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What is a Toy Library? A toy library is a lending library that works just like a book library, only instead of borrowing a book you borrow a toy. More information on toy libraries can be found on our Toy Library History page.
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Who is Eligible? FLTL will offer membership to all families, caregivers, and organizations that work with children in the Finger Lakes region surrounding Ithaca, NY. Initially, available toys are mostly suitable for children between the ages of 0-7, although our collection of toys for older children is growing every day, and there is an all ages board game and puzzle collection. We hope to increase our collections in the future, including having selections specifically for children with special needs.
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How do I become a member? Bring proof of your identity and proof of your address to our Clinton Street location to sign up for a membership. More information regarding membership can be found here: Membership.
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How does it work? Anyone will be welcome to come browse our collection of toys. Members can choose a maximum of three toys per family/caregiver, or one per child, whichever is greater, and borrow them for up to three weeks. After the loan period, they can come back and exchange them for new toys, or renew them for one additional loan period. Borrowing limits for groups and organizations will be announced at a later date and will depend upon the size of our collection.
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Where are you located? We are located in Clinton West Plaza at 609 West Clinton Street, Ithaca, NY. We are in Suite 106. Clinton West Plaza is behind the CVS, and our suite is on the far side of the building from CVS.
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When will you be open? Winter Hours:
Mondays 3pm-6pm
Tuesdays 9:30am-11:30am
Wednesdays 9:30am-11:30am
Thursdays 3pm-6pm
Saturdays 10:30am-1:30pm
We will be closed on: In light of recent developments related to COVID-19, we have decided to close the Finger Lakes Toy Library until further notice. All loans will be extended at least a week beyond the date we reopen and no late fees will apply. Please do not try to return your toys during this time, as no one will be at the toy library. We will send another update as soon as we know more. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to our director, Emily Art. Take care of yourselves and your families and we hope to see you soon!
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How can I donate my used toys to the library? We are accepting donations of excellent condition used toys, as well as newly purchased toys, which would be best purchased at one of several local toy stores in order to support our local economy. Due to space limitations we are currently only able to accept really unique or high quality toys. Please consider what we already have and what you are offering before bringing in any toy donations. Come to our Clinton Street location during open hours to donate toys. Please make an appointment if you want to donate toys on a Saturday.
What are the toy donation guidelines? Due to space limitations we are currently only able to accept really unique or high quality toys. Please consider what we already have and what you are offering before bringing in any toy donations. At this time we will not be collecting toys based on television or movie characters, battery-operated toys, or stuffed animals. We are also not accepting books. We would love for our collection to include high-quality, environmentally-friendly, gender-neutral, educational, and/or non-media based toys, and especially toys that encourage open-ended, creative and imaginative play. Toy library collections also include things like board games, musical instruments and costumes, so please consider donating them as well. If you are unsure about whether your toys are suitable for the toy library collection please contact us, we are more than happy to answer any questions! Thank you!
How do you select toys for your collection? In curating our collection we will select toys based on a number of criteria, including: quality and safety of materials used to make the toys, environmental-friendliness of toys and the companies that make them, and the degree to which they encourage open-ended, imaginative play. We will also show preference for toys that are gender-neutral, non-media based, and/or educational. Toy library collections also include things such as musical instruments, board games and costumes. Please contact us and check back soon for more information and/or to make suggestions on toys to add to our collection.
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Why start a toy library? Play is increasingly being shown to be invaluable to the development and education of children, especially during early childhood. Toys, the tools of that play, are not always easy to come by, especially the variety of toys that will best stimulate a growing child. Toys, especially high-quality ones, can be cost-prohibitive. They may take up a lot of space, cluttering our homes. When our children are done with them, it takes time and energy to find them new homes. A collection that we all share can help simplify our lives and bring us more joy. A toy library instills a deep understanding of sharing culture into children from a young age, and they learn what it really means to share.There are many great reasons to start a toy library. Please contact us for more information about why we are opening a toy library and come back to our website often for updates and additions. See our Benefits of Membership in a Toy Library list on our Toy Library History page.
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Do you need help? Yes! Starting a nonprofit organization takes a lot of work, and we are all volunteers working on this on the side. If you have the time and interest in helping us, please contact us to find out more information. We are primarily focused on fundraising right now, therefore leads and volunteer-time related specifically to fundraising are most welcome. We are always happy to have more volunteers to help run our open hours at the library. We would also be interested in hearing from website designers, event planners, accountants, lawyers, toy-makers, and other professionals who may be interested in donating their services and/or products. If you are interested in becoming a board member, please contact us to discuss the possibility.
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Is my donation tax-deductible? Yes, we are a federally approved 501(c)(3) charity founded for both charitable and educational purposes, and all donations will be tax-deductible by law.
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How do I donate money? Checks can be made out to Finger Lakes Toy Library, Inc. and mailed to: PO Box 6769, Ithaca, NY, 14851. Donations can also be made via Paypal using the following email address: treasurer@fingerlakestoylibrary.org.
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What items do you need? We are looking to change out our counter area to include a larger/double sink. If you have a cabinet section, counter top, or double sink in good condition we would love to have it! If you would like to help with any of these acquisitions, please contact us.
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How can I contact you? You can reach our President Debra Lewis at debra.lewis@fingerlakestoylibrary.org. Our Director of Operations Emily Art can be reached at emily.art@fingerlakestoylibrary.org. Please do not hesitate to share your voice with us, we want to hear your thoughts and questions and, most importantly, we want your participation!
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Who are you? We are eight women: mothers, child-care professionals, educators, entrepreneurs, and visionaries in the avenues of play. Come join us, and let’s have some fun together! For more information, please see the Who We Are section.
To learn more about toy libraries visit the International Toy Library Association Website at:
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What is a Toy Library? A toy library is a lending library that works just like a book library, only instead of borrowing a book you borrow a toy. More information on toy libraries can be found on our Toy Library History page.
-
Who is Eligible? FLTL will offer membership to all families, caregivers, and organizations that work with children in the Finger Lakes region surrounding Ithaca, NY. Initially, available toys are mostly suitable for children between the ages of 0-7, although our collection of toys for older children is growing every day, and there is an all ages board game and puzzle collection. We hope to increase our collections in the future, including having selections specifically for children with special needs.
-
How do I become a member? Bring proof of your identity and proof of your address to our Clinton Street location to sign up for a membership. More information regarding membership can be found here: Membership.
-
How does it work? Anyone will be welcome to come browse our collection of toys. Members can choose a maximum of three toys per family/caregiver, or one per child, whichever is greater, and borrow them for up to three weeks. After the loan period, they can come back and exchange them for new toys, or renew them for one additional loan period. Borrowing limits for groups and organizations will be announced at a later date and will depend upon the size of our collection.
-
Where are you located? We are located in Clinton West Plaza at 609 West Clinton Street, Ithaca, NY. We are in Suite 106. Clinton West Plaza is behind the CVS, and our suite is on the far side of the building from CVS.
-
When will you be open? Winter Hours: Mondays 3pm-6pm Tuesdays 9:30am-11:30am Wednesdays 9:30am-11:30am Thursdays 3pm-6pm Saturdays 10:30am-1:30pm We will be closed on: In light of recent developments related to COVID-19, we have decided to close the Finger Lakes Toy Library until further notice. All loans will be extended at least a week beyond the date we reopen and no late fees will apply. Please do not try to return your toys during this time, as no one will be at the toy library. We will send another update as soon as we know more. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to our director, Emily Art. Take care of yourselves and your families and we hope to see you soon!
-
How can I donate my used toys to the library? We are accepting donations of excellent condition used toys, as well as newly purchased toys, which would be best purchased at one of several local toy stores in order to support our local economy. Due to space limitations we are currently only able to accept really unique or high quality toys. Please consider what we already have and what you are offering before bringing in any toy donations. Come to our Clinton Street location during open hours to donate toys. Please make an appointment if you want to donate toys on a Saturday.
What are the toy donation guidelines? Due to space limitations we are currently only able to accept really unique or high quality toys. Please consider what we already have and what you are offering before bringing in any toy donations. At this time we will not be collecting toys based on television or movie characters, battery-operated toys, or stuffed animals. We are also not accepting books. We would love for our collection to include high-quality, environmentally-friendly, gender-neutral, educational, and/or non-media based toys, and especially toys that encourage open-ended, creative and imaginative play. Toy library collections also include things like board games, musical instruments and costumes, so please consider donating them as well. If you are unsure about whether your toys are suitable for the toy library collection please contact us, we are more than happy to answer any questions! Thank you!
How do you select toys for your collection? In curating our collection we will select toys based on a number of criteria, including: quality and safety of materials used to make the toys, environmental-friendliness of toys and the companies that make them, and the degree to which they encourage open-ended, imaginative play. We will also show preference for toys that are gender-neutral, non-media based, and/or educational. Toy library collections also include things such as musical instruments, board games and costumes. Please contact us and check back soon for more information and/or to make suggestions on toys to add to our collection.
-
Why start a toy library? Play is increasingly being shown to be invaluable to the development and education of children, especially during early childhood. Toys, the tools of that play, are not always easy to come by, especially the variety of toys that will best stimulate a growing child. Toys, especially high-quality ones, can be cost-prohibitive. They may take up a lot of space, cluttering our homes. When our children are done with them, it takes time and energy to find them new homes. A collection that we all share can help simplify our lives and bring us more joy. A toy library instills a deep understanding of sharing culture into children from a young age, and they learn what it really means to share.There are many great reasons to start a toy library. Please contact us for more information about why we are opening a toy library and come back to our website often for updates and additions. See our Benefits of Membership in a Toy Library list on our Toy Library History page.
-
Do you need help? Yes! Starting a nonprofit organization takes a lot of work, and we are all volunteers working on this on the side. If you have the time and interest in helping us, please contact us to find out more information. We are primarily focused on fundraising right now, therefore leads and volunteer-time related specifically to fundraising are most welcome. We are always happy to have more volunteers to help run our open hours at the library. We would also be interested in hearing from website designers, event planners, accountants, lawyers, toy-makers, and other professionals who may be interested in donating their services and/or products. If you are interested in becoming a board member, please contact us to discuss the possibility.
-
Is my donation tax-deductible? Yes, we are a federally approved 501(c)(3) charity founded for both charitable and educational purposes, and all donations will be tax-deductible by law.
-
How do I donate money? Checks can be made out to Finger Lakes Toy Library, Inc. and mailed to: PO Box 6769, Ithaca, NY, 14851. Donations can also be made via Paypal using the following email address: treasurer@fingerlakestoylibrary.org.
-
What items do you need? We are looking to change out our counter area to include a larger/double sink. If you have a cabinet section, counter top, or double sink in good condition we would love to have it! If you would like to help with any of these acquisitions, please contact us.
-
How can I contact you? You can reach our President Debra Lewis at debra.lewis@fingerlakestoylibrary.org. Our Director of Operations Emily Art can be reached at emily.art@fingerlakestoylibrary.org. Please do not hesitate to share your voice with us, we want to hear your thoughts and questions and, most importantly, we want your participation!
-
Who are you? We are eight women: mothers, child-care professionals, educators, entrepreneurs, and visionaries in the avenues of play. Come join us, and let’s have some fun together! For more information, please see the Who We Are section.