8 Things Libraries Lend Out for Free That Texans Never Think to Ask For

Seven Texas libraries send cardholders home with fishing gear, not just books about the sport.

Few Americans grow up expecting that from a library card.

Branches across the state have built up collections of equipment, passes, and tools that never sit anywhere near a bookshelf.

This is what a library card can cover once Texans look past the new-release book section.

1. Museum, Garden, and Nature Center Passes

Fort Worth Public Library keeps physical passes to three of the city’s best-known attractions available for checkout, right alongside its board games and DVDs.

The Library Passes program covers Log Cabin Village, the Fort Worth Botanic Garden, and the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge.

Each pass admits an entire household at once.

No credit card needed.

A pass checks out for seven days and carries its own due date, and a lost one runs a $5 replacement fee.

Return it to any Fort Worth branch once the visit wraps up, and it goes right back into circulation for the next cardholder.

2. Fishing Rods and Tackle

Texas libraries loan out actual fishing gear at seven branches through the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Tackle Loaner Program, and San Antonio’s Central Library is one of them.

A cardholder signs a short borrower agreement, then walks out with a rod-and-reel combo and a tackle box stocked with hooks, sinkers, and bobbers.

Kids get gear too.

Everything goes out first come, first served, and every branch checks that your card is in good standing before handing over the gear.

Lose two items without returning them, and the library pulls your fishing privileges for good.

3. Telescopes and Stargazing Kits

Texas libraries stock more than a telescope at Fort Worth Public Library, where a full stargazing kit checks out with its own due date.

The kit comes with a telescope, an eyepiece, a moon filter, an air blower, a star locator, a red-lens flashlight, an instruction manual, and two books on what to look for.

A member of the Fort Worth Astronomical Society helped the library pick the equipment.

Beginners start with the moon.

It’s visible many nights of the month and doesn’t take much beyond the included eyepiece to bring its craters into focus.

The society also runs free Prairie Sky Star Party nights at Tandy Hills Natural Area from March through November, and a first-timer is welcome to bring questions and look through someone else’s telescope.

4. Cake Pans and Specialty Bakeware

Cake pans check out at Texas libraries in Garland the same way a paperback does, through a collection the city calls its Library of Things.

Character pans, novelty shapes, and cookie cutters all check out for three weeks with a Garland library card.

One rule trips people up.

Every pan has to be hand washed, since a dishwasher will strip the coating and turn it powdery.

Run a pan through the wash cycle anyway, and the library will bill for a replacement.

5. Musical Instruments

Musical instruments rotate through Texas libraries in Houston as part of a Library of Things collection built for cardholders who want to try something before they own it.

A MYLink card unlocks the catalog, where instruments sit in their own browsable category alongside specialty bakeware, discovery kits, and tabletop games.

Nobody has to buy first.

A cardholder can check out up to five items per category over a three-week loan, long enough to figure out whether an instrument is worth owning.

Pickup works differently here.

Every instrument has to be collected and returned at a customer service desk inside the Central Library or a neighborhood branch, since Houston blocks Library of Things items from its self-service hold lockers and BOOKLink kiosks.

Return one in rough shape, with pieces missing or broken, and the library can bill the account for the damage.

6. Bike Repair Tools and Stands

A Tool Library gives Texas libraries in Austin a workshop's worth of gear, covering everything from a post-hole digger to a set of pliers.

The shelves also hold a hiking compass, adjustable binoculars, and a carpet fan for anyone drying out a flooded room.

A newer Bike Tool Loan Program adds pumps, wrenches, tire repair kits, and even a repair stand at select branches, launched as a one-year pilot with the city's Transportation and Public Works Department.

First-time borrowers sign a waiver.

Tools check out for 21 days and don't renew, so a half-finished bike project has a deadline.

Return the tools to any Austin branch once the job's done.

7. Wi-Fi Hotspots

Fort Worth Public Library cardholders can check out a hotspot for home internet, not just books off the shelf.

A hotspot connects up to ten devices at once, about the size of a small wallet, and checks out for up to three weeks with a valid Fort Worth library card.

Eight branches carry them.

Nobody has to plug anything in at a branch desk to use it either.

Families use it for homework, job searches, or just streaming something on a weekend without burning through cell data.

8. Vegetable, Herb, and Flower Seeds

A Seed Library tucked inside two Texas libraries in Houston lets cardholders grow something instead of just reading about it.

Looscan Neighborhood Library and Park Place Regional Library stock donated and purchased Seed Library packets for vegetables, herbs, and flowers, free to any MYLink cardholder.

Take a packet home, grow it, then save seeds from the healthiest plants.

That's the whole idea.