Beginning Aug. 31, something different can be checked out at the Shawano City-County Library: Wilton cake pans.
The pans come in many different shapes.
“It was fun picking out things and trying to think what people might like,” library assistant Wendy Rosenow said. “We wanted to do something new.”
She found the idea online after the library started looking for new ideas that would bring people into the library.
“I read about a library that did this,” she said.
Rosenow brought the idea to the library director, Kristie Hauer, who told her it sounded like a good idea and to go ahead with it.
“We thought maybe this would be a way that might interest a new demographic of patrons,” Rosenow said.
Many patrons are tech savvy and don’t have to come to the library any more because they do everything online, according to library workers.
After some research, Rosenow approached the Friends of the Library for funding and received $350. She ordered 23 cake pans that can be used for birthdays, bridal and baby showers, holidays and other occasions.
Many libraries in other parts of the country have been lending the cake pans. The Charles County Public Library believes it was the first one in Maryland to do it. In 2012, the IT manager, Aaron Krebeck, heard about the pans at a seminar and brought the idea back to the library.
In her research, Rosenow had to choose from many cake pans.
Library patrons can check out the pans for two weeks and then bring them back, just like checking out a book. Instructions, pictures and ideas come with each pan, which can also be used for brownies, Jell-O and other kinds of bars.
The cake pans need to be checked out by an adult at the desk in Shawano. The pans will be on display in the cookbook section at the library.
The cake pans cannot be put in the drop box and must be hand-washed.
Rosenow also said patrons could “share a cake with us.”
“We’re hoping that people will utilize this collection,” she said.
For information, call the library at 715-526-3829 or visit its Facebook page.
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