In addition to lending books, magazines, manuals, movies and other audio/visual and printed products, libraries can lend surprising things.
A Wi-Fi hotspot can be checked out from the library for one week at at time, at $5 a week.
Tools and other tangibles, which are referred to in library parlance as “realia,” can be borrowed as well.
“We try to provide things that meet the criteria of being risky, expensive or one-time use,” said Dan Flaherty, director of the Oil Region Library Association. “If you go to ‘books and resources’ in the catalog, and look under ‘cool stuff,’ you can find out what we have.”
