Get Outside with the Library's Birding, Stargazing, or Hiking Kits

The Irene H. Ruiz Branch in Kansas City’s Westside neighborhood offers lots of ways for patrons to connect directly with nature. 

The Seed Library, tucked inside the branch, is one of the largest in the area (Kansas City, Kansas, Lawrence, and Olathe libraries also have seed libraries) and offers free flower and vegetable seeds. 

There are educational opportunities, such as gardening workshops and classes, and visitors can check out chess sets to play at the outdoor chess tables on the grassy lawn.

But did you know that the Ruiz Branch also stocks backpack kits for bird watching, stargazing, and the outdoors?

“My dream job is to run a library of things,” says Branch Manager Jimmy Thomas, who took on the role in February. “If it was totally up to me, we would do 100 of these, in addition to millions of other things.”

The kits have been available for about three years, initiated by former branch managers, Teresa Bolton and Amy Morris. 

"The first kit that came about was actually the birding backpack with the binoculars,” says Library Assistant Cheyenne Brown. "And then after that, both the stargazing kits and the hiking kits came together.” 

The kits can be checked out for three weeks, and they can be placed on hold at any Library location. 

All of the kits are consistently checked out, says Brown, but the stargazing kits are often more popular in the winter months. 

The bird watching kit is for the avid avian aficionado, as described in a booklet about the branch. Observe birds in their natural habitat with two sets of binoculars, one for a child and one for an adult, and a book about Midwest birds.

The outdoors or hiking kit is handy for long walks on park trails and stocked with a magnifying glass, flashlight, binoculars, compass, and 1000 Hours Outside book. 

The stargazing kit, perfect for amateur astronomers, boasts a monocular telescope, night sky map, a star finder book, and flashlight.

Thomas says visitors stopping by the Ruiz Branch can spend time exploring the native gardens or making gardening plans in the Seed Library. But he hopes that patrons will also consider checking out the kits and venturing farther afield to “experience the outdoors.”