this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2023
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Feedback: A Library of Tools (lemm.ee)
submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by jeffhykin@lemm.ee to c/solarpunk@slrpnk.net
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I plan to speak to my city council about creating a tool library, where citizens use their existing library card to checkout tools. To make the idea a bit more robust, I'm also planning to require citizens deposit something as collateral when checking out a tool.

However.

I live in Texas (I love Texas). Thankfully my city council is receptive, but I know they're going to need compelling evidence before approving something like this.

So, if you guys have any advice, or examples, particularly of this kind of system working in the US, I would love to hear about it!

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[โ€“] Kattiydid@slrpnk.net 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

My gut reaction would be to see if it would be a viable option to begin a tool Library separate from state power.
To that end here's the Library socialist website, they have some good links to resources and literature to help. https://librarysocialism.org/

[โ€“] jeffhykin@lemm.ee 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I'm not opposed to the idea but I don't know how to get it working in practice.

  • Where would I put the tools? I can't host it myself because I don't have the space and I'm rarely home.
  • How would I tell everyone that the service is available? I don't have a media following. People know to look at the city website for these kinds of services, in addition to the city having many avenues for announcing the service.
  • If I were to ask a large donor for an initial tool supply, they would likely be confident donating to a library. But if it was just some shed somewhere, I would have a lot harder time convincing them.
  • When a tool is checked-out, who would keep track of it being checked out? If there's no book-keeper equivalent, who would host a website, or prevent one bad person from just straight up stealing all the tools? If there is a book-keeper equivalent who would have the time/availability for it?