Our Mission
To build community by
sharing tools, ideas, and know-how.
About
the Ballard Tool Library
What is a tool
library? Just like a normal library, a tool library is a sustainable public
service that provides community access to tools and an exchange of knowledge,
at little to no cost.
The Ballard Tool Library will promote a sharing economy, mutual reliance, and environmental
stewardship for our community.
A project of
Sustainable Ballard, the BTL offers our community a chance to borrow tools and art supplies, reserve workspace, and learn more about DIY construction, gardening, and crafts. The
BTL will also facilitate the exchange of privately owned tools community
members are willing to trade or loan out to their neighbors because sharing is
caring!
Our
Vision
The BTL uses a very loose definition of "tools"
and aims to create a diverse collection of construction, gardening, electrical,
woodworking, arts, and crafting tools (think: power drills and knitting
needles, sewing machines and shovels, pasta makers and linocut tools).
In addition, the BTL plans to offer instruction, demos,
and reservable workspace to assist you with your DIY projects.
What
the Funds from this Campaign Will Cover
The BTL aims to be
inclusive of all interested borrowers and will keep start-up and maintenance costs
low.
The start-up costs raised from this campaign will be used
in the following ways:
- Ballard Tool Library site repairs and building costs
- Collection building (i.e. buying BTL-owned tools to
loan out)
- Material costs (creating borrowing cards, buying record keeping
materials, creating signage, etc.)
- Insurance costs
- Outreach costs to get the word out (poster printing,
exhibiting, promotional materials, etc.)
- Other miscellaneous start-up costs
Non-Financial
Contributions
If you would like to
get involved with the BTL and cannot contribute financially, please get the
word out to others by sharing this Indiegogo page. The BTL works as a
community-sustained service and is supported by donors, members, and volunteers.
Have tools you'd like
to donate? We would love to hear from you. We are currently collecting names of
potential tool donors to contact when we have a space for our future
collection. Please let us know you are interested by sending an email to anna@sustainableballard.org.
Or—come to a meeting!
Our volunteers are essential to getting the BTL up and running and their
feedback and ideas will help the Tool Library offer a service that reflects the
community’s needs. Check out the Sustainable Ballard Events page for upcoming
meeting information: http://www.sustainableballard.org/events/
