According to Gothamist, Brooklyn Public Library has opened a first-of-its-kind craft supply library at Central Library, letting cardholders check out gear for screen printing, bookbinding, metal stamping and hand embroidery without spending a dime on equipment. The new collection lives inside the newly renovated Art & Music space on the second floor of the landmark building at 10 Grand Army Plaza, and its launch coincides with a ribbon-cutting for that overhauled space.
The idea traces back to librarian Jess Hardwick's own crafting misadventures. As reported by Gothamist, Hardwick, a craft-loving BPL librarian of eight years, once bought needle-felting supplies and wool that ended up not suiting her at all — a common and often costly pitfall for anyone trying a new hobby. That frustration became the seed for a public collection where patrons can borrow the tools first and figure out if a craft is worth the investment before committing any money to it.
Now BPL patrons can borrow Hardwick's own needle-felting tools at no charge, according to the outlet's report. Hardwick told Gothamist she hopes the collection will grow through community donations and said she expects people will be excited to try a new craft or hobby without the financial investment.
What You Can and Cannot Borrow
The rules are specific. Cardholders with an adult card can borrow up to three craft kits and two craft tools at a time, and according to Brooklyn Public Library, holds can take up to three days to process. Everything must be picked up and returned in person at Central Library, with a signed liability waiver required before checkout.
Craft kits can be borrowed for up to three weeks, per Gothamist's reporting, while craft tools go out for a shorter window of up to one week. Patrons can browse what's available through BPL's catalog, but the library's collection intentionally excludes consumable materials — no yarn, thread, paint, glue or buttons are stocked, since the library only carries reusable equipment, tools and non-consumable project kits, per the same source. Anyone hoping to actually finish a scarf or a painting will still need to bring their own raw materials; the library supplies the machinery, not the mess.
The Art & Music space is currently the only place where patrons can pick up and return craft items, meaning the collection is centralized at Grand Army Plaza rather than distributed across BPL's neighborhood branches. The library system does accept donations to grow the craft supply collection over time.
A Renovated Space Built for Making Things
The 3,380-square-foot Art & Music area housing the new craft library was designed by Toshiko Mori Architect and features floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Grand Army Plaza, the library system notes in materials describing the renovation. The second-floor overhaul doesn't stop there — a new 4,815-square-foot Teen Space is set to open at Central Library in fall 2026, complete with sound-isolated recording pods, digital media tools, a gaming lounge and a shared art studio for teens and adults, as noted by Brooklyn Public Library.
The craft library joins an expanding roster the system calls its Library of Things, which according to Gothamist's report already includes vinyl records, board games, museum passes, musical instruments and telescopes. That ecosystem didn't appear overnight. BPL launched New York City's first public musical instrument lending library at Central Library back in May 2018 through a Revson Foundation grant, letting adult cardholders check out guitars, ukuleles and keyboards for free.
The system later expanded its Central Library catalog again in August 2022 with a Vinyl Lending Library featuring 400 records and dedicated listening stations. Beyond Central Library, BPL's Greenpoint branch runs a Repair Hub incubator project that lets adult patrons check out hand and power tools to encourage DIY home repairs and environmental sustainability.
Part of a Bigger Building Boom
The craft library's debut lands amid a wave of capital investment across BPL's 62-branch system, which serves roughly 2.7 million Brooklyn residents as the nation's sixth-largest public library system. That modernization push includes a $36 million glass-and-limestone expansion of the Carnegie-era Eastern Parkway branch in Crown Heights and a $30.9 million mass-timber rebuild in Canarsie.
The broader concept of libraries lending things other than books isn't new nationally, either. American public libraries have experimented with non-book lending since as early as 1904, when the Newark Public Library began lending out framed art, according to research from Demco. The modern “Library of Things” movement accelerated after the 2008 financial crisis as a way to support the sharing economy, letting community members access hobbies and tools without financial investment or storage burdens.
