Library of Things Toolkit

A comprehensive guide to starting (and growing) a sharing hub in your community

Libraries of Things Toolkit header Image
​Table of Contents

Introduction
Section 1: Getting started
Section 2: Getting Things
Section 3: Operations
Section 4: Volunteers
Section 5: Space (how to find, acquire, and design a LoT)
Section 6: Membership (costs, benefits, privileges, and access)
Section 7: Income generation & Operational budgeting
Section 8: Governance (board, staff, members, and beyond)
Section 9: Communications, branding, and marketing
Section 10: Going mobile
Section 11: Workshops and classes
Section 12: Public libraries (working with and within them)
Conclusion (Now What?)
Credits
Appendix

"The Library of Things Toolkit

Free PDF: “The Library of Things Toolkit”

In addition to the web toolkit, there is also an interactive PDF

Introduction

Welcome to The Library of Things Toolkit.

This guide will help you plan, start, and grow a Library of Things in your community.

Libraries of Things (often called LoTs) are a form of community infrastructure designed for sharing all kinds of stuff. LoTs follow the traditional mechanics of a library while pushing what can be borrowed to a new edge: instruments, gardening tools, camping gear, sporting equipment, and more!

There are roughly 2,000 formally established LoTs worldwide, as well as countless informal ones. Modern LoTs have been in operation since 1978 (the longest-running is The Berkeley Public Library’s Tool Lending Library in Berkeley, California, which has been in operation since 1979), but informal and commons-based resource sharing has always been an essential part of the human experience.

LoTs build community while bringing solidarity economy and mutual aid practices to life. They counter consumerism and selfishness and are a more environmentally friendly way to meet our material needs.

Many examples in this guide are from libraries that lend tools because they are the fastest-growing versions of LoTs, but your library can contain whatever items your community of members need that can be shared safely and effectively.

In 2023, Shareable surveyed 82 LoTs in 11 countries and produced a report on the current state of Libraries of Things.

Here are some of the key findings for inspiration and context:

  • Many LoTs are making a difference in their communities with just a handful of volunteers and a small space like a storage unit or garage.
  • Generally, there are three different “types” of LoTs:
    • Fully volunteer-run, with annual budgets of less than $10k/year, limited inventory, and average memberships of less than 200 people. (These are the vast majority of LoTs!)
    • Larger, independent LoTs with storefronts, significant annual budgets, and at least one paid Library staff person (often a volunteer coordinator).
    • Municipal LoTs that are connected to city libraries, including stand-alone, dedicated LoTs or collections within traditional media libraries.
  • Volunteers are critical to the success of most LoTs, especially for inventory maintenance.
  • For financial sustainability, LoTs rely most heavily on a combination of membership fees, grants, and donations.
  • Most LoTs have been operating for less than 5 years and are open 1-3 days/week when they have capacity (with limited hours).

Read the full The State of Libraries of Things 2024 Report.

Every country, city, town, and neighborhood is different! We advise that you always start with your local context and then apply the advice and resources within this toolkit in ways that make the most sense for your community.

This toolkit has been adapted from the 12 live presentations shared during the Library of Things Co-Lab (recorded between March and May 2024) and includes resources and templates for each section. Additional sections will be added to this web version of the toolkit on a regular basis, with the Library of Things Toolkit 2.0 expected to be released in late 2025.

This guide contains far too much information to be read straight through. We encourage you to start by skimming it and then reading sections more deeply as you reach each stage of planning and development. Then, when you have questions, watch the videos at the end of each section for more information. For ongoing support, find others who are (or have been) in the same place you are now by joining the online communities listed at the end of the toolkit.

Print-friendly and Spanish versions of this Toolkit will be available in January.

The toolkit is a work in progress! Please send feedback to info@shareable.net.

If you find this to be a valuable resource, please consider donating to help cover the cost of producing it. There were well over 2,000 hours that went into research, convening the Library of Things Co-Lab, and producing the toolkit. We appreciate your support.

Section 1: Getting started

It’s easy to want to jump right into acquiring things for your library, but it’s important to spend time planning and answering some foundational questions. By investing in this planning stage, you can save yourself time and avoid miscommunications, ambiguities, and a loss of momentum later. While some of these questions might seem simple, taking the time to write down your vision will help you inspire others who share it and keep you and your collaborators motivated during challenging moments.
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Who, what, when, where, why, and how

Why: It is important to articulate why you are starting a LoT. The answers to these questions can be the north star for other decisions you have to make, but should be revisited as your organization develops, grows, adapts, or changes. This will also help you explain the value of your LoT when it comes time to build financial and volunteer support.

  • What is your primary motivation?
  • What personal strengths are you bringing to the table?
  • What strengths and motivations are others bringing?
  • What challenges will a LoT address in your community?

Who: The most successful LoTs are built and maintained by a team of people with complementary skills but a shared purpose and vision. It can be daunting at the beginning to think about widening your circle, but when any single person becomes too essential, the whole project is in jeopardy. Practice embracing shared responsibility from the start, and you’ll build a more sustainable, functional library of shared things.

  • Start with you! What are your strengths or superpowers? Where will you need help?
  • Who are the people you hope will be members of your LoT?
  • Who are the people who will help you launch and lead it?
  • Who will your inventory items come from?
  • Who has the skills to help with specialized tasks (e.g. maintenance of power tools)?
  • Who are the people that will help you fund it?
  • Who are your inspirations, advisors, and the people you can tap for short-term help?
  • Who are the other community leaders who will help build your network?
  • Who is not at the table? When possible, it is best to bring together diverse stakeholders in the planning stages that are representative of the community your LoT will serve. When in doubt, remember the maxim “nothing about us without us” and pause to include the people who will be affected by your decisions.

What: The things themselves are not the only “what” to consider! You are setting out to build an organization and a community. Spend some time thinking about what you want it to be.

  • What kinds of things will your library need? (This is a great time for a community survey—look for guidance below.)
  • What will your library do? There are many activities, services, and programs that LoTs offer in addition to lending. Consider whether you want to also provide repair, education, sales of things, or other events to your LoT planning. Some LoTs have community gardens, makerspaces, seed banks, and more!
  • What kind of legal business structures are available or permissible for LoTs in your community?
  • What is the culture you hope to build within your LoT?

When: We all know good things usually take longer to create than you initially plan for, but creating a timeline now will help you identify key milestones and dependencies (what has to happen first). If you can’t yet make firm plans, try to prepare by outlining the steps needed to get to that point. Having specificity from the onset, even knowing things will change along the way, will help other collaborators get on board and stay there.

  • How much time do you have to dedicate to the project?
  • How much time do collaborators have?
  • How much time will different leadership roles take?
  • How much time are you asking others to give?
  • Sketch out a project timeline:
    • When will you begin spreading the word to find other organizers?
    • When do you need space?
    • When will you start collecting inventory? (Hopefully, after you have space to store it!)When will you start recruiting volunteers?
    • When will you start signing up your first members/borrowers and loaning things to them?
    • When do you plan to open your LoT to everyone?
    • How often and at what times will your LoT be regularly open?

Where: One of the greatest defining factors for a LoT is the neighborhood and physical space it’s situated in. Often we end up in the position of going with the most affordable or soonest available, but it’s worthwhile to identify your ideal neighborhood and type of space. You never know what might be out there if you make your needs known!

  • What other programs and structures exist around you? Are there some that align with your plans?
  • Where are like-minded groups in your community located?
  • Where are your future members?
  • Where are the people who will be volunteers, staff, or leaders?
  • What are your accessibility needs?
  • Where is space available? (Many independent LoTs start in church basements or community centers.)
  • Given all of that, is there a specific neighborhood or area that makes the most sense for your LoT?

How: Consider not just how you’ll start the library but also how you’ll go about all of the work involved: forming the team, making the decisions, raising funds, staying accountable, moving through failures, celebrating successes, growing, and eventually passing the project on to others to lead and manage.

This toolkit is designed to help you think through many of these “how” questions, but there are almost infinite questions to ask and answer in the process. It’s up to you and your team to find more opportunities to slow down, ask each other hard questions, and find the right answers together.

Needs Assessments

Many of the foundational questions depend on what your community needs! Conducting a survey or assessment doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are some techniques to get information from your community about what they want in a LoT:

Design a short online survey (no more than four questions). Try to keep answers in either yes/no or checkbox formats, and limit your open-ended questions.

  • Would you be interested in borrowing everyday items from a library the way you borrow books and DVDs?
  • What kinds of things would be most useful to you? (Can include a multi-choice list of examples and a fill-in-the-blank “other” option.)
  • What are some things you’ve borrowed from friends, neighbors, or family recently? (Can include a multi-choice list of examples and a fill-in-the-blank “other” option.)
  • Which of these items are you most likely to want to borrow?” (Perhaps include a ranked choice format to determine priority.)
  • It’s always good to leave room for other questions, ideas, or requests at the end! You can also include an interest sign-up for those wanting to learn about volunteering with your LoT.

Connect with friendly non-governmental organizations (environmental groups, housing non-profits, gleaners, community gardens, local hardware stores) and public gathering places (street festivals, churches, farmers’ markets). Ask to survey people at their events.

Reach out to your local government. Some LoTs (and many repair programs) are associated with governmental ‘waste reduction’ and/or ‘environmental quality’ efforts. And don’t forget to reach out to your local public library!

Reach out if there is a nearby university or college. See if there are students, classes, or a program that can help you with this project.

Employ multiple methods, like:

  • Hand out stickers, candy, or fliers at an event and ask people your survey question when they stop by.
  • Create a flier with a QR code that links to your survey.
  • Send a short blurb and a link to the survey to friendly organizations and ask them to include it in their e-newsletters or bulletins.
  • Post your survey on social media and send it to friendly organizations to re-post.
  • Ask for 10 minutes on the agenda of upcoming neighborhood association meetings, and ask your questions live or leave fliers with the survey for people to fill out later.
  • If there are specific groups of people you hope will use your library, go to where they are (e.g. senior centers, colleges, hobbyist groups, immigrant services nonprofits) and ask for advice from organizational leaders about soliciting input.

Assessing community needs is an ongoing effort! As you continue to move forward, be sure to incorporate opportunities for feedback into your member check-out process, website, and any other community “touch” you have. This Stakeholder Mapping Exercise can help you consider who is included in your community.

Engagement

At all stages of LoT development, Who? is the most crucial question. Engaging others is crucial for success, but can also be difficult. Some best practices for community engagement include:

Consider what you’re asking people to engage in before reaching out. What do you want from them? This could be input, time, money, space, leadership skills, help spreading the word, etc. What are you offering? Hopefully, it’s something they want, too! Remember that if you ask for more than you offer, you will likely burn people out.

If you’re interested in engaging people outside of your cultural experience, make sure someone in your leadership group (or at least one of your advisors) reflects them and their experience. Ask for advice in creating the right approach.

Meet people where they are (literally and figuratively). If you are interested in input from a specific neighborhood, reach out to their local neighborhood group and ask for time on an upcoming agenda, and/or host an event at a nearby church, community center, or park.

Anytime you show up with information, also ask questions. Outreach is most successful when it’s part of a dialogue. For example, if you are trying to build membership, ask people what kinds of project goals or needs they have that your LoT inventory could potentially help accomplish and fulfill. If you’re looking for volunteers, start by asking people what kinds of skills they have to offer or what other kinds of volunteering they’ve enjoyed.

Consider the commonly spoken languages in your region. If many people are native Spanish speakers, make sure you have people involved who also speak Spanish, and then translate your flyers, website, etc. Be careful of indicating accessibility (e.g. including images of people in wheelchairs) if you’re not prepared to follow through, even if your intent is to be inclusive.

Be prepared to encounter reluctance or opposition, and make a plan to deal with it in a positive way. Create talking points with your team and practice having conversations together. Some common misconceptions:

  • “Won’t everything get broken?” Sure, some things will. We plan for repair and replacement, but everything breaks eventually. We’d rather it get more use before it dies.
  • “Won’t things get stolen?” Actually, theft is rare among Libraries of Things! While it does happen from time to time, other libraries have found that creating a trusting community inspires people to do their best to return things.
  • “Will people really use it?” What would make you want to use this library? (Take notes!)

Resources + templates

LoT Co-Lab live session: Getting started

2. Getting Things

It seems simple, right? Get a bunch of things and then loan them out! But choosing the right items for your community’s needs, storing them, insuring them, maintaining them, and helping people find and check them out can present many unknowns. This section will help you think ahead and make plans to keep your inventory thriving.

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Selection of Things

Cast a wide net

The most important principle of this stage (and many others) is to get enough representative input. It’s essential to broaden and test your understanding of what items are needed at the beginning, especially from people who run in different circles or have different social networks and cultural norms. It’s okay to start with a really big list of dreams – you don’t have to fulfill all of them! Get out and ask people, share your contact info, and ask them to ask other people. You cannot gather all of this input alone! All ideas are worth considering at this stage, as some of them may become VERY important later when you need to plan for funding.

Start by finding out what resources and networks already exist in your community. Are there other organizations helping people share things like food? Are there informal groups on Nextdoor or within schools that facilitate sharing of things like baby gear? Do you have local manufacturers or distributors of the kinds of items you’ll want to loan out? They may be willing to partner with you.

Then, identify what your community needs. You might have a clear idea of what you’d have in your ideal LoT, but your neighbors (or people in a different neighborhood) might have very different ideas. What kinds of things aren’t equally distributed right now? If there are areas without public green space or yards, will they be as excited about yard equipment? Enlist friends to connect with a diverse range of incomes, genders, cultural or ethnic backgrounds, and age ranges. Without promising anything, invite people to tell you about their hopes and dreams. Neighbors who feel buy-in at early stages of development can become some of your strongest advocates.

Consider your community’s existing interests. If there are people working on environmental protections, consider how your library could help people create pollinator habitats or reduce stormwater runoff. If you have a lot of nearby community gardens, find out if they have gardening tools to lend or need to borrow more. If there is a craft or mending group, poll them for the kinds of craft tools they’d like to have access to. If there is a workforce development group or pre-apprenticeship program in your town, ask them what kinds of things might help their clients and what needs they see in the community.

Narrow it down. Once you’ve settled on the categories of items you want to prioritize, think about the requirements and limitations of each of them. Some common considerations are:

  • Durability. Will these kinds of items withstand a lot of use? Are there very delicate pieces likely to get broken in transit or by an inexperienced user? Keep in mind that many things, like sewing machines and drills, have cheaper brands designed for infrequent hobbyist use and more expensive brands designed for daily, professional use. When possible, source the most durable version of an item.
  • Cleaning. Will these things come back to you clean or will your volunteers need to clean them? How clean will the things need to be? Imagine kitchen tools or kids’ toys versus wheelbarrows, saws, etc.
  • Maintenance. When something does break, are you able to repair it? Consider cost, availability of parts, required time, and expertise. Think about items like air compressors that need to be drained occasionally to prevent rust. Do you have a plan for scheduled inspections and maintenance? What repair businesses, organizations, or volunteers can reliably support your needs, and what would each cost in terms of time, money, and coordination efforts?
  • Cost. If you buy or get a donation of an expensive item, it will eventually wear out or break irreparably. Can you afford to replace it? If not, will that leave a hole in your community’s LoT resources? What member expectations are you setting by adding this expensive item to your inventory, and how can you sustainably fulfill that expectation over time?
  • Transportation. Can people get this item to and from your library successfully? Will it fit in a car? Will it fit on the bus or on a bicycle or in a bike trailer? Think about size, weight, ease of carrying or reassembly, and also whether an item has lots of little pieces that could get lost in transit.
  • Storage. Do you have space for this thing? Is it going to create a mess or danger in your library if it sits for a while? Many tool libraries choose not to stock gas-powered tools for this reason. Think about how you’ll store items with multiple pieces to keep them from getting separated (zip ties, carabiners, drawstring cloth bags, tool boxes, things original cases, and tool bags can be handy here).
  • Liability. Can you get liability insurance for lending this item? [See the next section on Operations for more on this!] Keep in mind that things like scaffolding, chain saws, and many brands of table saws are often a red flag for insurers, and try to double-check before purchasing or accepting a donation of these items.
  • Ease of use. Can this item be used successfully and safely by a non-expert? Does it require referencing a manual that people might not be able to read? Is it dangerous and/or easy to break if you aren’t sure what you’re doing? Some libraries require a specific training or a signed agreement before borrowing certain items to make sure the user and item both stay safe, but it can also raise your liability insurance risk if you take on the role of safety training.
  • Consumables. Do you need to buy something specialized (like carpet cleaning solution or sandpaper) to use this thing? Can borrowers easily get that, or should you consider keeping it in stock? Will you charge for the consumables that you stock?

Establishing policies

Ideally, you’ll have a lot of people interacting with a lot of items on a regular basis! Creating clear processes and policies can help reduce friction, confusion, loss, and mess. Here are some areas to keep in mind early.

Usage. Be sure you have usage policies and liability waivers that your borrowers must agree to before using your things.

Inventory development [links to white paper]. How will you prioritize adding and replacing items? How can people request or vote on additions so you have a better idea of what’s missing? Who gets to vote? Are there next-step categories of items you’d like to add? Planning ahead can keep you from ending up with items you haven’t fully considered and vetted (e.g. asking the questions above) and can also help you raise funds for your next phase. Consider asking all new members to fill out a survey with their requests and then surveying all established members on a regular basis (quarterly, semi-annually, or annually).

Donations. How are donations accepted and assessed? What kinds of things are you looking for, and which can you not accept? Do you accept consumable items like nails or diapers? You might also choose to take donations for recycling or parts, but be cautious and selective to avoid clutter and hazardous materials. If you have space to store items you can’t use, there’s an opportunity to earn extra money and attract new members through yard sales! [See our Tool Sale case study in Section 7 for more details.] Being specific and transparent about your donation policy can help you get the donations you want and avoid getting other stuff dumped on you.

Borrowing. What are you asking people to agree to when they borrow a thing from you? If you expect it to come back clean, full, re-set, etc. or if there are ways you want your members to not use your items, make that explicit before it goes home with someone. Think about balancing the length of a loan and possibility of renewals to make sure people have enough time to use it without keeping others waiting too long. For example, lawn mowers are generally only used for an hour or two at a time, but sewing machines may be part of a multi-day sewing project.

Operator support. Will you keep “Owner’s Manuals” when you buy Things and make those available to borrowers? Can you provide access via your online presence to the manufacturers’ digital manuals for the items you lend? Are there things that need “quickstart” info kept with them? You will probably make decisions about these things on a case-by-case basis.

Maintenance. What’s the process for how members report problems with an item? How does it get flagged for repair, and then repaired? (More about this below!) Are there costs involved with repair, and what is the borrower’s responsibility? Consider the difference between regular wear and tear vs. damage from accidental or intentional misuse.

A note on interchangeability: Many items use external rechargeable batteries, especially hand power tools. It can quickly get unmanageable to track, charge, and replace these. Similarly, items like vacuums all use different styles and models of filters, and string trimmers have a variety of replacement heads. Even exterior housing and internal components of individual items can be reused to repair other items when your inventory is consistent. While it’s not always feasible to be picky, especially at the beginning, it’s smart to choose one common brand, model, or style for items whenever possible. You’ll be glad later!

Acquisition of Things

Many LoTs rely heavily or entirely on donated items (about 60% of items were donated, per The State of Library of Things 2024 Report) but there are several ways to build your ideal inventory. When you accept donations from anyone, but especially from individuals, here are a few factors to keep in mind.

Testing & repairability. Do you have the capacity to accept and repair broken things? Make sure you are set up to test a donated item on-site before accepting it. If a broken item is left with you, you’re assuming full responsibility for disposing of it responsibly (see below).

Lifespan. If a donated item is older, it may have a shorter useful life than other items. Of course, some older models are more durable! Be sure you consider how many uses are left before investing in adding it to your systems. Are repair parts still being manufactured or sold?

Disposal. When this item reaches its final use, and can’t be practically repaired, how will you dispose of it? Are there any hazardous or recyclable materials in it? You may choose to accept donated items for parts or their recycling value (either to your organization or for overall global sustainability). Make sure you have a process or a partner in place to get these items back out the door!

Donations from and to other community organizations

You may be able to form a relationship with other organizations to share donated items and find the right home for them. Consider finding your closest Habitat for Humanity ReStores or another resale shop to build a process for donating unneeded items back and forth.

Bulk donations can take a long time to inspect. Be sure to set clear expectations with your donation partners for who will be inspecting and disposing of unwanted items.

Donations and discounts from corporations

It may be counterintuitive to approach a company trying to sell things to donate items for shared use, but brand loyalty is a strong motivator! If you can make the case that your library will help people acquire skills or test out products, they may end up purchasing their own for home use in the future.

Some manufacturers, especially smaller brands, may also be open to sharing “friends and family” sale codes or offering a nonprofit discount.

If you are connected with other libraries, consider making the pitch together! Regional and larger companies often want to make a big impact, so it can be more appealing to benefit multiple communities at once.

Remember, the worst they can say is no. Take a swing and make your best case—you might get lucky!

Purchases (new and used)

When you decide to spend money on new items, keep durability in mind the same way you would with a donation. It may be worth spending more money upfront to buy an item that lasts twice as long.

If you’re set up as a nonprofit or if you are fiscally sponsored by one [this is explained in the next section on Operations], be sure to ask about tax exemption and the possibility of buying in bulk. Some brands have “Pro” accounts that offer discounts, which you might qualify for, too. Spend a little time with customer service to see what you can arrange.

Sometimes, you can buy items refurbished through big box stores or manufacturer websites. See what kinds of retailers you have locally that offer warranties on refurbished items. Buying refurbished or used has the added benefit of reducing environmental impact.

Finally, you can buy things used just like anyone else! Be aware that there is some risk in buying items from sellers via Facebook Marketplace, eBay, or Craigslist that may or may not work as expected. When possible, buy in person and test the item yourself. Organizations like Habitat for Humanity ReStore will often provide in-kind donations in the form of store credit, which can quickly build your inventory.

Management of Things

Designing your space and storage systems can be a fun project for a group of creative people! Just know that you’ll never get it right the first time, and try to keep your storage and labeling systems flexible as your library grows and changes.

Consider the layout of your space and how people will navigate it. Consider keeping big or bulky items near the door so they don’t have to be maneuvered through aisles. Similarly, keep important add-on items like extension cords and ladders visible since people might think of them on their way out.

Signage is key! While you might be used to your space and where to find things, try to imagine entering for the first time. How will new visitors feel welcomed and be able to find what they’re looking for? Most LoTs have category signs visible from the door to help people orient. Consider which languages are most common in your area and translate your signage if needed. Use recognizable icons in addition to words wherever possible.

Get as granular as you reasonably can with labeling the “home” for each type of item. If you have one large shelf labeled “Bike Tools” it can be hard to find the chain breaker in a sea of wrenches and to put things back appropriately. Consider using labeled bins to corral similar items. Magnetic sheets, velcro dots, duct tape, and wet-erase boards or chalkboards can be useful in creating adaptable labels. Tip: acrylic sheets, glass, and even fiberboard ‘shower backer’ can be used with wipe-off markers! (Note: expect your adaptable labels to need maintenance and cleanup in highly trafficked situations.)

Consider color coordination between items and shelves to help people find and return items to the right place. This can help especially if you have many disparate item categories, such as tools, cooking equipment, camping gear, etc.

Create a map of your space. It’s useful as a guide for visitors and as part of librarian training! It’s also a great way to ensure people responsible for your inventory know what’s there and where it goes.

Consider ways to store things safely by securing power cords, spooling extension cords, and containing parts in bags or boxes. If you attach operator manuals in pouches, or laminated “quickstart” guides, make sure they are secure and will last, and that they don’t interfere with storing or using the item. Is there “off-season” storage you can use – like a shed? Would your core volunteers have space to store things at their homes when there’s no demand for them during the year?

Software

There are many ways to track your items, including several turnkey software options. If you have a small inventory, you could start with a spreadsheet—just be sure you have a method for tracking who is borrowing and returning what.

Will you be allowing reservations of your things? Is there a possibility of decentralized lending boxes in your future? Will it be important to track carbon offsets? Do you want to have a borrower’s credit or debit card linked to their account? Some software prioritizes certain features more than others.

If your software has a public site, what is the user experience like for member/borrowers? And what is it like for librarians?

Changing software later is a major undertaking. How flexible is the software for your changing needs, and how responsive is the support team to adding features or resolving issues? Look through their support portals and see what the response times and resolution rates have been.

A few software options at the time of publishing include:

  • myTurn (myTurn has been an in-kind sponsor of Shareable for over a decade)
  • LendEngine
  • Library OS (open source, homegrown in Providence, RI)
  • Circulate webapp (open source, homegrown in Chicago, IL)
  • Tool Librarian (homegrown in Portland, OR – restricted to Portland region libraries)

Managing demand

Some items in your library will be in higher demand than others. LoTs use a number of strategies to keep these items circulating smoothly.

Keep track of what’s being used most frequently, and add additional versions if possible. Some demand, like for yard equipment, is seasonal and can be swapped out with other items on a schedule.

Consider keeping a wait list – but be sure you can manage it and communicate with people consistently. Some software offers holds or reservations functionality, which can help with this.

Adjust your return policy for high-demand items. You might disallow renewals, increase late fees, and prioritize reminder calls for things you want to get back more quickly. Similarly, you might find that some items rarely or never get used! Create a schedule for reviewing your loans seasonally and/or annually to remove unnecessary items and make more room for those that get used all the time.

Helping people select an item

Your members will have a wide range of experience and expertise, so practice (and train your librarians to practice) gentle questioning to make sure a borrower has the right item and training to use it. Simply asking about someone’s project can help illuminate what they might need to accomplish it. Asking someone whether they’d like help can also feel a lot better than asking if they know what they’re looking for or how to use it. Practicing culturally sensitive language and considering implicit biases is very important here for building a supportive, collaborative relationship with your member community.

Be cautious of offering formal instruction on how to use items. This can put the library in jeopardy if someone hurts themselves, and unless you have a professional behind the desk, instruction can be more or less reliable. Instead, try to direct borrowers to user manuals or instructional videos online.

You may have items that are particularly delicate, complicated, or otherwise requiring a higher threshold for use. Some libraries require taking a class before borrowing specific items and/or signing an additional waiver. At minimum, be sure to provide written instructions for items that need them. A laminated sheet zip-tied through a hole can be a simple solution for reminders for use and care, but make sure these instruction cards do not interfere with safe operation of the thing or require frequent replacement. Also, remember to consider the language requirements of your community.

Loss and recovery

While lost and missing items are rare, and often accidental, it’s worth planning for what to do when something doesn’t come back.

Create a compassionate but consistent reminder system that helps people remember when an item is due back.

As soon as you recognize that an item has not come back on time, communicate politely and be forgiving of the mistake. Understand that people’s lives are complicated, so try to be patient and respectful. Focus on returning an item to community use rather than punishing the borrower.

Consider a late returns fee (either per day or per week). It can create an additional revenue stream, but may put disproportionate pressure on low-income members. Make sure any imposed fee structure aligns with your stated mission and values and the capacity of your intended membership.

Create a policy for what you’ll do if a borrower doesn’t return an item, and make sure borrowers know it before taking an item home. Will you suspend their membership? Offer to pick it up? Charge a credit card on file for the item’s value? Be sure to specify time frames and other parameters. If you are asking the member to replace a lost item, be specific about either the replacement value or acceptable donated replacements.

Consider a limit on the number of items one person can borrow at a time, including a smaller number for their first borrow, to make sure you limit losses.  If you are accepting donations and experience a high volume of certain items, consider a low/no-accountability lending program for these abundant items that can absorb a higher loss rate. Or just give them away!

Maintenance

All things break eventually! Many of them also need preemptive maintenance to extend their lives and keep them working properly. Repair is an essential part of all LoTs.

Start with plans and practices to keep your inventory in good shape. Document necessary steps for regular maintenance and come up with a schedule for reminders. Will your check-out/check-in and inventory management software help you log notes about maintenance?

Recruit fixers before you have broken items. This is often a “gateway” role to get volunteers involved in your organization, since it can be largely self-directed and flexible. Some LoTs even have a policy that volunteers or members can check out broken items to take home and fix. You may want to find someone who can authoritatively judge the quality of all repairs.

Reach out to local repair shops to see if they are willing to partner with you on more technical or in-depth repairs. People love to have their expertise recognized!

Come up with a tracking system for items in repair and make sure things are removed from your inventory system if they can’t be checked out at the moment. It’s even better to have details in this system for recording what was broken, the cost of replacement parts, who did the repair, etc. This data can be very helpful in evaluating future inventory additions and creating budgets.

Establish a system for evaluating whether an item should be repaired or recycled. Sometimes, the cost of a replacement part is close to that of a new item, or the time required to fix it could be better spent returning multiple other items to good condition. Try to come up with a standard ratio of item demand, cost, and effort to save your fixers from having to make the call each time.

Make sure someone is designated to do the administrative work of approving parts purchases, tracking them down, ordering, and matching them to the item. Similarly, make sure you have enough space for broken items to hang out for weeks to months while waiting for parts or repair. It’s often a slower process than you hope!

Disposal

Sadly, not every item can be repaired. Where do they go in the Things Afterlife?

Salvaging for parts can be fruitful if you have a lot of similar items, like pressure washers, that have specialty hoses and valves that can be swapped back and forth. Be cautious of using up valuable space with  something that may or may not end up being valuable itself.

You can also break down and recycle many items, especially those with electronic components and motors. Check with your local facilities (including private recyclers) to see what materials with higher value (like copper) can be salvaged and sold. Often, municipal recycling programs accept electronics and appliances for disassembly and disposal. Material Recovery can be another gateway volunteer role for members looking to proactively make an environmental impact, learn about repair or engineering through free-form deconstruction, or prefer a less social way to participate.

Repair outside your library

What about other people’s broken stuff? Because they all do some amount of repairs themselves, many LoTs become hubs for repair and reuse events. Repair Cafes and Fix-It Fairs can attract new members, cultivate new volunteers, and contribute to building your community! Repair events can also serve as volunteer development seminars through skill sharing, strengthening your community’s ability to maintain your inventory for you!

Resources + Templates

    • Library OS (open source, homegrown in Providence, RI)
    • Tool Librarian (homegrown in Portland, OR – restricted to Portland region libraries)

LoT Co-Lab live session: Getting Things

Section 3: Operations

Operations can feel like a maze, but it’s the complex foundation that supports all the other work you do. Setting up your structures, systems, and processes in advance means you’re free to thrive in the day-to-day. This section reviews just some of the critical operational systems you’ll need to think about.

Libraries of Things Toolkit: Operations header image

Values and mission

How can your structure and choices reflect your values? Before you start thinking about the structures you’ll use, consider the intentions you set at the beginning of planning. What are the values you want to see reflected in your daily operations?

Consider how your values shape the way you spend money. Establishing operations often requires making tough decisions about who and what you prioritize, including staff.

Take a moment to reflect on your mission statement and re-ground in why you’re doing this before you dive into how.

Business structures

You likely started as an informal group of friends, neighbors, or even strangers with a shared vision – but there are advantages and disadvantages to every business structure, including not having a formal one.

Staying informal

Advantages:

  • Flexible and easy!
  • A good way to get started before any money starts moving.

Disadvantages:

  • All income and expenses must be tied to an individual. (And taxed!)
  • There’s no business entity to purchase insurance or a web domain, sign a lease, etc. This means that an individual is responsible for all of these agreements.
  • There is no formal structure for succession planning or handing off any financial and legal entanglements.

Registering as a nonprofit

Most LoTs are organized as nonprofits or charities. In the U.S., this is a 501(c)3 designation, but the legal terminology and determination vary widely by country.

Advantages:

  • Can receive grants and tax-deductible donations.
  • Generally seen as trustworthy.
  • Industry discounts and resources.
  • Exempt from paying income tax.
  • Contrary to popular belief, a nonprofit can make a “profit” i.e. carry a surplus and pay people – it just can’t have shareholders who profit from that surplus.

Disadvantages:

  • Requires filed bylaws and a board of directors.
  • Must first register as a corporation.
  • Requires application and fee to the IRS for designation.
  • Annual 990 federal tax filing (in the U.S.).
  • Most U.S. states require additional registration for fundraising and sales tax exemption.
  • Larger budgets require a costly financial audit.

In the U.S., securing and keeping 501(c)3 status is somewhat complicated and expensive. While nonprofits aren’t required to pay income tax, they are still required to file returns that become more complex as the dollar value of the organization increases.

Note: This guide includes mostly U.S. based information, but the general idea of incorporating and getting a special tax status is common in many other countries. Here are a few additional country-specific guides that may be helpful: United Kingdom, Scotland, Australia, Canada, and Mexico.

Fiscal sponsorship

Because of the possible complications that come with being a nonprofit, many new U.S.-based groups choose to pursue fiscal sponsorship under another nonprofit. This makes their LoT a “project” of that nonprofit, and any employees are technically employed by their fiscal sponsor. The sponsor is involved with all expenses and generally takes a percentage of income in exchange for the labor and liability involved in being a fiscal sponsor.

Advantages:

  • Operating under the 501(c)3 designation of an established nonprofit means you don’t have to worry about getting and maintaining your own legal nonprofit status.
  • The sponsor files all necessary tax forms.
  • May provide additional business services, like benefits administration, liability insurance, postage meter, etc.
  • Any employees are legally employees of the sponsor, meaning the sponsor manages all legal filings and payroll taxes.
  • It can be a good first step toward independent nonprofit status.

Disadvantages:

  • All finances go through the sponsor.
  • The sponsor typically charges 5–15% of income to your LoT as a fee.
  • Your LoT is technically governed by the sponsor’s board.
  • Less autonomy and transparency.
  • Can make day-to-day operations slower and more cumbersome.

For-profit or traditional corporation

Another option is to set up your LoT as a “for-profit” or traditional corporation. This doesn’t fit the mission and values of many LoTs, but it is an option. In the U.S., there are also newer options for “social benefit” corporations (B Corps), but the general structure is the same.

Advantages:

  • Individuals are allowed to profit (be shareholders).
  • Less IRS oversight (in the U.S.).

Disadvantages:

  • Pay sales and property taxes. (B corps have some exemptions.)
  • Must file business income taxes annually.
  • Generally can’t receive grants.
  • Fundraising is often more difficult and less successful.
  • Donors to your LoT cannot receive tax benefits.

Other structural considerations

Incorporation. Whether you decide to pursue an individual nonprofit structure (501(c)3 designation) or establish a traditional business in the U.S., you first need to set up your organization as a corporation. Incorporation is state-based, so each state will have its own fees, paperwork, and requirements. You’ll want to incorporate in the state where your LoT is located. If you’re considering anything else, get a business lawyer on board!

If you don’t plan to file as a nonprofit, most are LLCs, and all are Non-Stock Corporations.

When you draft your articles of incorporation, you’ll need to choose three incorporators and a resident agent (who handles official mail). This is also a great time to tackle your bylaws, since you’ll need them for the next step.

Getting help. Filing for 501(c)3 or other protected tax status is time-consuming and can be overwhelming for the average person. The required form, a 1023, requires some technical know-how and decisions about your governance structures (bylaws). It’s very helpful to have a nonprofit professional involved, either as a volunteer member of your team or as an outside consultant. Many cities and university law schools have low and no-cost public law clinics to help people and groups with challenges like this. And for those who start with fiscal sponsorship before applying for independent nonprofit status, your fiscal sponsor can often provide consultation as part of your arrangement.

Staffing

You might think the biggest barrier to hiring staff is the money to pay them – but it’s always more complicated than that!

In the U.S., the two main categories of employment to consider are W2 staff members and 1099 contractors. Both refer to the kind of income tax document they receive.

1099 contractors:

  • Do one specific task, (e.g. marketing consultant, workshop instructor).
  • Can be paid by the job or hourly.
  • Generally carry their own insurance, if necessary.
  • May be included in your workers’ compensation policy.
  • Are a carefully regulated category with restrictions to protect workers. Be sure to get some legal advice if you think a role might be legally considered an employee rather than a contractor.

W2 staff:

  • May be full- or part-time.
  • Can be paid a salary or an hourly rate subject to Fair Labor Standards Act guidelines and other regulations.
  • Are subject to payroll taxes and workers’ compensation insurance.
  • Are typically covered by the organization’s liability insurance.
  • May be exempt or non-exempt from overtime pay. This is determined both by job responsibilities and pay rate. Be sure to consult a professional if you’re not sure about this.

You can also pay stipends to volunteers, including board members! In the U.S., total annual stipend payments under a certain amount ($600 as of 2024) do not need to be reported to the federal government as 1099 income. Check your state income tax laws.

Adding a paid member of a LoT is a big shift in both responsibility and power dynamics.

Before you decide to hire anyone, ask your team:

  • Are we ready to provide staff members with a positive, well-supported experience? 
  • Can we sustain this expense long-term? If not, does this person understand the potential risk?
  • Do we know exactly what we expect this person to do, and is it a reasonable expectation?
  • Are we creating a role that another person can fill for the benefit of the organization? Or are we paying this person for something they can do and it might be hard to find someone to fill their shoes if they leave?
  • If this specific person were to leave, could we rehire someone at this rate? (If not, make a contingency plan! When just getting established, many LoTs rely on people who can work for below-market pay.)

Insurance

While it can be a substantial expense, insurance goes a long way toward putting your mind at ease and protecting the future of your library. There are two primary kinds of insurance you’ll want to get:

Property

  • Covers loss of things you own (items and building).
  • Generally, it does not cover damage to leased property.
  • Requires valued inventory. (How much is your inventory worth? What would it cost to replace?)
  • Typically, it does not cover the loss of items that borrowers do not return.

Liability

  • Covers damage to people and things they own.
  • It can be tricky to get coverage for some high-risk lendable items (e.g. ladders and scaffolding).
  • A strong user waiver helps a lot! Your insurance agent may want to review your waivers and adjust language.
  • Be careful about the level of instruction you offer for using borrowable items. Ironically, if you provide training in safe use, your insurer may see more risk in your organization because you are assuming more responsibility for the users’ safety.
  • If you imagine instruction/classes will be a less frequent occurrence for your LoT, consider getting riders for events as needed rather than paying for ongoing insurance for classes.

Other kinds of insurance you may need:

  • Directors and Officers (D&O) Insurance: Protects board members from personal liability in the event of a lawsuit or other major problem. D&O insurance is standard for nonprofit organizations.
  • Event Insurance: Specialized policies that cover liability and property damage for special events like parties.
  • Workers’ Compensation Insurance: If you employ anyone, you will need this coverage for potential workplace injuries. Note that workers’ comp insurance is a legal requirement, and administration varies widely from state to state.

Getting Insured

Insurance policy costs vary, but our The State of Library of Things 2024 Report showed that the most common value is between $1,000 and $2,000 per year.

After cost, the biggest challenge in securing insurance coverage is getting your agent to understand what a Library of Things is and how to insure it. In the U.S., you will likely be asked to report your NAICS (North American Industry Classification) Code. These codes are determined by the U.S. Census Bureau and are used to categorize businesses for insurance (and other things).

Some NAICS codes to consider:

  • 81341 Civic and Social Organizations
  • 532210 Appliance rental
  • 532289 Tool rental or leasing for home use
  • 532310 Home and garden equipment rental centers
  • 611513 Vocational apprenticeship training

Insurance providers are quite varied. In our Report, the top three companies chosen by LoTs in the US were Nonprofit Insurance Alliance, Philadelphia Insurance Company, and Hiscox. You may want to work with a broker who has existing relationships with insurance companies and can shop around for the best rates. With that said, it’s best to suggest companies to a broker that are already covering LoTs in your country. Here are the companies that we identified in our report:

  • United States: Nonprofit Insurance Alliance, Philadelphia Insurance Company, Hiscox, State Farm, Great American, Philadelphia for Tool Library property and liability, Great American for Board policy, Auto Owners (Liability), Superior Point (Workers Comp) in Saint Paul, Cincinnati, Markel, and Auto-Owners, Risk Placement Services, LLC, Solomon Insurance, Meaders, Adams & Lee (local provider in Little Rock), Mesa Underwriters Specialty
  • United Kingdom: Naturesave, Keegan & Pennykid, Victor – Third Sector Policy, Mid Cornwall Brokers Ltd, Wessex Insurance, Aviva
  • Australia: QBE, LGIS, Aon, Keystone, LCIS Australia – Insurance For Nonprofits
  • Canada: Co-operators, Intact, SGI
  • France: Maif

Risk management

Insurance helps when things go wrong, but it’s best practice to do what you can to prevent things from happening in the first place!

Developing a code of conduct can help your community understand and follow expectations. Be sure that it includes:

  • Harassment and discrimination policies.
  • Response and consequences.
  • Roles in reporting and responding to incidents.

You’ll also want to set up an incident reporting system and ensure every team member understands how to use it. This should cover physical injuries but can also apply to things breaking, people having a conflict, etc.

Resources + Templates

LoT Co-Lab live session: Operations

Section 4: Volunteers

Most Libraries of Things rely heavily on volunteers to provide library staffing, repair items, raise funds, and lead the organization. It really does take a village! Volunteers can contribute an amazing amount, but having a successful volunteer program takes planning, intention, and work.

Libraries of Things Toolkit: Volunteers header image

The power of volunteers

Besides donated labor, volunteers provide many additional benefits to your organization. Here are some of the reasons to recruit and retain volunteers.

Cost savings. This is the most obvious impact of volunteers. Paying staff is expensive (see the previous section for some of why this is!) and volunteer labor can reduce your annual budget by quite a bit.

Diversified expertise. Often, volunteers bring a skillset you don’t already have. Whether it’s fixing small electronics or leading community meetings, don’t forget that volunteers have whole lives and careers outside of your library that they can lean on!

Built-in users and advocates. Volunteers often know your organization very well and, in addition to being active members, will help spread the word and recruit others to join. Their experience and different perspectives also provide great feedback about what could be improved.

Shared power. People generally want to volunteer! It can be extremely rewarding, and offering the opportunity to get involved and donate time and skills increases your organization’s impact on the overall sharing culture. Sharing responsibility among a diverse group of volunteers can also increase your organization’s responsiveness to your community.

Common volunteer roles

Anywhere there’s a need for work, and someone interested in doing it is a potential volunteer role! While the examples below are some of the most common ways that people volunteer time, try to stay open to people who can offer specific skills for one-time projects or unseen needs.

  • Librarian – helping members check in and check out.
  • Donation intake – engaging with in-kind donors.
  • Inventory control – entering information about new things into your management systems.
  • Instructors – teaching workshops and classes.
  • Fixers – maintaining and repairing broken items.
  • Maintenance – helping to keep the building and space in good order.
  • Software – managing and maintaining software and digital systems.
  • Fundraising – writing grants, managing fundraising events, and campaigns.
  • Special events – setting up, serving, and cleaning up for events.
  • Communications – designing and maintaining any online presence, creating flyers and digital art, managing social media accounts and posting to social media channels, sending mass emails and newsletters, and responding to questions.
  • Volunteer managing – wrangling all the other program volunteers to make sure helpers are available when you’re open to the public to lend and volunteers are happy.
  • Subcommittees – creating subcommittees for ongoing needs and work groups for one-off projects is a great way to organize and communicate with volunteers. Subcommittees may include workshop stewards, beautification, safety, inclusion, tool fixers, outreach, marketing, and fundraising.
  • Board or leadership – regularly working on the management and strategy of the organization.

Many volunteers also start in one role (e.g. librarian) and become increasingly involved, either taking on additional program roles or advancing to organizational leadership. Remember that someone’s role within the organization will likely change over time. Encourage deeper involvement from people who may want to contribute more!

Common issues with volunteer management

There are many reasons you might be wary about recruiting volunteers. Some common hesitations are:

  • “I don’t have time.”
  • “It’s uncomfortable to ask.”
  • “I already know how to do it.”
  • “I don’t trust anyone else to do it.”
  • “Sharing ownership is risky – what if people disagree?”

It’s true that without a solid recruitment and training plan, and the right people, managing volunteers can be more work (or more risk) than it’s worth. Here are some things to be on the lookout for.

Increased organizational risk. Be sure your volunteers know when and how to represent your library, and especially when not to. Coach your volunteers about appropriate online behavior, including on social media.

Variability in member experience. You’ll want to focus on early training and screening to be sure volunteers who interact with the public, like librarians, have the social skills and tools they need to provide a consistent, friendly experience to everyone and to defuse any unexpected conflicts.

Reliability. Remember, volunteers aren’t paid employees! While many volunteers can become cornerstones of the organization, their volunteer role is typically not their first priority. Work and family obligations can keep them from following through as consistently as you’d like, and some volunteers have a looser sense of obligation than others. Make your expectations clear, both regarding follow-through and how to handle it if they need to miss a shift or drop a commitment.

Boundaries. If you’re a staff or board member, think of volunteers as your employees even though they’re not paid. Be careful about the personal relationships you form, and keep personal/professional boundaries in mind. While you might naturally hit it off with some people more than others, as an organizational leader, it’s important to make sure everyone feels they’re being treated equally.

Recruitment

A long, successful tenure for a volunteer starts with finding the right match for your organization. When recruiting, take your time and be conscientious about inviting people. It’s worth waiting for the right long-term fit! Here are some factors you might consider in evaluating volunteers.

Values alignment. Does this person share your organization’s core values and purpose?

Communication style. Are they easy to communicate with? Do they regularly use the methods of communication you use most (e-mail, texting, etc.)?

Capacity and available time. This can be tricky! Sometimes, enthusiasm can lead people to over-commit. Be specific about the time commitment you ask for and ask for their real availability.

Skills and experience. Are they a natural fit for your needs? Or, are they excited to learn the skills needed? Consider your capacity for training relative to the benefit of having a new person in the role. Some skills, like Spanish fluency, might be harder to come by and worth training someone as a librarian with little experience with your inventory.

Community connections. Depending on the role, it might be helpful to have someone with a strong network involved. This is especially important for roles in fundraising and outreach.

If you’re having trouble getting started or finding the right people, try some of these resources:

  • Members! Your membership is the best place to find people who know the value of the library and want to see it grow.
  • Social media.
  • Your newsletter.
  • Sustainability groups/clubs.
  • Skilled volunteer placement organizations (often retirees).
  • Makerspaces, community bike shops, commissary kitchens, etc.
  • Word of mouth—ask your volunteers and members to spread the word.

Making the ask

Even when you’ve found the right person and you have a job in mind, it can be intimidating to take the leap! Here are some recommended steps to success.

Be direct. State your needs clearly and concretely, and don’t be ashamed of asking. You are offering an opportunity to be part of something great!

Offer an easy entry point. Identify a low-barrier volunteer role to get folks going and evaluate their skills and style. It can be easier to say “yes” to something simple or time-bound than to make a long-term, vague commitment.

Be okay with no. It might not be the right time, or your dream volunteer might prefer to do something else. Ask if you can come back to them another time or with a different role in mind.

Communication and ongoing management

Intentional and consistent communication is vital to successful volunteer experiences! Think carefully about when, how much, and in what style you communicate with your volunteers. Striking the right balance will ensure that people are informed and energized without being overwhelmed.

Make a plan for onboarding and orientation to ensure no critical information is missed. This is a great time for your new volunteer to sign up for future shifts to keep up the momentum.

Create systems for updating and re-training volunteers as your LoT evolves and changes. Try to cultivate a habit of giving and receiving feedback, both formally (shift reports, surveys, etc.) and informally (checking in casually), to see how things are going and make adjustments.

Organize your training documents and other durable resources and make sure they’re available as references on an ongoing basis.

Volunteer management tools and software

There is no standard method or software that LoTs are using to manage their volunteers. The Station North Tool Library in Baltimore uses a shared Google calendar and Airtable to schedule and track volunteers. The REconomy Tool Libraries in Seattle use a customized Google spreadsheet and Neon One CRM to track shifts and communicate with volunteers. Other LoTs use specific volunteer management software. SignUp and Point are common “free” scheduling platforms for volunteers. While there are many options to choose from, some charge fees to use them, or for specific features.

Purpose

Finding and keeping the right volunteer depends on understanding their purpose. Everyone might have a slightly different motivation for volunteering, but here are some common reasons people volunteer:

  • Believe in the mission of the library.
  • Like to feel useful and have a sense of purpose.
  • Want to learn more about the things you lend or the solidarity economy.
  • Want to make friends or build community (especially if they are new to town).

Understanding your volunteers’ motivations can help you shape their role to feed that passion. While some people want to flex their established skills, others want to learn and try new things. Offering multiple role options (the “choose your own adventure” model) can help them explore and find what feels most meaningful to them.

Building community

A healthy volunteer community also builds its own purpose through strong connections and a shared identity. Encouraging volunteers to build relationships increases accountability to one another, makes it more fun to come in when they’re needed, and keeps people sticking around longer. A dedicated, happy volunteer will feel like the library is a “third space” between work and home where they have a sense of belonging and ownership.

You can encourage community building through:

  • Regular, structured volunteer socials and appreciation parties. You host, they show up!
  • Supporting volunteer-led social events and encouraging them to invite each other to performances, parties, and other outside-the-library events.
  • Fostering space for volunteers to connect through mutual interests, like a monthly bike ride or book club.
  • Showing gratitude in large and small ways. Just as people have different motivations, they also appreciate various kinds of “thank you” gestures. Use a mix of verbal affirmation, exclusive events and swag, public and private notes, and snacks to demonstrate that you see and appreciate their work.

Reflection questions

  • How does relying on volunteers relate to your organization’s values? 
  • What is your most accessible entry point for volunteers?
  • Who is able to volunteer? Are there specific skills that are needed? Are there roles for people with different levels of abilities or mobility? 
  • What are other ways for users, members, or volunteers to connect more to the organization? 
  • What are your non-negotiables from a volunteer? E.g. you must be inclusive and welcoming. 
  • What’s your role in facilitating community and connection?

Resources + Templates

LoT Co-Lab live session: Volunteers

Section 5: Space (how to find, acquire, and design a LoT)

Finding space to host your library is one of the biggest challenges you’ll face, and paying for it might be your most significant expense, at least in the beginning. While many Libraries of Things make do with whatever is available, it’s worth doing some planning at the outset to narrow down and prioritize options.

Libraries of Things Toolkit: Space header image

Space considerations

Location. Where would you most like to be in your city or community and why? Who are the people closest to your library or who can most easily get there? Who needs you; who will use your things? Consider centrality and neighborhood, as well all transportation options including public transit, bicycling, etc.

Building layout. How easy is it to get in and out of the space? Is it accessible for people using wheelchairs and other mobility devices? Is there parking for cars near the door? Will people be able to securely lock bicycles? If you lend large or heavy items, you’ll want to be sure there is enough room to get them in and out easily and perhaps a ramp or other way to wheel them in and out. Consider outdoor space as well; it’s often useful to have a place to host cookouts, clean bulky items, lay items out for sales, etc.

Lease flexibility (or longevity). There is a wide spectrum of lease agreement structures out there. Before you approach a potential landlord, agree as a team about how long you ideally want to stay in the space. If you love it and think you’ll never want to move, make sure you’re protected from being kicked out. If you know it’s just a stepping stone, don’t sign a longer lease than you’ll want.

Seek legal advice. If possible (and if needed), find a pro-bono lawyer or law center to discuss options with you for exit clauses, renewals, and other terms that can give you either the stability or flexibility you want. Even if you find a space that doesn’t require a formal lease, be sure you have a clear agreement in place, with documented expectations, to help protect you from a sudden need to move.

Finding a home

Once you’ve figured out what your ideal library home is, there are several options depending on your available resources.

If money is very tight:

  • Start small – even with less space or a less ideal location than you’d like to find eventually. As long as you have a flexible occupancy agreement, you can always move to a larger space after raising or earning the money you need. Keep in mind that a move carries its own costs—both directly and in a potential loss of income—while you’re closed for transition. Check out the Asheville Tool Library case study for an example of an expansion move.
  • Talk to community centers, churches, and mission-aligned nonprofits that might have available space you can activate as a library. By sharing a building, and amenities like restrooms and break rooms, you might need less of your own space. Sometimes, you can even get these spaces free or at a significantly reduced rate.
  • Remember that lease rates and terms are often negotiable, especially in buildings owned by nonprofits, community development corporations, and other landlords who might recognize the community value of your new library.

If you have money or can raise it:

  • Look for commercial leases in transitional industrial areas that might have former warehouses, factories, and garages for rent at low costs. A broker can help you identify and tour buildings and may volunteer or reduce their fee to help you out. Check out the Auburn Tool Library case study, where they activated an old mall storefront.
  • Buying a building is also an option! Depending on your community, there may be storefronts or other affordable options. You can look for cheaper properties needing renovation, but be sure to recruit professional help to assess the building and work on budgets and project management plans.
  • Building your ‘dream home’ is an ambitious (but possible!) option. Check out the Eugene ToolBox Project case study for how a community accomplished this. There are many building options, some more accessible than others. Check out the Federal Way Tool Library’s use of reclaimed shipping containers as one example.

Build-out

Whether you’re starting from scratch or just filling out a modern storefront, there is plenty of work to do after you sign your lease! Planning out your new space can be fun, especially if you have team members fluent in Sketchup or other design software to help you visualize options.

Inventory storage

Every library will need different types of storage, but there are some common best practices.

Make sure there is enough space to move between shelves or racks, especially if you’re storing large or bulky items. It is important to comply with laws for ADA accessibility, and for safety of staff and volunteers. Most LoTs standardize on a minimum aisle of about 3 feet/1 meter.

Try not to rely too much on vertical storage. Ladders and step-stools add to the risk of injury when people have to retrieve things above head-height. If you do need to store things high up, try to put the lightest and least fragile things on the top shelf and/or items that don’t get checked out as often.

Consider moving seasonal items (like lawnmowers and snow shovels) at times when they’re in less demand. Think about storage alternatives if your primary space is crowded. Can volunteers store things at home? Can you add a shed?

There are lots of shelving types to consider. Many LoTs start with deep warehouse shelving. Repurposed bookcases are common. Some LoTs are lucky to have gondola shelving. Smaller things get lost in deeper shelves, whereas bigger, heavier things sometimes can’t fit in or on shallower shelves. Before acquiring shelving, consider the sizes and weights of the things you will have in inventory!

Don’t forget you may be using the floor and walls. Leave space under warehouse shelves for heavier items and things on wheels or rollers. Consider what kinds of hangers will work best if you can hang some of your things.

Utilize “dead” space like undersides or non-enclosed areas, with chains, locks, and wire. Just be sure to consider weather degradation and security.

Interior design

It’s unlikely that you’ll have all the available space you could want, so think about how you’ll prioritize items. In addition to inventory storage, make sure you think about:

  • A primary place to conduct business like check-in and -out, signing up new members, etc. (like a desk or counter).
  • An area to store items waiting for repairs and the parts and materials you need for common fixes.
  • An area for volunteers and staff to hang outerwear and stash their belongings, get snacks and drinks, and take breaks.

Other programming

Many libraries also offer workshops, repair clinics, and other public events to increase visibility and generate income. While this might be a “down the road” step, start thinking about how to create space for this or make your library space multi-purpose with moveable shelves and other furniture.

Primary considerations could be: areas for repair and project use, makerspaces, meeting spaces, gardens, temporary storage, long-term storage, or event space.

Resources + Templates

LoT Co-Lab live session: Space

Section 6: Membership (costs, benefits, privileges, and access)

Membership structures are one of the most varied practices among Libraries of Things. There is no right way to set up your memberships, but here are some common ways libraries have approached it.

Libraries of Things Toolkit: Membership header image

Strategies (you can mix and match!)

Free. While it’s less common, some Libraries of Things don’t charge anything for membership! These generally rely heavily on volunteer labor and tend to remain small (which isn’t always a bad thing). Check out the Portland case study for more on how this works.

Sliding scale. Members choose an amount that fits their budget and usage level. This can be totally open-ended or a set of designated levels. Some ways this has been structured:

  • Start at $100 per year, and go up or down from there.
  • Pay $1 for every $1,000 of your annual income.
  • Choose from a set of predetermined amounts based on ability to pay; higher levels subsidize lower levels.

Benefits. Members choose a fee level based on the benefits they want to take advantage of. This may include paying more for a membership that allows more items to be borrowed at a time or for a longer time, comes with discounted classes, allows access to multiple locations, or includes access for multiple household members.

Work-trade. Many libraries provide free memberships and other benefits to volunteers. If you have significant staffing needs to fill, consider offering work-trade arrangements to allow people free access in exchange for their time spent staffing the desk, repairing items, etc.

Scholarships. Libraries without sliding-scale or free membership options may offer application-based scholarships or other subsidies for community members in need. See the Asheville case study for examples of this system.

Length. Members can pay for their membership with monthly auto-payments, with or without an annual commitment. Some libraries offer lifetime memberships for purchase as part of a start-up funding campaign.

Additional costs. On top of membership fees, a few libraries also charge a small amount for each item that’s borrowed, to supplement maintenance and replacement costs. Some libraries also charge a late fee when an item is kept past its due date. This doesn’t necessarily encourage items to come back on time, and may put disproportionate pressure on low-income members.

Member definitions. Most libraries define membership borrowing privileges as belonging to a single individual. If your liability insurance policy allows it, you may also offer household memberships, or even organizational memberships that allow anyone from a business or nonprofit to borrow. Be sure to consider your waiver policy in these cases.

While the options might feel overwhelming, there are some early considerations that can help you choose the right structures and costs:

  • Make membership income projections part of a comprehensive budget plan. Memberships probably won’t cover all of your costs, so know where the rest of your funding will come from.
  • The levels you set at the beginning can increase! Plan to keep up with inflation, and communicate that fees and structures are subject to change. The Toronto case study provides more about how a tool library changed tactics.
  • Communicate! As you increase prices, be sure to track and communicate improvements that go along with them to your membership.
  • Avoid membership systems that are too complicated or require too many up-front choices.

Case studies

Toronto Tool Library

This case study covers Toronto Tool Library’s tiered membership system. It focuses on the drawbacks of a tiered system and why/how TTL plans to implement changes.

Asheville Tool Library

This case study covers Asheville Tool Library’s paid membership policy, including its scholarship program that covers the cost of membership. At Asheville, members choose to pay between $50–$250 for an annual membership.

Green Lents and Rockwood Common

This case study covers the free membership structure of Green Lents, Rockwood Common, and six other Portland tool libraries. It focuses on the benefits and challenges of a free membership system and alternative funding streams.

Resources + Templates

LoT Co-Lab live session: Membership

Section 7: Income generation & Operational budgeting

Making and meeting a budget may be the most daunting part of running your library – but if you spend time planning, find the right theme, and take it step by step, it’s totally achievable. This section covers some of the basics.

Libraries of Things Toolkit: Income Generation & Operational Budgeting header image

Operational budgeting (seed to sustaining)

Expenses

Before gathering funds, you need to create a budget and do your best to understand where that money will go.

  1. Reflect on your mission and vision. What is the most important thing for you to achieve?
  2. Narrow your spending goals to focus on what you absolutely must do.
  3. Consider the timing of different steps:
  • Will you need to begin paying rent before you buy inventory items?
  • How much will you need to spend before money starts coming in (e.g. membership dues, donations, grants)?
  • Timelines are very important for grants, which often have spending deadlines and reporting obligations with their own due dates.
  1. List the big categories of expenses you can anticipate. Often, they are:
  • Space
    • The physical space for your library (obviously) but also any overflow storage or event space you might need
    • Repairs and maintenance (if they’re your obligation)
    • Signage, storage, and organization
    • Property insurance
    • Utilities
  • Operations
    • Liability and event insurance
    • Website hosting
    • Internet
    • Phone line
    • Software licenses (e.g. inventory, project management, payment platforms)
    • Point-of-sale system
    • Credit card processing fees
    • Professional services like bookkeeping or legal review of business documents (including leases)
    • Printing and mailing flyers, posters, stamps, thank-you cards
    • Fiscal sponsorship fee (if you have a fiscal sponsor) – this is generally based on 5-15% of income
    • Inventory – A no-brainer, maybe! Try to predict what you will buy versus what may be donated. You can also start with donations and then draft a purchasing wish list. Be sure to also budget for repair and replacement based on what you acquire.
    • Other physical things – Furniture (desks, chairs, meeting table). Laptops or tablet computers or other devices for use in the library. Markers, printer paper, and other office supplies.
    • Events – These may be for outreach, volunteer appreciation, fundraising, or just fun, but they will all cost money! Even if you plan to raise money through an event, be sure to budget for what it will cost you to put on.
  • People 
    • You might not have paid staff yet, but if you’re planning ahead, think about roles that would benefit from dedicated hands, even if they’re part-time. [See Section 3 on Operations for more about the costs of paid staff.]
    • And don’t forget about your unpaid staff too! Be sure to budget for volunteer and committee snacks, meetings, and appreciation. You can also track the value of volunteer labor with a standard hourly rate; this is often helpful in future budgeting for staff and when applying for grants.

Income 

Once you’ve figured out what you need to spend money on, focus on where you’ll find funding for it. There are two major categories of income you can plan for: earned income and charitable contributions. 

  1. Earned income – This category is anything you bring in as part of a sale or transactions, including:
  • Membership payments or donations
  • Check-out fees
  • Fees for late returns and repair/replacement of borrowed items
  • Sales of t-shirts, stickers, and other “swag”
  • Sales of donated or excess inventory items [see the Tool Sale case study in Section eight for one example]
  • Workshop or class registration fees
  • Ticket sales to events
  • Contract revenue (when your organization is hired to do something like consult)
  1. Charitable contributions – This encompasses everything given as a donation or grant where the donor doesn’t get anything tangible in return. In the U.S., these donations are generally tax-deductible.
  • Individual donations – Gifts of cash/cash equivalents given from a person or family, usually unrestricted.
  • Restricted grants – Designated for a specific purpose and/or time, these usually may only be spent on a limited, pre-approved budget and usually have a deadline for spending and reporting.
  • Unrestricted grants – Funds are available to be used how and when the organization needs them, usually within a limited timeframe and with reporting requirements.
  • Sponsorships – Often these aren’t technically grants, but may come with agreed-upon marketing, employee volunteerism, or other “intangible” benefits for the sponsor.
  • In-kind donations – These are donations of physical things, often library inventory items or food/drink for an event, that still count. (They are accounted for differently; make sure your bookkeeper has a plan!)
  1. Fundraising events – These might incorporate multiple revenue streams, including ticket sales, raffles or auctions, and a request for donations. When providing tax receipts, be sure to consider whether all or part of a transaction includes the donor getting something in return (e.g. the value of a meal would be deducted from the overall cost of a ticket to determine the amount that counts as a donation).

Other budgeting considerations

Once you have a balanced budget, there are some important things to keep in mind for success.

Don’t over-rely on any one source of income. For example, it’s easy to burn out your donor base if you’re leaning too hard on individual donations – this can get especially tricky if your primary donor base is also paying membership fees.

Be prepared for the work required after getting a grant. Be sure you understand the reporting requirements and how and when the grant can be spent. You don’t want to have a final report due and realize you haven’t tracked a key metric all along!

Make sure that you’re on the same page with business sponsors and follow through on expectations about including their logo, promoting the donation, etc.

Ensure you have an experienced Treasurer on your board and create systems for tracking expenses. At the end of the year, you want to look back at your budget and compare it to reality so you can plan the next year. (Many organizations do semi-annual or quarterly budget forecasts to ensure they are on track with their annual budget.) Even if you have a fiscal sponsor handling your books, it’s important to have internal systems for managing spending and keeping track of expense receipts so that everyone has the full picture.

Establish policies and practices for tracking and acknowledging donations, handling reimbursements, tracking petty cash, budget creation and regular review, discretionary spending caps (at what money amount does someone else need to approve a purchase?), and, ideally, savings plans.

Check with your insurance provider about what kinds of annual reporting you’ll need to do. You will likely need to re-submit a value estimate for your library inventory at minimum. Your agent can advise you on estimating depreciation or the amount each item loses in value with time and use.

Start-up and growth

Your budget for the first year will probably look different from every year thereafter! Some common sources of start-up funding are:

  • Grants – One of the most common sources, in part because grantmakers tend to prefer new projects and initiatives. Grants can come from governments, private foundations, families and individuals, and companies. Keep in mind, that grants may take a while, and you might not get the same grant twice!
  • Fundraising events – These gather supporters (and future members) and build momentum and excitement, but you might not net much income after accounting for event expenses.
  • Crowdfunding campaigns – ​​​​These funraisers are generally aimed at individual donors within your network and/or people who are or will benefit from your LoT. They should have a set deadline and a clear pitch for what you’re raising money to do. This could be adding items to your library, offering new programming, buying a building, etc. They often include gifts for donors who contribute at different levels. This can make it more fun and encourage people to give.
  • Pre-sales – Pre-paid memberships (standard annual or one-time lifetime membership), naming rights, or other perks for early supporters. This can be part of an event or crowdfunding campaign, too!

Planning ahead

It might be intimidating to look even a year ahead when you’re not sure how things are going to work out, but making a rough multi-year budget can help you identify which costs will recur or rise (e.g. if you have a multi-year lease with an escalation schedule), which are one-time, and how you might pay for future staff, events, expansion, etc. As you develop strategic plans, make sure you’re also aligning your budgets to meet those goals.

Fundraising basics

  1. The first step in fundraising is to clearly define what you’re raising money for. Spend time developing a brief “case for support” that answers the questions:
  • What are we aiming to achieve?
  • Who is involved?
  • What are the steps to get there?
  • What will be different when we accomplish it?
  • How will we know we’ve succeeded?
  • How much does it cost?
  1. Once you’ve defined your goals and budget, develop a funding plan.
  • Gather a committee! Different strengths lend themselves to grant writing, individual outreach, and events. Cover your bases with a group.
  • Look at your budget. What are the big categories? (e.g. inventory items, rent, food for meetings)
  • How much are you expecting to get from earned income? Budget conservatively if it’s your first year, but don’t forget about membership and other built-in revenue sources.
  • Set clear, specific goals to match potential money to identified needs. Allocate earned income to things that are harder to fundraise for, like operational costs. Focus your fundraising efforts on what’s left, especially physical inventory, public programs, and other expenses that people might be more excited about helping to pay for.
  1. Find funding!
  • Research local foundations and companies. Who would want to see ayour LoT thrive in your city or town?
  • Think about the kind of people, organizations, companies, and foundations who might share your excitement, based on your case for support. Who has the same goals?
  • Research who is funding work similar to yours, using websites and annual reports.
  • Make specific prospect lists. If you think local businesses might donate, generate a directory of names and contacts. Think about individual people who are involved or have expressed enthusiasm and might be able to give larger donations.
  • Ask your organizing team, volunteers, and even members who they know. Fundraising is all about relationships! Many larger employers will match employee donations or have corporate grant programs. Volunteers may have wealthy family members or connections to foundations.
  • Create a tactical fundraising plan. Create a document outlining where you plan to apply, ask, etc., when the deadline is, how much you might raise from that source, and when you’ll know. Here’s an example:

Example fundraising tracking chart with prospects, potential amount of money, and who is the lead for each source.

  1. Once you’ve defined your high-level plans, make sure each leader has a plan and the support they need to make progress, and schedule team check-ins for accountability.
  2. Face fears. One of the most common reasons that fundraising efforts fizzle is that people are afraid of asking for money. Here are some tips for getting your team feeling more positive:
  • Remember, you’re not asking for yourself. You’re asking on behalf of every future library user! Keep the goals in your case for support in mind and how much you need to raise in order to achieve it.
  • Think back to the last time you donated to a great cause that you believed in. How did you feel? Almost everyone will say “great.” Altruism and philanthropy are good for our senses of self and community.
  • Soften the ask if you’re unsure about the answer. Use the phrase “Would you consider…?” instead of “Please…”
  • The worst someone can say is “no.” If you’re really worried the fallout could be bigger than that, you might not be the right person to ask this donor.
  1. Get the word out. Often, in fundraising, volume is key. Here are some keys to breaking through the noise and reaching a lot of people with your new, compelling case for support:
  • Pare down your case for support to create a clear, compelling elevator pitch with images. Summarize what you want to do in a few sentences and pair them with photos or graphics of real people. This could be a PowerPoint, handout, or webpage.
  • Plan a crowdfunding campaign and recruit energetic volunteers and members to help grow your network.
  • Make direct requests to specific people with money (really, you can do it!). General asks on social media or websites are far less effective than a one-to-one appeal.
  • Create a document with all the grant language you might need and be ready to tailor it, build relationships with funders, and submit, submit, submit. You won’t get every grant, so apply for more than you’ll need. Copy and paste portions of your own work to save time while tailoring just the specifics.
  • Have your team plan low-lift fundraising events with local bars and restaurants (e.g. where a percent of proceeds are donated) help build awareness while also raising a little money.
  1. Plan now for follow-up later. Note that nonprofits in the U.S.nited States are legally required by the IRS to send a written acknowledgement of donations $250+ (email is fine!). Most online donation platforms are set up to send these automatically to all donors, but you will most likely need to send recognition manually for cash, checks, and in-kind donations. If you want to keep your donors year over year, make sure you have a plan for thanking them and keeping them in the loop! Here are some ideas:
  • Handwritten cards, even with a very short message, go a long way.
  • Having volunteers make thank-you calls all together can also be a fun team-building event. Consider a “thank-a-thon” night once or twice a year, or after a big campaign.
  • Regular emails to donors are almost always appreciated, even a mass send. Be sure to include pictures so people can visualize the “what is/will be different” part of the goals they supported.
  • Remember that grantmakers are people, too! Especially if you intend to apply again, include your program officer or other contact in your donor communications to ensure that they see more detail than just the required reports.

Case Study: NE Seattle & Shoreline Tool Library Tool Sale

This case study dives into the NE Seattle & Shoreline Tool Library Tool Sale (which regularly raises thousands of dollars!), including the benefits, history, model, pricing, and advertising to help plan your own sale!

Resources + Templates

LoT Co-Lab live session: Income Generation and operational budgeting

Section 8: Governance (board, staff, members, and beyond)

As you have probably determined by now, running a Library of Things requires people power! How those people are organized and work together can be complicated, even for a small group. This section will cover some possible governance structures.

Libraries of Things Toolkit: Governance header image

Understanding the now: Who is doing what and why

Depending on where you start governance planning, you may or may not already have a group of people involved in your LoT. You may be thinking about board members and staff—the people who are doing the day-to-day work of keeping the doors open. But there are probably more people involved (or will be soon).

The full cast of governance players might include:

  • Volunteers
  • Members
  • Donors and funders
  • Larger community (your neighbors, including “future members” you don’t know yet)

As with operations, your governance is also influenced by the structures and context around you, including:

  • Your organizational structure
  • Values, mission, and vision statements
  • Strategic (action) plans (what you are planning to do, whether it’s explicit or not)
  • Your community size and culture

If you are setting out to establish or change your governance structures, it’s important to take time to identify all of these participants and factors before you start making decisions.

Governance models

There are many options for how you can structure your LoT’s governance, with almost infinite variations of each. Every community, group of people, and organization will have different values and needs; feel free to adjust as you go to respond to new understandings of how things could work better. Here are a few models to start with.

Traditional “bigger” nonprofit. In most nonprofit organizations, a single executive director (E.D.) reports to a volunteer board of directors. The E.D. then manages any other staff, and is responsible for making many day-to-day decisions about the organization, hiring and firing, and operations. The relative power and roles of the E.D. and board vary among organizations, but generally this top-down approach places a lot of power with the E.D.

Co-directed nonprofit. In this model, instead of a single E.D., the organization’s day-to-day operations, staffing, and other decisions are managed by two or more co-directors (either paid staff or volunteers). This provides some division of responsibility and power and can provide a better quality of life and more accountable decision-making. However, it can also be more challenging to define roles, hire, and ensure accountability.

Member-owned/-governed. Membership-based businesses can be set up as formal co-ops where members own the company and split the profits. They can also be member-governed nonprofits, in which board members are typically drawn from the general membership and elected by the member body. Staff structure can take any form, but staff are ultimately accountable to the board and, thus, to the members.

Worker-directed nonprofit. In a for-profit worker-ownership (co-op) model, workers are usually the only shareholders, and the profits are equally distributed. Because nonprofits are community-owned rather than shareholder-owned, a cooperative model is more about the organization’s staff holding collective responsibility for governance and decision-making, especially when it comes to setting employment policies and compensation. Check out the Nonprofit Democracy Network for more information.

Role clarity: Authority, autonomy, and administration

Once you understand who’s involved, it’s important to start defining their roles. Leadership, like engagement, is a word that can mean a lot of different things.

One place to start is by creating a “RACI” chart defining who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed in various projects and tasks. By thinking through all the various responsibilities and then naming who is involved, you might realize that there are opportunities for people to contribute more to key decisions, to share work more equitably, or that there are core responsibilities with no clear person holding the bottom line.

Often, we think of a single leader, or even a leadership group, as the beginning and end of power. As you consider leadership in different areas of the organization, consider that there are several types of leadership you can plan for:

  • Authority – Making decisions that affect others within the organization or the org itself.
  • Autonomy – Making decisions that affect one’s own work or experience.
  • Administration – Getting the work done, implementing decisions.

You might also want to consider where the “soft” power in your organization lies, and how leadership decisions can affect others in ways that aren’t always obvious. Consider:

  • Who is making the decisions? Who has to implement them?
  • Whose voices are loudest?
  • Who is the most comfortable speaking up?
  • Who has been explicitly empowered to lead?
  • Who is being affected by choices they can’t influence?

How to change models

If, down the road, you decide that a different—either slightly or wildly—governance structure would be better for your LoT, don’t worry! Change is possible. It’s easy to get stuck on who makes the decisions about who makes the decisions. What a paradox! Remember, small shifts and first drafts are okay. There’s a difference between administrative leadership and authority. No one should be afraid to make a proposal.

Specificity is the soul of good governance planning. Try to think through situations, decisions, and conflicts that haven’t happened yet. Work together to document how they’ll be handled and by whom.

Spend time documenting all the decisions and work involved. Share this with your team (either publicly or privately) and think about who does them.

Be patient, listen to feedback, and be willing to try something imperfect.

Resources + Templates

LoT Co-Lab live session: Governance (board, staff, members, and beyond)

Section 9: Communications, branding, and marketing

Marketing your library is an ongoing need, but it can also be fun and energizing. From building your brand for the first time to evolving campaigns, this is your opportunity to tell your story to the world – and inspire others.

Libraries of Things Toolkit: Communications, branding, and marketing header image

Building a brand

As with so many plans, begin with your organizational mission and values. Make a list of keywords or ideas that capture the most important parts of what you’re trying to accomplish with your LoT.

Consider the voice and tone you want to reflect in your communications.

  • Who are you as an organization?
  • How do you want people to feel about you? 
  • How do you want to make those people feel? 
  • How would you describe your library as a person with traits and personality? Again, a list of keywords can help focus you. 

Building a visual identity

Logo. Once you have a foundational understanding of your LoT’s brand, begin translating those words and feelings into graphics. Your logo is the most important visual asset and the image most people will associate with your library. Here are some elements you might consider including in your logo.

  • Your library’s name – (Of course!) but also your initials or nickname, if your LoT is commonly known by a shorter version
  • Color(s) – Commit to one or two recognizable colors that will help people recognize you quickly. Keep in mind that you’ll also want a one-color version of your logo for printing in black and white, so make sure it still reads that way.
  • Font – Balance readability with recognizability. You want something unique, but not difficult to quickly understand. This font will probably find its way into many other graphic elements on your website, t-shirts, flyers, etc., so make sure it’s easily available and versatile.
  • Icons and images – You may choose to include simple icons or incorporate silhouettes of the kinds of things you lend, or even local landmarks. Just remember that in graphic design, simpler is usually better.

Brand guidelines. Once you have a first draft of your logo, use those elements to begin building a simple set of brand guidelines. This will allow you to delegate to a team while keeping consistency, help people learn and recognize your materials, and reduce decision-making time on each piece. Here are some things your guide should include.

  • Standard logo variations (e.g. full color, all-white or all-black, a transparent background, vertical and horizontal versions, with or without tagline).
  • Core color palette – In addition to the color(s) in your logo, choose two to three additional, complementary colors that you can carry through other designs. Go for contrast, and refer to the keywords in your brand development process to choose. For example, if one of your goals is to feel “energetic,” think about bright yellows and oranges.
  • Standard fonts (typography) for use in marketing materials. There are four general categories to think about. Try to find a general unified look for the first three, e.g. sans serif, and make sure you don’t choose anything too expensive or hard to find.
    • Headline (usually your logo font)
    • Subheading (can be the same font, or a similar feeling)
    • Body text (should be simple, readable, and widely available)
    • Accents (can be totally different from the other fonts, either in style or color)
  • Images/photographs you intend to use frequently. This can include icons, textures, and other visual assets. You can start a shared folder of your 10–15 favorite photos and link it in your guide, then update it as you find or take great shots. If you don’t have them already, consider finding a paid or volunteer photographer to take some basic photos of your space that capture your library and mission in simple ways. Pictures of spaces with people in them are much more interesting than just…the space!
  • Mascots & nicknames – Some LoTs have these incorporated into their marketing. It’s not necessary, but it can be fun!

Creating an online home

Your website doesn’t need to be complicated to be effective. Choose a platform that is user-friendly for updating, and a template that you can easily navigate to make changes. Popular providers include Google, Squarespace, and WordPress. (WordPress’ parent company, Automattic, is an in-kind sponsor of Shareable.)

Choose a URL that’s easily remembered and spoken. Try to avoid long or hard-to-pronounce combinations, since it will likely become part of an email address for your organization. Record web-hosting and renewal information so you don’t accidentally let it lapse. And register your URL for 5+ years at once.

The more information you provide on your website (as long as it’s easy to find), the fewer questions you’ll have to answer repeatedly. Keep your most-requested information front and center. (The Chicago Tool Library does a great job of this.)

Be sure your website includes:

  • A brief overview of what your library does, with images.
  • Operating hours. (Keep them current!)
  • Location, phone number, and an email that someone is checking.
  • A way for people to sign up for emails.
  • A calendar of events, if you have them.
  • A searchable inventory, if possible.

Building an audience

Once you have created a beautiful and compelling identity and case for support messaging, it’s time to build your audience! Here are a few ways to get and stay in touch with people.

Always have an RSVP link to events, even if they’re free. Capture people’s email, and consider asking for things like zip codes and interests so you can send targeted messages later.

Create an easy email signup form (many email marketing platforms do this for you, or use a Google form) and put it everywhere you can—on your website, on signs via a QR code, on flyers, at events, etc.

Make sign-in and waiver forms digital whenever possible so you don’t have to transcribe contact information. Be sure to import contacts regularly into your email platform.

Include social media handles/links on your materials. Some people are into email, while others are more into Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok.

Emails, e-newsletters, and social media

Once people have signed up for emails from you, make sure you contact them! Monthly or quarterly e-newsletters are the most common way to stay in touch, since they build brand recognition and a consistent sense of connection with your audience.

Similarly, a consistent social media presence goes a long way. You don’t have to be active on every possible social media platform, but choose the ones you think will most effectively reach the people you want to. Some paid tools allow you to cross-post to multiple platforms simultaneously.

Emails and social media can take a lot of time and energy, especially if you’re new to communications work. Consider recruiting a few skilled volunteers to form a committee and divide the tasks among them, for example doing photography and interviews, posting to social media, sending monthly emails, and keeping up with email and social inboxes).

A regular email and social media posting schedule helps your team get into a pattern of planning and preparing for events and news and gives your audience an expectation of when they’ll hear from you.

Encourage members to submit stories and photos of things they’ve done with library items. Members want to hear from each other, and this will save you time developing content.

Recycle and repurpose content across platforms. You can reuse social media graphics and photos in your newsletter (and vice-versa) as long as they’re still timely; often people will only see one or the other. Event flyers can be easily adapted to simpler email graphics with a little pre-planning.

Keep an internal calendar at least a few months out so you don’t miss or forget events you want to promote. This forward planning helps in so many ways.

Engagement

Try to vary the kind of content you send out. A mix of opportunities to respond or sign up, feel-good member stories, internal updates, and links to partner events will encourage people to open an email or check your feed.

Stay consistent! Only commit to the communication channels you can regularly keep up with and plan for a cadence you can maintain. You can always add frequency or platforms later!

Developing marketing materials

It’s still true that a picture is worth 1,000 words. Especially on social media, the image or video is the real content. Always be ready to take photos during events and while your LoT is open, and encourage your volunteers to do so as well. Even a cell phone photo will work!

Social media

Social media is a constantly changing game, but the more engagement you have, the more people will see your post. You can fine-tune which kinds of posts you focus on for yourself by keeping track of post stats, but here are some of the most popular categories from other libraries.

Member projects and other real-world examples of your library’s inventory in action. People love inspiration and often engage with these!

Photos and descriptions of new inventory items can get people excited to come in and borrow them, and often prompt comments and likes. Even better are short how-to videos about using the new item.

Photos and videos of your physical space can help new and curious people get a sense of what your library is like and encourage them to visit. Clean, well-organized shelves and racks are great eye candy.

Games and contests like, “comment with your guess about what this unusual thing is used for,” encourage more two-way dialogue than passive informational posts.

Print materials

Analog marketing materials are still useful, even in the digital age. Here are some types you might want to invest in.

An “about us” flier or postcard that summarizes everything you do, how to get in touch, and where to find you. This limited space forces you to focus on the most important things, but don’t forget to include links to email sign-up, social media, and other “next steps.”

Business cards are still useful! Their small size makes them easy to pick up and hang on to. You can get creative and format these as a magnet or even the backing of a sticker. Or, you can use the back of your business card to highlight key information points about your library and how to get involved.

Door hangers are a great tool for on-the-ground outreach since you can leave them at houses in neighborhoods where you want to build awareness and membership. People are used to being sold things, so information about a community service is generally very welcome.

Event and campaign fliers can be posted in local businesses and on community bulletin boards (and re-used for digital communications!). If you have recurring events (e.g. monthly service days), include all the upcoming dates on the same flier to save yourself a lot of work. Fliers are a good outlet to include event sponsors, too.

Annual reports

They can be a big lift, but annual reports are a great way to showcase the accomplishments of the prior year and build support for the next one. Plus, they can be very useful tools for donor stewardship.

To save yourself effort at the end of the year, keep a running list of accomplishments, milestones, events, and news as they happen. You can also look back at your social media feeds and newsletters to remember all the best headlines. (Many of these things are part of grant reporting, too!)

You can choose whether or not to print your report, depending on who you want to read it and how you want to deliver it to people.

Merchandise

‘Merch’ can be a great way to get your logo out in the world while raising a little bit of money, too. You can just go with your logo or work with a designer to develop standalone designs that incorporate your brand identity and key messaging.

Examples include t-shirts and other garments or accessories associated with your things (branded aprons, toque blanche, tote bags, etc.), mugs or glassware, pens, pencils, etc.

Think about where and how to source this kind of thing so its origin and history reflect your organizational values.

Resources + Templates

LoT Co-Lab live session: Communications, branding, and marketing

Section 10: Going mobile

Getting to and from a Library of Things is often one of the biggest barriers for potential members. Many libraries choose to set up or expand in a way that lets them get to where they’re needed. Some libraries travel, others offer low-lift start-up models to create more libraries in new places.

Libraries of Things Toolkit: Going Mobile header image

Mobile or distributed model benefits include:

  • Reaching more people who need your items, especially those who don’t have cars or easy transit access.
  • Getting more neighborhoods and towns involved in the solidarity/circular/sharing economies and spreading the model.
  • Customizing the items available to the communities who will use them.

There are many ways to help your inventory reach more places and just as many challenges to plan for. The following case studies introduce three different approaches, but there are some common considerations before going mobile with your LoT:

You must be even more selective about which items to prioritize when your space and storage are limited. Data collection and analysis of usage and needs become even more important.

Nontraditional spaces, including vehicles, may have higher risks for damage or theft to plan for, including different kinds of insurance.

You may lack important infrastructure like running water to clean items or toilets for your team to access if you don’t have a ‘brick-and-mortar’ facility. Consider how you’ll manage maintenance and repair, maybe at another location.

Traveling or distributed inventories require careful tracking to ensure things are where they should be. Overflow storage can add a layer of location management.

Case studies

Share Shed – traveling LoT

This case study focuses on how the mobile LoT Share Shed truck operates in rural England across seven towns and villages.

Circular Library Network – providing infrastructure for sharing automation

This case study shares CLN’s automated (and replicable) Library of Things kiosk model from Iceland.

South King Tool Library – shipping containers

This case study dives into the process of using recycled shipping containers to build a LoT in the Pacific Northwest, United States.

Resources + Templates

LoT Co-Lab live session: Going mobile

Section 11: Workshops and classes

Classes and how-to workshops can be a great complement to your Library of Things, whether they help people learn how to use your inventory, repair things, or just build community. Sharing knowledge and skills is a natural extension to sharing objects, and literacy and language education have long been parts of programming in traditional media libraries.

Libraries of Things Toolkit: Workshops and Classes header image

Benefits of educational programming

Classes and workshops help your members learn how to use the items in your inventory (and other things), and go a long way toward keeping both your items and their users safe. It also encourages people to try using things they haven’t before.

Training and safe practices can be an essential part of ensuring access, especially for people who aren’t typically given as many chances to learn. Many tool libraries focus on providing education for women and girls, for example, because they are often discouraged from learning to use tools in other spaces.

Education can also reach new potential patrons and introduce them to the idea of LoTs. If someone is interested in learning a skill like sewing, they will likely want to join and borrow the library’s sewing machine. Programming like this can also build community and offer a “third space” (between work and home). Spending time together in the library encourages people to invest in each other and the library itself. Workshops also offer people the opportunity to connect with each other as learners and with the instructor or leader.

Things to consider

Offering workshops and classes is not always easy! Before jumping in, consider the following things.

Do you have the consistent staff capacity to run the class and manage marketing, sign-ups, student questions, follow-ups, curriculum development, teacher recruitment and training, and handling payments?

Will programming affect the availability of your space for other priorities, including lending? How will you balance this?

Do you have enough space for a class of learners, including restrooms and parking for vehicles and bikes?

Where will you store the materials and tools for your classes and workshops?

Look at borrowing trends. Which items are most frequently used? Of these, which could be dangerous or difficult to use?

What kinds of projects are people borrowing them for that you might be able to offer training in?

What does the community want and need? To get the most out of your investment, be sure to align your educational programming with the specific community needs and desires you have gathered through surveys and other means. Keep a running list of frequently asked questions from your members about the items in your inventory. You may notice patterns that become a training or workshop. Have one-on-one conversations with your members and volunteers. Not only will you understand more about what people are interested in learning, but you might also find some teachers or workshop leaders! Ask things like:

  • What are you interested in learning? 
  • How much can you afford to pay?
  • What times work best for you? 
  • Will you need translation, childcare, or other accommodations?

Mission alignment

Once you understand your community’s needs and wants, consider what aligns best with your values, mission, goals, and capacity. Here are some things to consider.

Offer one-off workshops that can be easily planned and executed if your staffing is limited to volunteers. Let volunteers take the lead in offering what they know.

Is the goal to create a collectively led space? This might impact how you share teaching responsibilities or even structure classes without a single designated teacher.

Consider how you can make education as accessible as possible through scholarships or low-cost registration, translation, and even off-site offerings in other neighborhoods, especially if you’ve identified reducing barriers as a value or goal.

Consider how you can compensate instructors, especially if your values include honoring labor.

Consider your budget for education programs – do you want/need them to be significant generators of revenue, or is it okay if they’re self-sustaining (break-even), or do you need them to be subsidized? Education grants are often available to cover the internal cost of workshops and classes, allowing you to offer them for free or low cost. Just keep in mind that these grants are generally temporary funding. Offering sliding-scale registrations or scholarships is another way to still make money from those who can afford to pay full price while lowering the cost barrier to entry for those who need it.

Recipe for successful workshops

Every library’s offerings will be different! Making sure your classes work for your organization and your community is most important. Here are just some of the “ingredients” for successful education – you can ‘add to taste.’

People

The most important ingredient!

Instructors or leaders can be full-time staff, contractors, or volunteers. Carefully consider how you support, recognize, and/or compensate people regardless of their status.

What are the job descriptions for your instructors? Are they responsible for developing and marketing their class, sourcing and preparing materials, setting up the space and/or re-setting, and following up with students? Or do they just show up and teach? Often, it’s more cost-effective to have one person handle support and logistics for all classes, including scheduling, marketing, registrations, and space set-up. Still, you might not have the capacity for this at first.

Target audience, is the other half of this. Are you prioritizing beginners? Older adults? Youth? Renters? Homeowners? People with marginalized identities? Defining who you most want to attend your classes will shape what you offer, when, and how you do it. It may also impact your liability insurance and how you screen instructors if you plan to offer programming to children and teens.

Curriculum

Consider not just what you’re teaching or sharing but also how you’ll go about it, including the following:

Concrete goals. At the end of the experience, what do you want people to know or be able to do?

Accessibility. How will people of different backgrounds, experience levels, and abilities get to those goals? What days and times can you make sessions available? Are there physical ability considerations, like moving heavy objects or navigating a tight space, that might be barriers? Consider interactivity, hands-on practice, and physical models to help people of different learning styles understand the concept or practice.

Length and frequency. Many people have trouble focusing on a subject for more than three hours at a time, so consider breaking up a longer session into multiple parts. Balance shorter sessions with the difficulty of scheduling more than one visit. Having a consistent schedule and workshop length can help people register more easily.

Ideal class size. Often, smaller classes offer more opportunities for hands-on learning and teacher attention. Balance this with the benefits of larger classes, including exposure, access, and revenue.

Writing and testing. You may have one person develop a workshop, and someone else deliver it, or different people offer it over time. Consider aiming for any attendee to have basically the same experience in this scenario, not a wildly different time with one teacher than another. Documenting a lesson plan, material prep and sourcing, and other logistics help reduce repeat work and enable refinements over time. Consider running at least one prototype class to test timing and get feedback from volunteers before publicly launching a new offering.

Venue and materials

Once you have a plan, refine it based on the opportunities and constraints of your space. Consider the following points.

Systems for smooth operations. Think about the workflows involved in preparing and cleaning up from classes. Some examples are below.

How does the space need to be arranged and re-set? What materials need to be prepared in advance to maximize in-class time, and where are they stored? Where do you source them, and who does the work?

If you have on-site classes, what else is happening in the space at the same time (e.g., lending, other classes)? Try to minimize impacts in both directions, including traffic getting into your space, sound, walking through one space to get to another, etc.

How many people can you actually fit in your space? Make sure you know your space’s maximum occupancy, in addition to considering space needed for practice, visibility of demos, and seating.

What amenities do you need, especially in different seasons? If your class is messy, where will people clean up? Do you have drinking water and restrooms? What personal protective equipment is needed, and do participants bring it themselves? Be careful of summer and winter temperatures in unconditioned spaces, and ensure you can keep the space between 65 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit to protect health and safety.

Off-site programming. One way to get around the limitations of your own space is to offer education programs elsewhere. This is a great opportunity to build partnerships and get the word out about your library. Be sure to discuss in advance the expectations for transporting materials and everything needed for the class, who will handle registration and get participant information, if you or the host will need additional insurance, a rider, or waivers, and who is responsible for set-up and cleanup.

Virtual education can also be a great option, especially for topics that don’t lend themselves as well to hands-on practice. While you lose some of the magic of in-person community building, you can reach more people with a higher level of accessibility.

Participant engagement

How do you find and keep students?

Host workshop enrollment on an event software platform (like Eventbrite) that’s easy for you to use and easy for your community to interact with. If you want to streamline the process, make sure it meets your needs for payment processing, signing waivers, collecting registrant information, and sending reminders and follow-up emails. You can always do these steps manually if you opt for a free or simplified tool, but there is a cost in terms of time and consistency. Check to see if your fundraising platform, email client, or website software already offers ticketing.

Marketing your class is essential to reach the people you want to prioritize and fill your seats. See the sections on Getting Started and Communications for guidance about how to get the word out.

Ensure participants have a responsive point of contact before and after class. There are frequently-asked questions about enrollment logistics (e.g. Can I register another person? What if I need to cancel?) that can be time-sensitive. Including an FAQ page on your website can help, but keep in mind that not everyone will read it. After class, there may be questions about how to get more involved with your library.

Assessment

Implement responsive, adaptive improvements over time. Regardless of how much work you do in getting to know your community and planning an effective class or workshop, you won’t get it exactly right the first time. That’s okay! Here are some ideas for how to assess your education programming.

Surveying at the end of class is one of the most effective ways to get specific feedback for improvement. At the end of each session, offer a QR code to an online survey and a paper version (if you have the capacity to transcribe responses) in person. Send a follow-up email, too.

Casual, one-on-one conversations can be a great approach, especially with repeat customers who have taken multiple classes or workshops. Don’t forget to document what you learned after the fact!

General feedback forms and reviews are another way to capture input, sometimes more broadly related to what you do/don’t offer, timing, etc.

Once you begin capturing feedback (or before!), make sure you have a plan to act on it. Regularly review survey data and compare it with your established goals. If there is specific feedback for an instructor, don’t be afraid to share it (within reason). Keep the organization’s values, mission, and capacity in mind and try to maintain a curious, growth-focused mindset. When you need to make changes, be clear about who is implementing them and how you’ll communicate updated methods or practices to everyone involved.

Costs – for you and your participants

When you plan for the “in” and “out” of funding related to a new educational program, don’t forget to include initial costs.

You may need to buy new tools, equipment, or materials (this is especially important if you make a bulk purchase that covers many sessions).

Developing a new class takes time and energy, which you may want to pay for. You may need to rent more space, temporarily or long-term. You may want to offer compensation to instructors, including their time and effort to help plan and administer the workshops. Know that the majority of your ongoing costs will be labor and materials (in addition to any rent and software fees). If you’re using a paid enrollment or payment processing tool, be sure you know both the start-up and monthly fees associated with it. These are all great opportunities to look for a one-time grant!

Don’t forget to account for the “invisible” labor outside of class time, including planning the curriculum, marketing efforts to get people there, and assessing the class’s impact.

Getting started

There’s no right way to begin offering workshops and classes at your LoT, but don’t be afraid to start small! You can try something new once or twice, evaluate it, and then try again. Learning as you go is totally fine.

While it’s easy to run with a workshop idea that one volunteer or member is excited about, don’t skip the step of community assessment. You’ll get more out of your time and money if the need is broad and the excitement is shared by many people.

Start with very basic classes, like thing use or simple one-day projects, and build a community of people who want to learn more advanced or specialized skills. Never forget education on how to use the things you are lending in a safe manner! (Be sure to review notes in the Operations section about liability insurance implications when it comes to safety training.)

Work with partners. Collaborating with another group to host or teach classes is a great way to grow your community and help both organizations meet their goals.

Reach out to other LoTs! If you see cool programming happening somewhere else, ask for behind-the-scenes information about what makes it successful. Be sure to ask them what they’ve learned along the way and what they wish they’d done differently when they started.

Resources + Templates

LoT Co-Lab live session: Workshops and classes

Section 12: Public libraries (working with and within them)

Public libraries, the kind that traditionally lend books and other media, are the main point of reference for most people to understand Libraries of Things. So why are these related forms of social infrastructure still so separate? The truth is that they’re often not separate at all! Public book-lending library systems increasingly offer other objects, and independent LoTs are beginning to collaborate with traditional public libraries to offer lending items beyond just media. Look no further than the longest-running tool library in the U.S., which started out as an independent LoT in 1979 before becoming part of the Public Library system in Berkeley, California!

Note: “Public library” is used as shorthand for “public book/media-lending library” in this section.

Libraries of Things Toolkit: Public Libraries header image

Public libraries 101

Public libraries in the U.S. and elsewhere have long been one of the most important social “third spaces” and community hubs. There, you will likely encounter shared values like access, diversity, democracy, and sustainability.

Public libraries often share additional services such as general help desks, public restrooms, tutoring, and internet access. Partnering with public libraries can connect you to these established competencies and resources, as well as:

  • Access to unique people and groups—libraries often have a strong and trusted reputation with a diversity of local people
  • Event publicity, registration systems, and space
  • Relationships with communities, organizations, and spaces
  • Multilingualism, age ranges, cooperation examples
  • Deep expertise in a wide range of topics
  • A staff with enthusiasm and expertise about lending systems and sharing!

Since many public libraries are beginning to expand their inventories of “Things,” you can also likely offer your own expertise and wisdom with maintenance, member education, and other unique considerations.

In developing relationships with public libraries, you may also encounter some challenges, including the following.

Staff silos. Community engagement, youth, and adult programming may be separate. Don’t give up at your first “no.” Listen and adapt your approach.

Different priorities. Public libraries are often overstretched, and individual staff members might be experiencing pressing issues. Try to focus on “win-win” opportunities that meet the library’s goals, too.

Municipal restrictions. There is a wide range of structures for public libraries; they may be run by a city or county, a library district, or a nonprofit (or a partnership). Their staff may be unionized. Their buildings might be historic. Make sure you understand and adapt to rules and regulations, including liability and how you use the space. And remember that the librarian you’re working with probably didn’t make that rule.

Curated space. Public libraries often balance a large number of items and programs in limited, multi-purpose spaces that need to stay clean and appealing. Organization is often a high priority, personally and institutionally. Be extremely tidy, make sure you understand their expectations and needs, and communicate in advance about timing, storage, photography, and signage.

Note: In the U.S., most public libraries that are members of the American Library Association have the following requirements for programming:

  • Free (no monetary cost)
  • Open to the public
  • Not exclusive to a particular group.

Lend everything: Collaborative design for a community lending ecosystem

Neither the traditional public library nor the small, organic LoTs is going to meet all community needs on its own. The future of a solidarity economy has to blend the centuries of experience, reputation, and infrastructure of public libraries with the responsiveness, expansiveness, and community involvement of the LoT movement. Learning to fill in the gaps together is a big, beautiful challenge. Here are some of the most common differences you might encounter along the way.

Public libraries are often accustomed to dealing with a much larger membership, which means an emphasis on efficiency and reducing risk. Often, their growth areas are in building community engagement and participation. How can you share your LoT’s strengths and experience with smaller, more involved member groups while learning about efficiency and risk management?

Public libraries have gotten very good at the process of acquiring, lending, and maintaining specific kinds of items. Staff might not realize how much is involved in lending a sewing machine or baby stroller rather than a book, CD, or DVD. How can you share broad learnings about repair, maintenance, and borrower education? What might you learn about standardizing the borrowing process?

As tax/government-dependent institutions, they are often less able to be experimental, adaptive, and take risks. When you work together, how can you provide the risk tolerance to try new things or pilot a program while taking advantage of institutional infrastructure to support it? How can you help them reduce the stress of their workload and increase the satisfaction of their patrons? (Hint: Library patrons will likely appreciate having items that the books they check out reference to accomplish a task, whether it’s a chess board or a drill, and appreciative patrons improve the work environment!).

Often, LoTs rely heavily on volunteers for maintenance, repair, member interactions, and other tasks. A majority-staff model at a public library might present challenges in translating processes and understanding liability and risk between organizations. Especially if you’ve done the work to carefully define the people you want to serve, you might find that your priorities are slightly different from those of a public library designed to serve everyone but with its own outreach priorities. Look for the overlaps in both sets of goals and lean into them.

In addition to public libraries and LoTs, consider where people are also accessing shared items, such as schools, gear rental services, community swaps, makerspaces, and museums. Once you learn to work with public libraries, how else can you build an interconnected sharing network? Consider where your complementary and shared skills and goals might align and where you might need to be prepared for differences in values or approach.

Approaches

To save time and demonstrate readiness, approach your local public library with a “menu” of potential partnership approaches. Here are some common ways to get started.

Share your programming. Offer classes, repair workshops, and/or informational tabling at their location(s) or as part of their planned events. Be sure you know what the costs would be (if you can’t offer it for free), and be clear about what that price includes. Invite them to table or promote events in your space and newsletter, or go in on a table together at a community event.

Share your membership. Allow public libraries to offer access to your inventory through shared memberships or borrowable short-term passes. (Consider your waiver and insurance policy!) If your public library system has access to transportation, work with them to schedule buses to help people without cars get to and from your library.

Share expertise. Trade advice and guidance with your public library staff. Help them learn how to expand into lending things and learn from them how they navigate your organization’s pain points. Collaborate on new ventures, like a Repair Café or a new category of borrowable items.

Share space. Some LoTs have co-located with their local public libraries, integrating both sets of inventory into the same building. Sometimes, their membership and borrowing systems stay separate as they operate as sub-tenants or co-tenants, and sometimes, they eventually integrate into a merged organization.

Think beyond the local! There are LoTs in public libraries in every state in the U.S., provinces in Canada, and many in Australia and other parts of the world. The LoT Mutual Aid Group is an email group for traditional libraries that are lending Things. Typically, members of the group belong to the National Library Association in their country and have a school, academic, or public librarian. Yet, anyone is welcome! The Group meets once a month to listen to a representative from a library lending something unusual, and it is active with folks asking about public and academic library questions. Sometimes, it can be helpful to hear from other public libraries who collaborate with external LoTs or who are managing internal LoTs – don’t hesitate to reach out to this group if you could use that assistance!

Resources + Templates

LoT Co-Lab live session: Public libraries: Working with and within them

Conclusion (Now What?)

If you made it this far, you’re probably feeling a mix of overwhelmed and excited. Don’t worry, you’re not alone! Starting a Library of Things takes time and a team of people. Be sure to find and lean on others to join you on this journey.

There is a growing community of LoT practitioners all over the world who are in the same position as you (or were at one time). Register for the international “Tool” Library Google Group (1,500+ members!). If you’re in the U.S., check out The Tool Library Alliance. If you’re working in (or with) a Public Library, you can join the LoT Mutual Aid Google Group (290 members). And join these groups on Facebook: Tool Libraries & Libraries of Things: A Global Movement, and Libraries of Things Administrators. Plus, if you use Reddit, check out the brand new subreddit for tool libraries. These are all great places to look through the archives of previous discussion threads and ask new questions that haven’t been addressed yet.

Please let us know if you use this Toolkit, have requests for version 2.0, or have suggestions for other resources we should include by contacting info@shareable.net. Visit www.shareable.net/library-of-things-toolkit/, where we’ll continue to add the new videos, resources, and toolkits that others contribute.

Credits

Project team

  • Written by Leanna Frick with Paige Kelly and Tom Llewellyn
  • Edited by Paige Kelly, Tom Llewellyn, and Alison Huff
  • The LoT Co-Lab was coordinated by Candice Spivey and Tom Llewellyn with additional communications, operations, and fundraising support from Paige Kelly, Alison Huff, and Bobby Jones
  • All videos were produced by Paige Kelly with support from Candice Spivey and Tom Llewellyn
  • Toolkit illustrations and cover art by Anke Dregnat. Toolkit design by Paige Kelly.

Advisors

Co-lab presenters

  1. Getting started – Amanda Miller, South King Tool Libraries
  2. Getting Things – Jason Naumann of Green Lents and Rockwood Common
  3. Operations –  Leanna Frick, Station North Tool Library
  4. Volunteers – Josh Epstein, NE Seattle Tool Library/Shoreline Tool Library and Jessa Wais of Station North Tool Library
  5. Space – Steve Bade of Toolbox Project, Amanda Miller of South King Tool Libraries, and Keenan Philips of Asheville Tool Library
  6. Membership – Tim Willison of TTL Makerspace, Toronto Tool Library, and Oddly Studios, Keenan Philips of Asheville Tool Library, Jason Nauman of Green Lents and Rockwood Common
  7. Income & budgeting – Leanna Frick of Station North Tool Library, Amanda Miller of South King Tool Libraries, Josh Epstein of Seattle REconomy
  8. Governance – Leanna Frick of Station North Tool Library
  9. Communications, branding, and marketing – Darren Cotten, The Tool Library
  10. Going mobile – Anna De Matos of Munassfn RVK Tool Library, Mirella Ferraz of The Share Shed and Network of Wellbeing, and Amanda Miller, South King Tool Libraries
  11. Workshops and classes – Jenn Kim of Station North Tool Library and Barrett Ihde of Seattle REconomy
  12. Public libraries – Hazel Onsrud of Curtis Memorial Library

Additional editing by Steve Bade of Toolbox Project, Amanda Miller of South King Tool Libraries, Jason Naumann of Green Lents and Rockwood Common, Josh Epstein, NE Seattle Tool Library/Shoreline Tool Library, and Hazel Onsrud of Curtis Memorial Library

Additional resources were provided by Greg Stone, Vancouver Tool Library (top tool list) and Rayden Sorock, Grow Pittsburgh (top tool list)

Special thank you to the Tool Library Alliance for collaborating on this project.

About Shareable

Shareable collaborates with organizers and allies to imagine, resource, network, and scale cooperative projects. We envision a just, connected, and joyful world where sharing is daily practice and communities flourish.

Since 2009, Shareable has been a leading news and action hub for the solidarity economy. We help communities meet direct needs and build collective capacity through educational co-labs, solutions journalism, and multi-stakeholder partnerships.

Shareable staff

Shareable board

This toolkit has been published with a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.) You may copy and redistribute the material in any medium or form under the following terms:

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Appendix

Resources + Templates

1. Getting started

2. Getting Things 

3. Operations

4. Volunteers

5. Space

6. Membership

7. Income generation & Operational budgeting

8. Governance

9. Communications, branding, and marketing

10. Going mobile

11. Workshops and classes

12. Public libraries

LoT Co-Lab live sessions (self-paced course)

1. Getting started

2. Getting Things 

3. Operations

4. Volunteers

5. Space

6. Membership

7. Income generation & Operational budgeting

8. Governance

9. Communications, branding, and marketing

10. Going mobile

11. Workshops and classes

12. Public libraries