Snowshoes popular at Fredericton library

If you want to borrow snowshoes for some winter exploring, you might try an expert in lending: your locallibrary.

The Fredericton Public Library added snowshoes to its offerings two years ago.

"It's super, super, super popular," saidlibrarydirector Julia Stewart.

The ideafell into Stewart'slap when she was at a meeting with the Fredericton recreation department.

"They said, 'We have all of these snowshoes and we don't know what to do with them. We're worried about lending them out.'

"And I said, 'Give them to us.'"

'Just like a book'

Libraries know how to lend things and get them back.

"It's just like a book," Stewart said. "You have your public library card, which is free, and you come and you look at our snowshoe display."

We know how to loan things, we've been doing it for hundreds of years. It's just sort of the evolution of service.- Julia Stewart, Fredericton Public Library

A chart helps borrowers determine the size of snowshoes they should use based on their weight.

"You grab them off the wall and take them to the counter to check them out."

The borrowed snowshoes can be kept a week before being returned.

Since the snowshoe-lending program began, the 37 pairs of snowshoes atthe Fredericton andNashwaaksisbranches have been borrowed 305 times.

"Above and beyond the circulation, we have 236 holds that people are waiting to use snowshoes, which is really exciting too so we could use some more pairs," Stewart said.

Cake pans and seeds

The scope of what libraries do has changed, Stewart said, with some libraries in the province lending a variety ofitems, even cake pans.

"We have seeds that you borrow to plant your garden. We have board games you can borrow, and we have an amazing musical instrument lending library."

Lending things such as snowshoes and musical instrumentsaddresses needs in the community, expressed infeedback the libraryreceives.

While some may think this is a shift from what a traditional library does lend books, CDs and DVDsStewart said it'sactually what a library is intended to do.

"We know how to loan things, we've been doing it for hundreds of years. It's just sort of the evolution of service."

Stewart said keeping the library relevant to its users is important, and it keeps it a community hub.

"People can come and meet and connect and learn new things and create new things and ultimately succeed. We are the place where those things happen."