? Sure, we did a series of surveys to the community and we tried to get that out to the wider community, not just the people coming in the library, but outreach things and we'd go to the farmer's market and all those sort of things that you do to get the views of the wider community. And then we started small. We just started with some board games and educational toys and a couple of robots and then built out from there and now we have something like 400 different things. So in Oakland, I've been with the Tool Ending Library for about five years, but it's been there for 22. So I can't really answer that question. I'm sorry. I kind of want to jump in here. So with us, our library of things is fairly new. I think we started it just before COVID hit or we were planning it and that's actually what we noticed with our community, specifically with our patrons without homes, was that a lot of them were living in their cars and we're parking in our parking lot. We actually have a very good size parking lot near our library. So we kind of noticed that and we kind of started with a simple auto repair toolkit. So the basic tools you would need to maybe change your oil or fix a flat, something like that. So that's kind of where we started and then because it was a trending thing in the libraries, it just kind of grew and we just had all these other ideas. But we started with noticing who our patrons were and what's something that they may need but may not know that they need or may not know that they could potentially get from the library. We also take suggestion cards from patrons right next to the library of things display is like, what would you like to see in the library of things? And there's little cards there. We get a lot of suggestion cards so if I have the same thing, we'll purchase that. Hi, so I guess my question is, what kind of roadblocks have you hit or patron pushback on some of your lending rules? I'm thinking specifically for our library of things. I'm in San Mateo County and so as a county library sometimes we have city residents who can also use their library card at our county library but initially we had this lending rule where our library of things would just be reservable for county card holders rather than also city. We're slowly going away from that so that all library card holders no matter if you're city or county can use our library of things but I'm wondering if you guys have encountered those kind of pushbacks or roadblocks and what have you done to address those questions? We haven't had those issues and anyone with a Livermore library card no matter where they live can take out the items. I was going to say that's a great question but yeah, same for us. We're a city library and anybody with a city library card they can live anywhere in North America and check out our items. But I will say thinking about, we've also, speaking of roadblocks, thought about do we want to put age limits on certain things and we basically decided to try to put as few limits as possible. So like our Silicon Valley power tools you do have to be 18. That's a requirement from Silicon Valley power but even for our other items that require liability waivers a juvenile card is signed for by a parent or guardian and so we don't limit that. We treat it the same as any other materials you would check out from the library. So for us in Oakland you can get a regular library card if you live anywhere in the state of California but to sign up for tools you need to live in Oakland, Emoryville or Piedmont those folks pay a separate parcel tax for access to the service. So sometimes we get patrons that live in other nearby cities who don't have their own tool lending libraries and so we get a little bit of pushback for that but I think the neighboring tool lending libraries also have that same requirement. How do you guys advertise your library things? What are some things have you guys done to market your collection? Because I still feel like most patrons don't know that you probably don't offer these kinds of things. Do you guys do programs with your new tools or items or demo sessions? Sure. One of our staff members brings out the fun robots every day when he's working at the youth desk and shows them off to the kids and that's great advertising. We also put info about the items on flyers for relevant programs like we're having an astronomy night so on the bottom it's like hey do you know you can take home a telescope? And trying to just put out the word we also when we go out to like community events we'll bring a whole bunch of flashy things to like hey did you know you can get one of these at the library so that spreading the word that way. Also tying it into your traditional collection so like we have flyers for our hiking collection by our Bay Area hiking books. You know if we had an ice cream maker I'd probably put a flyer for that by our cookbooks or ice cream. You know when we got the checkout and code kits I put some flyers by our coding books. We'll definitely be doing some programming this year since you know since reopening from the pandemic days we'll be doing programming this year in the past we've done like DIY workshops how to use a chainsaw things like that so looking forward to bringing those things back. So for us at our library we our rec services department has someone who does logo design so we actually partnered with them to create a specific logo for our library of things to kind of use as marketing and then we also had like a brief little description kind of article thing written up and put into a local circulation that went to all the homes so that was a really helpful marketing tool for us. So I was going to say I just got one last question here. I'm wondering if you have thought about utilizing your libraries of things more so like the board games and other things like that to support community connection and cohesion I've been involved in starting a number of different libraries of things around the world actually and one of the coolest ones I was part of is in Seoul where they're starting to be put into the apartment buildings and they found that the tools weren't really being used so they switched to more sporting stuff and they found that a lot of the people within the buildings started to use the sporting equipment together and so things like the board games or anything else like that have you thought about kind of layering on other programming utilizing your libraries of things? No, we have not but that is a very interesting thought and we'll have to talk later. With us at Sunnyvale we don't have a board game collection but one of the things that kind of kickstarted that was we did a board game night and that kind of kickstarted that idea for us of having that collection because so many people showed up and we had people that had never met before playing these games and we thought this would be a great way to kind of use that collection. We also have a puzzle collection that's not we don't consider it part of our library of things because it has a different circulation procedure and everything but what we do with that is we have tables set up where people can work on a puzzle and these are 1,000 plus piece puzzles some of them and that kind of gets the community to kind of work on a puzzle together you'll see people come every week to work on a different puzzle and that's the interaction they have with that particular person is when they do that puzzle so and it looks like we're out of time there there's our one more question. Can I ask one question? This is a lightning round. How do you guys display or catalog your collection for the people who are in your library? How do you show them what is for checkout? Well I'm going to steal Tierney's idea because I thought that was great with the DVD cases so right now we don't have one cohesive place in the library where you can see all of that you can see it in our catalog but not in the library that's something we'll be working on. We are right now in the process of photographing all our things so that you can see the images in the catalog to make it much more appealing. Yes, so same as far as on our website it's not fully completed yet but pictures next to all the tools like under our tool list but we are just a tool-ending library so we don't have like a display or anything like that you walk in and it's just tools. Cool, thank you guys. Thank you panelists.