Australia's first public tool library opens in Brisbane and instead of books and magazines, library members borrow power tools, lawnmowers and whipper snippers.
Personally I think these are an awesome idea, but I think the inconvenience of the location is going to make it a hard sell. If every Council library had a good stash of tools that could be borrowed (even for a fee, like the Brisbane Tool Library has) it would be awesome. But needing to travel all the way into the CBD to the State Library is an awkward roadblock. I hope it can be enough of a success where it is to grow out into more locations.
@Zagorath Do you think maybe Men’s Sheds and similar could step up and provide local access? The trouble with lawn mowers though is that they need to be maintained, and they use consumables.
Personally I think these are an awesome idea, but I think the inconvenience of the location is going to make it a hard sell. If every Council library had a good stash of tools that could be borrowed (even for a fee, like the Brisbane Tool Library has) it would be awesome. But needing to travel all the way into the CBD to the State Library is an awkward roadblock. I hope it can be enough of a success where it is to grow out into more locations.
@Zagorath Do you think maybe Men’s Sheds and similar could step up and provide local access? The trouble with lawn mowers though is that they need to be maintained, and they use consumables.
Tool libraries are a brilliant idea though