I plan to speak to my city council about creating a tool library, where citizens use their existing library card to checkout tools. To make the idea a bit more robust, I’m also planning to require citizens deposit something as collateral when checking out a tool.
However.
I live in Texas (I love Texas). Thankfully my city council is receptive, but I know they’re going to need compelling evidence before approving something like this.
So, if you guys have any advice, or examples, particularly of this kind of system working in the US, I would love to hear about it!
Hamilton east public library (Hamilton county, Indiana) has features like this. They have a maker space which makes things easier when it comes to tool storage though.
They also have art supplies like full sets for acrylic & oil paint and pastels available to loan. I think they combat theft by requiring some things to not leave the library.
It’s a fairly Republican area and they still manage to make it work, however they also made national news for banking books like the fault in our stars…
Edited to add: you might check with your local library to see if they have any plans in the works to do this
This is exactly what I was hoping for! Thank you so much.