‘Library of things’ building community
Most families don’t spend their Saturday delivering tools and other equipment, but that’s exactly how the Krulicki family spent theirs this past weekend.
“Our garage was getting overloaded,” said Kathy, who donated a variety of items to a new local lending library with her husband Wayne and daughter Paula.
“We’re getting some space by bringing things over.”
“(My parents) don’t live too far from here, so we decided to come over and check it out,” said Paula, who was visiting from Toronto. “Then later on we came back with some tools.”
They were among over 70 people who visited the Kitchener-Waterloo Library of Things’ location at Extend-A-Family Waterloo Region on Moore Avenue for the initiative’s tool donation event.
This library of things is one of the first of its kind in Waterloo Region, according to cofounder and Wilfrid Laurier University student Devon Fernandes.
“Our library is like a public library, except instead of borrowing a book, you can borrow an item you don’t use frequently like a drill,” he said.
The idea for this was conceived last year by Felix Munger, co-founder and principal consultant at Sustainable Societies Consulting Group. While doing work with a university in Germany, he met Alexandra Jaik, a student doing research on Leila Berlin, a lending library launched back in 2012.
The two chatted and Munger was inspired by the concept of a library for things other than books. So when he returned to Waterloo Region, he started to get something started in this community.
“For me, this was about initiating something and then hoping it could live on its own,” Munger said.
“I thought it would be really cool if our company could spearhead it at the beginning and get the ball rolling.”
He approached Extend-A-Family to incorporate more of a social aspect into it, which he said was very supportive.
“It took a few minutes to explain what it was and they were like, ‘yep, we’re in.’”
After that, Fernandes, who was doing his master’s at the time, learned about the lending library idea and got involved to fulfil the practicum component of his schooling. After quickly exceeding the required 200 hours (“in the first month” he said with a laugh), he began to take the lead on the project.
“For me, the passion really comes from having an impact,” he said. “I’ve never been part of a project this profound and I can see the impact so tangibly.”
Over the past year, Fernandes has attended a variety of conferences, focus groups and interacted with countless people to make the Kitchener-Waterloo Library of Things come to life.
Extend-A-Family has not only supported this project, but has even incorporated it into its organization by housing it in its building. Eli Winterfeld, community development connector at ExtendA-Family, said the concept fits perfectly with their vision of engaging with the community and promoting inclusivity.
“We love the idea of people coming to us,” he said.
On Oct. 28, shelves and pegs were installed in the library’s physical space, and Fernandes said there were more than 350 items donated at the event on Nov. 4.
The next step for the project will be obtaining memberships, which will cost $40 a year to access any of the items they have for a week at a time. There have been about 90 people who have added their names to a wait list as interested in a membership.
Elizabeth Clarke added her name to that list after dropping off a power washer last Saturday. She said it’s an idea that’s exciting to her.
“It accomplishes so many things that I want to accomplish, including clearing out my garage,” she laughed.
The Krulicki family agreed, and they said it’s a great thing for the community.
“I think we need a place for stuff to go somewhere that’s too good to just dispose of but you want to give it to the right place with the right purpose,” said Wayne.
“This seems to be it.”