Following on from the article written by the Oxford Sling Meet Group about setting up a babywearing group, here is another guide, this time about setting up a Sling Library. Many thanks to the Oxford Group for sharing their experiences!
Sling libraries are fantastic! And very popular at meets; trying slings from the library is an important part of the meet. Parents have the chance to borrow a sling for a month; we charge £2 for each borrowing. When we started the library all the slings were donated to us by some very generous vendors and local parents – it’s great publicity for manufacturers/vendors, and we acknowledge the donor / maker and state the approximate price. One question which did vex us was deposits. We really wanted to make library hires as low cost as possible to provide everyone with a chance to try out babywearing. However we don’t want slings disappearing from the library with no way of replacing them; and even if we trust the borrower, it could be very awkward to ask them to pay for a sling which they have lost or damaged. The system we are using is to offer a choice; either the borrower pays a refundable deposit of £30 (cheques are not banked) or, if preferred, parents can become a member of Oxford Sling Meet which costs £5 per year (£2 concessionary rate); we issue membership cards and keep a record via the membership roll. The membership scheme has been very popular and has provided a useful source of income, which has given us a safety net in case of any lost or damaged slings and has also funded the expansion of the library stock.
It is helpful to have a catalogue of slings which can be browsed through. We keep ours in plastic folders, separated according to type of sling so that several parents can browse at once. The Librarian also has a separate catalogue in a ring binder, containing a plastic wallet for each sling/item with a description, photo, library code and manufacturers’ instructions; the instructions can be taken away by the borrower. In addition, the borrower receives a copy of our library Terms & Conditions which include some generic safety instructions and also cover washing and returning the sling. To borrow a sling, the parent has to fill in a borrowing form so the Librarian can keep track of individual slings and issue reminders for return, and the parent signs consent to the Terms & Conditions.
It was certainly a lot of work to set up our group, but it was also an exciting time seeing it all come together, and now everything is in place it is much more manageable to keep it running. We hope that this guide will not put you off running a sling meet or library – but rather make it easy for you to set up your own group in your local area! Please treat it as a checklist rather than a to-do list. It is immensely rewarding to be involved in setting up a new initiative and we really enjoy our group.
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