Toy Lending Libraries are kinda like book libraries the main difference being you take out toys instead of books. There are over 300 of these in the United States but there are none in Chelsea or for that matter Manhattan.
By having a top library it will provide toys to Chelsea residents who can't afford the latest, greatest and expensive toys.
Toy libraries
Have fun, save money, build community
Marketing researchers have long studied how parents
affect their children’s development of consumer habits and skills. A new
study, co-authored by Pamplin College of Business marketing professor
Julie Ozanne, focuses on the impact on children of parents’ support and
use of toy libraries.
Marketing professor Julie Ozanne
“Parents are a crucial socializing agent of their
children in the marketplace,” Ozanne says. “Our study examines toy
library patronage in an effort to better understand the processes behind
this mediating role of parents, including how they counter what they
see are detrimental effects of consumerism.”
An important community resource
Toy libraries originated in the United States but are
more common today in Europe and elsewhere, says Ozanne. With a borrowing
process similar to public book libraries, toy libraries can provide
children with developmental tools for play and be an important community
and social resource, she adds.
New Zealand vs. the United States
Ozanne and her co-author — sister Lucie Ozanne, a senior
lecturer in marketing at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand —
conducted the study in New Zealand, which has more than 200 toy
libraries and about 4 million people, in contrast to the U.S., which has
the same number of toy libraries and a population of more than 300
million. Their study was based on interviews with parents and children
and observations of them at a toy library.
The study found that toy libraries offer multiple
benefits for children, their parents, their community, and society in
general. Toy libraries mean many different things to their users, Julie
Ozanne says, “from being a good way to save money and have fun to a
political act of conscience and a way to build community.”
For children, the benefit is clearly the toys, she says,
but several children interviewed also cited the opportunity to play with
friends when they visited the toy library.
Benefits for parents
For parents, the pleasure of borrowing was compared to
the pain of shopping. Parents viewed the toy store setting, with its
advertising and brands, as fraught with potential conflict and described
toy shopping with their kids as a stressful task, full of begging,
negotiating, directives (“don’t touch this,” “stay here,” “do this”),
and struggles to control and limit their offspring.
Visits to the toy library were far less stressful. With little
financial outlay at stake, parents gave their children significantly
more latitude in borrowing toys. This freedom is aided in part by
library policies that edit and restrict toys that might be controversial
by local community standards: “Different libraries have different
policies, but most select durable toys that are developmentally
appropriate and avoid toys that might promote violence.”
Parents also encouraged their children to try toys and
activities that challenged their strengths, explored underdeveloped
skills, or developed new ones. Trying out toys sometimes resulted in a
store purchase, Ozanne says.
Foiling marketplace messages, materialism, and consumerism
With the displays, packaging, and branding aimed at
influencing purchases largely absent, she says, “toy libraries offer a
foil to marketplace messages that parents fear will fuel their
children’s potential for materialism and consumerism.”
Toy library patronage can be a “transforming political
act” for many parents. “The most common political interest driving
families’ use of the toy library was avoiding supporting a consumerist
society and fueling materialism. Others included protecting the
environment by reducing purchases or purchasing toys that are more
sustainably produced.”
In addition, Ozanne says, parents believed that borrowing toys
helps their children develop a different relationship to goods that is a
counterpoint to overconsumption and materialism: “You can still enjoy
something when it doesn’t belong to you,” one parent said. “Parents
stress that the toy library teaches their children that goods can have
value even without ownership,” Ozanne says.
Opportunities for social and civic engagement
Toy libraries also supply opportunities for social and
civic engagement through volunteer work at the libraries, for example,
and allow parents and children to socialize and form informal networks
with other users: “The libraries directly build the social fabric of the
local communities through ongoing social interactions, connections, and
exchanges.”
Several parents, for instance, reported major and minor
acts of kindness from fellow library patrons. One parent noted that
volunteer work sends a potent message to children: “we’re teaching them,
aren’t we, about looking after each other.”
Volunteers might also get to learn new skills as a result
of their work, including community organizing, leadership, public
speaking, fund raising, grant writing, toy repair, and web design. One
parent-volunteer described how she was able to apply some of the skills
she had picked up to her job. Thus, another benefit of toy libraries
might be helping to develop human capacity, Ozanne says.
Creativity is possible with used toys too
Children also learn that they can be just as creative in
playing with communal, used toys as toys they own, Ozanne says — that,
as one mother put it, “toys can be just whatever a child is prepared to
make of them.”
Toy libraries also educate children on the nature of
citizenship. “Borrowing teaches children to share collective goods, take
their turn, be considerate of the next user, and be good stewards by
taking care of the toys.” Children “are regularly asked to think of
other people as they borrow, use, and return toys,” she says. One mother
explained to her daughter: “another family might need this.”
Three recommendations for public policy
The study makes three public-policy recommendations.
First, more toy libraries should be created in disadvantaged
communities, Ozanne says. “In a period of significant economic
challenges and reduced government budgets, toy libraries may be one of
the few good deals. They might be housed in existing primary schools,
creating a bridge between the educational activities of teachers and
parents. They can be run by volunteers and customized to meet community
needs.”
Second, more toy libraries should be created for children
with special needs. “Appropriate toys for play are particularly
important for engaging children challenged by disabilities.” Third, a
web-based clearing house should be created to document best practices
and share resources. It might provide parent-generated toy reviews,
webinars for training volunteers, methods for evaluating the impact of
the toy library, and promotional materials to increase awareness of
services.
The Ozannes’ study, “A child’s right to play: the social construction of civic virtues in toy libraries,” will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing.
link
Ohio's Cuyahoga County Public Library has one of the largest toy-lending collections (700 toys and counting)
The Cuyahoga County Library System
OUR TOY COLLECTION
Our Toy Lending Service
Request a toy online just as you would a book, movie, or CD.Search our catalog by Toy Title or the keywords
“Toy Collection.” Your toy will be delivered from our
Toy Collection Central to your local branch.
Want a toy today? Browse the toy collection at our
Brooklyn Branch and take home the toy you choose!
USING OUR TOY LENDING SERVICE
- You can pick up your toy at any of our branches.
- Toys may be borrowed for up to three weeks.
- Toys can be renewed like other library materials.
- Late toys are fined 10¢ per day, per toy.
- There is a limit of ten toys per cardholder.
- For items returned damaged beyond normal wear and tear,
fees will be assessed. The fee for lost, unreturned, or
damaged toys is $35.00 ($30 plus $5 processing fee).
For further information,
call 216-749-9525
or ask a librarian
at a branch near you.
CHOOSING THE RIGHT TOY
The toys in our Collection are organized in age-appropriate categories to help you locate the right toy for your child.We have over 700 different toy titles from which to choose, including baby & toddler toys, building blocks, puppets, science & nature activities and much more. The Collection also includes toys adapted to assist children with special needs.
Besides online links at the top of this page, photo catalogs of our entire Toy Collection are available at all of our 28 Library branches.
We have over 700 different toys (with multiples of most) from which to choose in the following...
