The Lucrative Library (with no books)
Ironically I’m writing this post in the city library, surrounded by books, but what if I was in a library and surrounded by zero books?
An interesting thought and an even more interesting enterprise. Today's post is about a library of things. When I originally read about the idea the particular one I read about was based in the UK but some have popped up around Ireland and all around the globe.
I’m not going to talk about a specific one, I might mention some but its actually quite difficult to pin point who started them. Some of them are stand alone libraries of things but others actually function as a department/section of a regular library which makes the barrier to entry on this enterprise relatively low.
Whats it all about?
The best definition I could find was on Wikipedia which described them as :
Library of Things describes collections of things other than books that are being loaned like books, for no charge. A library of things can loan out kitchen appliances, tools, gardening equipment and seeds, electronics,toys and games, art, science kits, craft supplies, musical instruments, recreational equipment, and more.
So simply put its a library to borrow things. As our society becomes increasingly more conscious of reusing and recycling these types of libraries have grown in numbers. One thing that I wanted to do in this series was see if the ideas discussed could work in Ireland but in the case of this idea its already here.
The biggest one I could find online was www.weshare.ie/ which is based in Dublin but other than that there are not a huge amount unless they’re operating just within communities around the country which is a possibility because as I said the barriers to entry on this idea are rather low and having an online presence isn’t needed at all as long as you can get the word out about it in your community.
When you think about it there really is a big need for these types of kiosks. Say you need to power wash your pavement but don’t have a power washer. You don’t really want to buy one because they’re expensive and you may not use it again for months. So you ask the neighbors do they have one but they don’t. Well now your only option is to buy one but if you had a local library of things you could borrow it for a day and then return it the next day. You’ve saved money on not buying one and still got to use it.
That’s a simple example but these types of examples really aren't limited to any particular set of items, it could be anything!
Benefits of a Library of Things
Community
Once again this project strikes the community cord and it creates a sharing culture among people in the community which brings individuals closer together.
People in the community can even donate their things for example if I have a chainsaw I could donate it to the library so that I can still use it but others can too and that’s a very powerful thing for a community.
Consume less/Recycle
This is an obvious one because the whole idea behind a project like this is to get people to consume less. It makes sense because lets say you need a chainsaw for one specific job, it doesn't make the most financial sense to buy one but it makes a lot more sense to borrow and this is what this is all about.
Because when you look at it buying that chainsaw is needless consumption and this is an ideal alternative for people.
Potential Employment
People will have to be involved with the project in regards to management and maintenance of equipment so its not a crazy idea to say that there is room for employment with this project. Of course this would depend on the size of the library but it wouldn’t be unusual to have more than one in a community especially if space for them is at a premium.
I try to bring this point in as many of the posts in this series as possible because employing people if even only one can be incredibly empowering for the people involved so its always something worth thinking about.
Could it work in Ireland?
It could, and it does. Here’s one example in Dublin (https://www.weshare.ie/library-of-things).
The biggest hurdle with this project would be finding the equipment but as I said previously you have options for that. You can buy all of them for a one time cost, you can try to get them sponsored or you can try and get the community to donate items. Each one would change the startup costs hugely but the hope would be to make up any costs in subscriptions.
But the important thing to remember is that these hurdles are just that, hurdles and can be fairly easily overcome. Another obstacle/something to consider could be space. Where will you set up? Will it cost? How much space will you need? This is probably the next biggest thing to think about but you might find that a community association would be okay with you setting up in a community hall because of the service it would provide, but then again maybe you have to pay for space but this is a cost you would hope to cover in subscriptions.
Regardless of the obstacles it is definitely possible and is working in Ireland already and it could make a real difference in your community!
