Excuse us for the clickbait-y title, we’re just so excited to be able to offer a wider range of materials you can borrow! You know that Memorial Hall Library offers books, music, movies, magazines, and more but did you know about our new Library of Things?

The Library of Things has, you guessed it, different “things” you can borrow with your library card. Many of these items can help you access and use the materials we already provide. Others are just useful items that you may need from time to time, but can be cost prohibitive to buy as an individual. MHL is here to help! Here are our top 10 most amazing and incredible things you can borrow at MHL!

10. Kill-a-watt meter

OK, Dr. Frankenstein, need to know how much power your monster-creating machine is using? Our Kill-A-Watt meter measures how much energy an appliance or piece of equipment uses.

9. Bike Pump and Bike Lock

Spring and Summer will be here before you know it and it will be time to take your bike out of storage. If you find that you’ve misplaced your bike pump or lock, borrow ours!

8. Gaming Consoles (XBOX One and PS4)

Are all of your friends hunting monsters with their cat friends in Monster Hunter: World or tracking orcs in Middle Earth: Shadow of War? What are you waiting for?! If you don’t have a console, you can borrow our XBOX One and PS4 consoles. Each console comes in a backpack with two controllers so you can take on your friends in our collection of video games.

7. Optelec Electronic Video Magnifier

This electronic video magnifier can be very helpful for people who struggle to read smaller size text. Simply place it over the book or physical object you want to read and it will enlarge the text.

6. Binoculars

Planning a trip outside for some birdwatching? Borrow our Bushnell Legacy binoculars and finally catch a glimpse that rare specimen you’ve been trying to spot!

5. Slide viewer

It seems like everyone has a box of old family 35mm slides at home. Borrow our slide viewer to see what’s on those hidden gems. Once you’ve viewed them at home, bring them to the Reference Area and digitize them with our equipment!

4. Projector and screen

If you’re making a presentation, showing a movie at home, or just want to increase your screen size for a time borrow our projector and screen. The projector supports both HMDI and VGA inputs and the screen is 80 inches.

3. Musical instruments (keyboard and ukulele)

That’s right! Looking to try out a new hobby or brush up on those piano skills? We have ukuleles and a 61-key electric keyboard and stand you can borrow.

2. Roku

We have five Roku 2 digital media players that stream internet content to your TV. This is great if you don’t have an internet-enabled TV - you can still watch shows on Hulu or HBO Go with your own accounts!

And finally, the coolest things we have for you to borrow:
1. Telescopes

Yes! You can channel your inner Carl Sagan and look through space and time! We have two Orion StarBlast 4.5” Altazimuth Reflector telescopes you can borrow for a week. You don’t need to be an astronomy expert to see amazing views of the night sky - just the telescope and a dark night with little light pollution.

For more information about our new collection of awesome things visit the Library of Things page or call the Reference Desk at  978-623-8430.