by: Peter Hartlaub
A woman walks into the Berkeley Tool Lending Library with a small baby cradled in one arm and a sledgehammer in the other. It's an unusual sight for a newcomer, but Robert Young and Angel Entes don't even raise an eyebrow from behind the checkout desk.
"We get a little bit of everybody," Young says. "We're looking at about 250 (new) signups every month, and there's no such thing as 'typical' when it comes to people using the tool-lending library."
The 31-year-old Berkeley Public Library institution - the oldest continuously running library of its kind in the nation - is more popular than ever and has helped turn the Bay Area into arguably the tool-lending capital of the nation.
Most states don't have a tool-lending library within their borders. The Bay Area has five, not including several local libraries that lend out specialized energy-related or earthquake-retrofit tools.
The Temescal Tool Lending Library in Oakland is another thriving offshoot of the public library, which, like Berkeley, has served as a national model for other startups.
Santa Rosa has a tool library run by community members. The San Francisco Clean City Coalition is in the process of moving its popular Tool Lending Center, and the Marin Open Garden Project is in the early stages of building its library of garden tools.
Tool lending is a great fit for the Bay Area, for reasons beyond the region's quickness to embrace progressive values. Many local do-it-yourselfers want to improve their residences and yards, but don't have the money or storage space to buy the tools. The lines that often go out the door are only getting longer as the economy struggles.
Darryel Varize walked away from the Berkeley library on a busy Thursday afternoon after checking out a belt sander and a couple of clamps. The 34-year-old has been a regular for eight years, relandscaping his yard and updating his kitchen and bathroom with borrowed tools.
'Utilizing my taxes'
"I have a little one-car garage, so having all those tools would limit my real estate," Varize says. "This is my way of utilizing my taxes."
The Berkeley tool library started in 1979 in a small mobile shed with help from a block grant. Three decades later, it's a huge operation, with hundreds of carpentry, electrical, gardening, and concrete and masoning items for rental - including 30-pound demolition hammers and cement mixers that take up valuable real estate in a storage room.
The library is organized, but free space is non-existent. Plans have been made to remodel the entire South Branch Library in the next two years, and the Berkeley Tool Lending Library will double in size.
All of the local libraries have strict rules, starting with proof of residency. Young and Entes said everyone is welcome, but contractors are discouraged.
Tools are free and can be rented for up to a week in some cases, with late fees that range from $1 to $15 per day. Damage beyond normal wear and tear can result in fines.
The Temescal Tool Lending Library is equally busy on a recent Saturday, with a steady stream of patrons filing into the basement door in the back of the beautiful brick library building.
"Right now, drain snakes are in the highest demand," says branch manager Ty Yurgelevic, who has been at the Telegraph Avenue library since it opened in 2000. "When the rain comes, sump pumps. And in the spring, weed whackers."
Young says the highest-demand items that the library doesn't carry are power washers and chainsaws. The latter tools are absent because of sharpening issues, not safety. Every patron must sign a liability waiver before they check out tools.
No shushing
The biggest difference between the tool libraries and the traditional libraries is the noise level: No one gets shushed in the tool library, which has a vibe closer to a barbershop. Young said the other difference is that people hang out all day around the books, while the baby-and-sledgehammer crowd comes and goes quickly.
But that doesn't mean no one has any fun. More than one patron points out the personality of the librarians as a reason they enjoy coming back.
Two days after the interview, some neighbors threw a potluck garden party in honor of Young, Entes and the other Berkeley tool librarians.
"You have to have a sense of humor," Young says. "There's no reason why anyone should leave angry."
from: San Francisco Chronicle
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