Library of Things
A shared lending library for tools, appliances and gear, so a neighbourhood owns one good drill instead of fifty idle ones.
Start small
Start with a borrow box or a single shelf at an existing community space. Collect 30 to 50 donated tools in a weekend, log them on a free lending tool or spreadsheet, and open one fixed two-hour slot a week with 3 to 4 volunteers. Cost is a few hundred dollars for shelving, tags and safety checks.
The problem
Households each buy rarely used tools and gadgets, driving extraction, emissions and landfill, while people on low incomes cannot afford the things they need occasionally.
Where it fits
Needs an affordable, accessible space (a shed, public library, station or shopfront), a booking system, donated or rescued stock, and volunteers or staff who can check, clean and repair items. Thrives when housed in public libraries or council buildings that remove the rent burden, and when most members live within a short walk or ride.
The principle underneath
Most tools sit idle almost all of their life. Pooling them in one trusted place turns private, under-used possessions into a shared stock with far higher use per item, and the lending desk becomes a meeting place that builds repair skills and neighbourliness.
Who to call
Leila Bologna, Italy · Library of Things, London · Toronto Tool Library · Library of STUFF Co-op, Mullumbimby · Brisbane Tool Library · Australian Library of Things Network.
Watch out for
Rent; burnout of a few key volunteers; tools coming back broken with no repair capacity; over- or under-stocking popular items; insurance and liability for power tools.
Where it comes from
Tool lending libraries go back to at least the 1970s in North America; the Library of Things and borrowing-shop movement spread from Berlin, Bologna, Toronto and London in the 2010s. No cultural protocols restrict use.
Where it's worked
Bologna, Italy · 2016–present
Italy's first library of things; members contribute one item to join; the city now gives free membership to public library users and it is spreading into neighbourhood libraries.
DocumentedSource
Hammersmith & Fulham, London, UK · 2022–2025
Over 6,000 items borrowed by about 4,000 users, £900,000 lifetime savings for residents and 44 tonnes of waste prevented in three years.
DocumentedSource
Toronto, Canada · 2013–2018
More than 7,000 tools and 65,000 loans across three branches; nearly folded in 2018 over rent and permit costs and was rescued by a $37,000 crowdfund.
DocumentedSource
Mullumbimby, NSW, Australia · 2019–2024
Co-op lending library with over 1,000 items, borrowed more than 20,000 times in five years; members pay a small fee and volunteer about an hour a week.
Where it failed
Rent and staffing are the usual breaking point. The Toronto Tool Library nearly folded in 2018 because of rising rent and permit costs and difficulty getting government grants, and was only rescued by a crowdfunding campaign. Peer-to-peer lending between households tends to stall because it needs several trips and trust between strangers, which is why most working examples hold a central stock.