The libraries often offer classes and workshops, and what they carry can vary. Some not only offer garden tools, but also home construction tools, kitchen tools, sewing equipment and camping tents. Washington, D.C.’s DPR Garden Tool Share site has garden tools, but also solar ovens, a shop vac, camping stove and an on-site cider press. In Los Angeles County, county library cardholders over age 18 are eligible to borrow tools from tool lending libraries at five library locations.
As Toth explained, “It’s along the lines of this whole sharing community concept that has really evolved. We don’t want to have everybody buy tools that sit in their garage. From that perspective, the library is sustainable. And it encourages projects to happen, like a group gardening project that otherwise wouldn’t be financially sustainable.”The center has buckets that people can fill with their food scraps and return to be composted.
Another benefit to a tool lending library is that gardeners can test out a tool to determine whether it is one that should be in their own collection, that they would use regularly. They also can get guidance from Solana Center staffers on recommendations for tools they would need for a given project, and direction in how to use the tools.
And, as Stevens, the gas tiller borrower, pointed out, another advantage to borrowing tools is not having to store them.