From seeds to sensory rooms: Step inside Durham's 'Library of Things,' where you can borrow almost anything

Also books. Durham County libraries have books, of course. But like a growing number of libraries around the state, Durham has embraced “the library of things,” making the library a community center for much more than reading.

This downtown facility, still new after a $44 million rebuild, has a place for teenagers to play video games, computers where kids can do homework and a sensory room where young people with autism spectrum disorder, or anyone else, can lay on a waterbed that vibrates to music.

The library loans out tools and offers home repair courses. Soon it’ll add a laser that will engrave anything you can draw onto a wooden disc. That’s part of a “makerspace” that already features seven 3D printers.

“There is never a lack of things to do at the library,” said Stephanie Bonestell, spokeswoman for the Durham library system.

Durham is an outlier in North Carolina, offering more services than most places. Wake County has not embraced the library of things, though a spokeswoman stressed that its locations offer “millions of books, hundreds of programs and many digital resources.”

After extensive renovation, COVID delay, Durham's Main Library to reopen today

Other counties are leaning in. Randolph county offers zoo passes. In Polk County, you can check out fishing rods and tents.

"And if you want to film your entire experience you can also check out a GoPro camera,” State Librarian Michelle Underhill told WRAL News on the Daily Download podcast, which was recorded at the Durham downtown library, in a studio open to the public.

It didn’t go great. Operator error affected the sound quality, so pay attention to the library’s instructions and expect hiccups the first time you use one of these studios.

Other libraries let people check out exercise equipment, including tennis rackets, soccer ball, basketballs, yoga mats and, in relatively new development, pickleball equipment.

“So if you want to try something out, and you’re not sure if you want to invest the money in it, see if your library has it to check out,” Underhill said.

A least 10 libraries in the state, including Durham, offer free seed packets that rotate with the seasons. Another two plan to add free seeds, Underhill said. And although the Hickory Public library doesn’t offer seeds, it gives away plant cuttings, she said.

About half of North Carolina’s library systems lend out WiFi hotspots, Underhill said. Most lend laptops or tablets. Almost 90% offer one-on-one technology consultations. Most offer career and job search advice, most partner with their local employment office and 86% partner with local health organizations.

Warren County, for example, lets people check out blood pressure monitors.

Today’s libraries, Underhill said, “really think outside the book.”

Durham gave away 8,000 seed packets at its libraries last year, Bonestell said. Library staffers hold “seed parties” to fill paper packets from seeds provided in bulk by the Durham Library Foundation. Right now the downtown location offers radish, beet, kale, lettuce, herbs and some other spring vegetables.

Flower seeds, usually the most popular offering, should show up soon.

“Little early for flowers,” said Gracey Gordon, the Durham’s STEAM — that’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics — services manager.

The library’s teen section — no adults allowed, though there is a security guard stationed nearby – offers Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch video game systems hooked up to big screen TVs. There are bean bag chairs to sit on and a row of computers (with normal chairs) for research and homework.

The 3D printers at Durham’s downtown library are named after planets. The library offers training to use them and computers to create your blueprint. Design instructions also can be sent over the internet without setting foot in the library.

The pandemic delayed this facility’s opening, so the printers initially were used to make 500 face shields for local EMS personnel. Since opening to the public, more than 300 Durham County residents have been trained to use the machines, which whir away making small toys, spare parts and, for one project, the plastic building blocks of a DNA lattice.

The Durham library’s sensory room has fiber-optic light tubes that cascade over a chair, and a waterbed that vibrates to music. The room caters to people who sometimes struggle to process the world around them. Families reserve the room, and six people can go inside at a time.

The Sheitch family had an appointment last week, and 16-year old Shuaib Sheitch likes to listen to music while sitting among the fiber-optic lights, his mother said. Jennifer Jamsky, the library’s accessibility services coordinator, makes sure the room is set up when families visit. She remembered Shuaib’s favorite song: “Frozen,” by Madonna.

“That’s his jam right there,” said Shuaib’s mother, Shemora Sheitch.

These sensory rooms are an uncommon but growing offering in North Carolina. Granville County libraries recently added sensory carts, which are smaller and more mobile, but in the same vein.

Recording studios also are uncommon. But in addition to Durham, the library in Chapel Hill has one. So does the Kinston-Lenoir County Library.

The Kinston library offers a number of unusual programs. Underhill said she met a woman during a recent visit who learned to farm mushrooms and sheep at the library.

“She’s going to be a mushroom farmer,” Underhilll said. “And also a sheep farmer. And she had never been a farmer before.”

Sheep farmer?

“Sheep farmer,” Underhill said.

And she learned this at the library?

“At the library,” Underhill confirmed.

Listen as WRAL's Travis Fain describes his experience exploring the wondrous 'Library of Things' in Durham.