You’ll let me check out what from the library?

Books, music, and DVDs aren't the only things lent out at some Eastern Iowa libraries.

Some also have more unusual items nestled among their stacks.

Several - including libraries in Vinton, Elkader and North Liberty - lend out cake pans. North Liberty has been lending cake pans out since the late 1980s, according to Jennifer Jordebrek, assistant library director.

'All of cake pans have been donated. We have 379 in our collection,” Jordebrek said. 'We have special shelving for them and patrons can put them on hold and reserve them and we lend them out to other libraries.”

Jordebrek said the pans were checked out 845 times last year, and the most popular pan was one shaped like the character Hello Kitty. The No. 1 cake pan also is popular, probably because it is used for first birthdays, Jordebrek said.

'People definitely do come to our library for them,” Jordebrek said of the cake pans.

Virginia Holsten, library director in Vinton, said the cake pans there are checked out most often when holidays, such as Christmas and Easter, roll around.

As in North Liberty, all of the cake pans in Vinton were donated, Holsten said, adding the library has been lending them out for more than 30 years.

'The director before me started the collection,” Holsten said. 'Somebody said ‘hey, I've got a bunch of cake pans, do you want them?'”

Jordebrek said if the North Liberty library gets a duplicate cake pan, they will donate it to another library so they can build their collection.

Lisa Pope, library director in Elkader, said in addition to cake pans, her library lends out puzzles and 'grandma kits,” with supplies for different activities.

'You can use them with children to play grocery store or dress up,” Pope said. 'Some of them are artistic, have arts and crafts supplies in them. Sometimes parents or grandparents don't have those things on hand.”

Ely's library doesn't have cake pans, but they do have a somewhat food-related item available for checkout: seeds.

Sarah Sellon, Ely's library director, said the seed lending program started in March 2012.

'Seeds get borrowed from our library at the beginning of the season, they grow out, and a new crop of seeds get donated back to the library,” Sellon said.

Seeds for prairie flowers and vegetables are among those available. Sellon said. She added prospective planters only have to have an Ely Public Library card to check out seeds.

Sellon said the idea for the program came from someone at the library.

'There has been a seed lending library on the west coast of California,” Sellon said. 'They had heard about that and they thought Ely is the perfect place to offer that kind of thing. There has been an interest in securing organic seeds and being able to grow and provide your own healthy organic produce.”

Sellon said each year, the seed lending program gets more popular. She said this year, participation doubled to about 60 people.

'It was a slow start but I think we're going to see more growth in that area,” Sellon said.

Sellon said the seeds are stored inside the library, which is climate controlled, and they are available year-round.

'There are some things that can be grown indoors, or year-round like leaf lettuces,” Sellon said.

A more unusual library collection that isn't available year-round can be found in Lisbon. The public library there lends out Halloween costumes during the entire month of October.

Amy White, Lisbon's library director, said there are more than 200 costumes available for checkout starting Oct. 1, and people have until a couple of weeks after Halloween to return them. All of the costumes are donated.

The collection began 15 years ago with a couple dozen costumes, White said.

'Then, one of the city workers moonlit at the Disney store and he just went crazy and got costumes with his employee discount. We added a few dozen that way,” White said. 'They just started pouring in. Even now, we get donations of costumes year-round. I tell people when they're ready to let go, we're here.”

White said the collection has grown so big that the library is starting to weed out some of the costumes.

'We're taking some to a local theater and we're having a little sale at the library from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dec. 13 during the holiday jubilee,” White said.

White said for now, the library is going to continue limiting when it lends out costumes.

'At some point if we grow we may lend out all year. We would consider it, but the reality is it takes up too much room to display them,” White said.

It's not just smaller towns that have unusual collections: Cedar Rapids' public library lends out computer tablets, said Amber Mussman, community relations manager.

'We've had to make modifications to try to make sure we're keeping things working, and had to adjust some of our policies on who can check them out,” Mussman said. 'The program has been really successful. We've had lots of positive responses from people.”

Iowa City's library also lends out several unique items, including art, book club kits, story time kits and giant chess and checkers pieces that can be used on a game board outside the library, according to Meredith Hines-Dochterman, public relations specialist at the library.