"Is a Library-Centric Economy the Answer to Sustainable Living?"
https://www.law.georgetown.edu/environmental-law-review/blog/is-a-library-centric-economy-the-answer-to-sustainable-living/

"Real world evidence backs up the intuitive environmental and social benefits of a library economy. The Tool Library in Buffalo, New York, recorded over 14,000 transactions in 2022 and saved the community $580,000 in new products that would have otherwise been purchased for short-term use.[2] The non-profit also partnered with the City of Buffalo Department of Recycling to create pop-up “Repair Cafes” that diverted 4,229 pounds of waste from landfill by teaching residents how to repair their items, demonstrating the potential of complementary programming in library economies .[3] Borrowers at the UK Library of Things have saved more than 110 tons of e-waste from going to landfills, prevented 220 tons of carbon emissions, and saved a total of £600,000 by borrowing rather than buying since the library’s inception in 2014."

Is a Library-Centric Economy the Answer to Sustainable Living?

We need a consumer economy centered around "libraries of things" so we can do more with less.

Thanks for boosting.

Here's a good 101 guide for Library Socialism:
https://librarysocialism.org/

An Introduction to Library Socialism

@HeliosPi This would make sense for, say, lawn care equipment and car repair tools. Every house has their own lawn mower and string trimmer, mostly loud gas powered ones. If there was one high-end electric mower for the whole street, everyone would be better off. This can be done cooperatively by private initiative.

Declaring that "everyone has a right to live indoors" however does not cause an apartment block to get built. Housing has been difficult in both socialist and capitalist economies.

@mike805 I appreciate this critique and imagining the applicability of this economic model with lawncare.

Our ongoing housing crisis is because of neoliberal policies and wealthy people and institutions control of land. Its a problem of affordability, since where I'm at there's plenty of vacant housing, but its overly priced condos. Also there were a ton of affordable single family homes demolished so developers could construct more expensive condos. Then the price of existing housing continues to rise at ridiculous rates with no material basis. Like the landlords didn't improve or add anything to the units, but through capitalist forces and coordinated price gouging continue to raise rent.

Community land trusts and squatting are viable transitory alternatives.

@HeliosPi Housing should not be a financial asset. The Japanese had the same thing in the 1980s and they have never fully recovered.

Vacant houses should have a punitive property tax, which should double every year it's empty.

@mike805 Right, there's way too many vacant homes. Hence the viability of squatters movements, from post-WW2 veterans with their families squatting abandoned military bases, to the 80s wave, most prominently being the Autonomen movement in Germany squatting entire neighborhoods and establishing underground abortion clinics and other institutions providing aid, and so on.

Also the predatory loans behind the '08 Great Recession. the mass evictions, and the corporate bailouts really did a number on our society.

@HeliosPi There are some neat current projects challenging other forms of "right of abuse" that you cite.

For example, the machine for home-making pharmaceuticals, and the shadow libraries. All of those are trying to separate the "right to use" from the "right to exclude."

Artificial scarcity of things that could be abundant is a moral outrage. It will someday be seen as one of those "why was this ever tolerated?" sort of things.

@mike805 @HeliosPi

The Vancouver Tool Library (VTL) is a cooperative tool lending library in East Vancouver.

The VTL is a collective community resource, for the low price of an annual membership, allows locals to rent out tools of every kind for as long as they need

https://vancouvertoollibrary.com/?page_id=15

Also library makerspaces

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_makerspace

What is the VTL? | The Vancouver Tool Library

@impactology @mike805 Wow that's really cool. Thanks for highlighting this. I hear Vancouver is a rad place.

@impactology @mike805
Here's a long map/directory of the local library economy in Vancouver, via the forum
"Usufruct Commons":

Vancouver Public Library Resources

Vancouver Public Library (VPL)
https://www.vpl.ca

Inspiration Labs
https://www.vpl.ca/inspiration-labs

VPL Musical Instrument Lending LIbrary
https://www.vpl.ca/instruments
https://www.vpl.ca/guide/musical-instruments

BiblioBike
https://www.vpl.ca/program/bibliobike

VPL Family Resources
https://www.vpl.ca/guide/community-resources-and-social-services/family-services

VPL Book Clubs
https://www.vpl.ca/guide/book-clubs

Skilled Immigrant InfoCentre
https://www.vpl.ca/siic

Offer or Suggest a New VPL Program
https://www.vpl.ca/programs-events/offer-or-suggest-a-program

VPL Classes & Workshops
https://vpl.bibliocommons.com/events/search/fq=types:(53e94e821fdd7868020058c7)

VPL Accessibility Services
https://www.vpl.ca/accessibility

Municipal & Other Public Resources

City of Vancouver Free and Low Cost Food Programs in Vancouver
https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/emergency-meal-program-map.pdf
https://maps.vancouver.ca/foodmap/

City of Vancouver Community Orchards & Gardens
https://vancouver.ca/people-programs/community-gardens.aspx

City of Vancouver Community Kitchens
https://vancouver.ca/people-programs/community-kitchens.aspx

Mobi Bike Share System
https://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/public-bike-share-system.aspx

City of Vancouver 2024 Free Clothing Provider List
https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/homeless-and-low-income-resources-clothing-provider-list.pdf

City of Vancouver Share, Reuse & Repair Guides & Resources
https://vancouver.ca/green-vancouver/share-reuse-and-repair.aspx

Recreational Boating & Paddling
https://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/paddling-and-boating.aspx

Neighbourhood Small Grants
https://neighbourhoodsmallgrants.ca

Neighbourhood Houses
https://anhbc.org/about-us/neighbourhood-houses-camp/

Food & Agriculture
General

Vancouver Food Asset Map
https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=1XEmhBp-1P0xxH7ZPFMc76sBFb2U&ll=49.2162
1812874102%2C-123.11773751571657&z=13

City of Vancouver Free and Low Cost Food Programs in Vancouver
https://maps.vancouver.ca/foodmap/
https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/emergency-meal-program-map.pdf

Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks
https://vancouverfoodnetworks.com/

Vancouver Seed Libraries
https://farmfolkcityfolk.ca/find-seeds/seed-libraries/

Refarmers
https://refarmers.org/

Distro Disco
https://linktr.ee/distro_disco

Vancouver Food Not Bombs (FNB)
https://www.facebook.com/fnbvancouver/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/VancouverFNB

Vancouver Urban Food Forest Foundation (VUFFF)
https://vufff.org/

Community Gardens & Orchards

City of Vancouver Community Orchards i& Gardens
https://vancouver.ca/people-programs/community-gardens.aspx

Community Garden Builders
https://www.communitygardenbuilders.com/

Wikipedia Article on Vancouver Community Gardens
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_Community_Gardens

List of Vancouver Community Gardens
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_Community_Gardens#List_of_Community_Gardens_i
n_Vancouver

Metro Vancouver Community Gardens Information Sheet
https://metrovancouver.org/services/housing/community-gardens

Copley Community Orchard
https://copleycommunityorchard.com/

Pine Street Community Gardens
http://www.pinestreetgardens.org/

Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard
https://communityorchard.ca

Community Kitchens

City of Vancouver
https://vancouver.ca/people-programs/community-kitchens.aspx

Atira Women’s Resource Society Community Kitchen
https://atira.bc.ca/what-we-do/program/community-kitchen/

YWCA Crabtree’s Kitchen
https://ywcavan.org/programs/crabtree-corner/kitchen

Downtown Eastside (DTES) Neighbourhood House Community Kitchen
https://www.dtesnhouse.ca/community-kitchens

St. Andrew’s United Church Community Kitchen
https://www.st-andrews-united.ca/hello-world/

Saige Food Bank & Community Kitchen
https://saigecommunityfoodbank.com/

Community Fridges & Pantries

Vancouver Community Fridge Network (VCFN)
https://vcfp.square.site/

Marpole Little Free Pantry
https://mapping.littlefreepantry.org/pantry/2360

East 5th LIttle Free Pantry
https://mapping.littlefreepantry.org/pantry/3260

McSpadden Little Free Pantry
https://mapping.littlefreepantry.org/pantry/1836

Kitsilano Little Free Pantry
https://www.kitshouse.org/2021/11/02/kitsilano-little-free-pantry/

Vancouver Community Pet Food Pantry
https://www.indogwetrustyvr.com/petfoodpantry
https://www.instagram.com/vancouverpetfoodpantry

Charlie’s Pet Food Bank
https://vancouver.pathwaysbc.ca/programs/3400

BCSPCA Pet Food Bank Outreach
https://spca.bc.ca/programs-services/community-work/food-bank-outreach/

Personal & Household Items

City of Vancouver Free and Low-Cost Resources Map
https://vancouver.ca/people-programs/free-and-low-cost-resources.aspx

VPL Musical Instrument Lending Library
https://www.vpl.ca/instruments
https://www.vpl.ca/guide/musical-instruments

Vancouver Tool Library (VTL)
https://vancouvertoollibrary.com

City of Vancouver 2024 Free Clothing Provider List
https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/homeless-and-low-income-resources-clothing-provider-list.pdf

Emily Carr University of Art & Design Supply Swap
https://www.ecuad.ca/library/learning-commons/in-the-library/supplies-swap

Opus Art Supplies Resource Library
https://opusartsupplies.com/blogs/resource-library

Vancouver Free Market
https://www.facebook.com/groups/vancouverfreemarket/

East Side Free Store
https://www.facebook.com/vanfreestore/

Vancouver Street Store
http://employtoempower.com/vancouver-street-store/

UBC Free Store
https://secubc.com/ubc-free-store/

Toys, Early Childhood & Learning Resources
West Side Family Place Toy Library
https://www.westsidefamilyplace.com/programs/toy-lending-library/

YMCA Early Learning Resource Library
https://www.gv.ymca.ca/early-learning-resource-library

Westcoast Child Care Resouce Centre Westcoast Early Learning Library (WELL)
https://www.wstcoast.org/library

Books & Cultural Resources

Little Free Libraries
https://littlefreelibrary.org/map/

Vancouver Black Library (VBL)
https://linktr.ee/vanblacklibrary

Chinatown Storytelling Centre
https://www.chinatownstorytellingcentre.org/

Spartacus Books
https://spartacusbooks.net/

Transportation

Bikes
UBC Bike KItchen
https://www.thebikekitchen.ca/

Our Community Bikes (OCB)
https://ourcommunitybikes.org/

VPL BiblioBike
https://www.vpl.ca/program/bibliobike

Vancouver Bike Share Map
https://bikesharemap.com/vancouver/

UBC Bike Share
https://planning.ubc.ca/bikeshare

Mobi Bike Share System
https://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/public-bike-share-system.aspx

Boats

Paddling & Boating
https://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/paddling-and-boating.aspx

Electric Cars
Modo Carsharing Coop
https://www.modo.coop/

Makerspaces, Artspaces & Labs

Vancouver Community Lab
https://vancommunitylab.com/

Vancouver Hack Space
https://vanhack.ca/wp/

MakerLabs
https://www.makerlabs.com/

FabLab Vancouver
https://www.fablabvan.ca/

VPL Inspiration Labs
https://www.vpl.ca/inspiration-labs

MakerCube
https://makercube.ca

Recycling & Repair

ElectroRecycle
https://www.electrorecycle.ca/

SPEC Repair Cafes
https://spec.bc.ca/

City of Vancouver Share, Reuse & Repair Guides & Resources
https://vancouver.ca/green-vancouver/share-reuse-and-repair.aspx

MetroVan Repair Cafes
https://www.metrovanrepaircafes.ca/

Tire Stewardship BC
https://tsbc.ca/

Allied Organizations
SPEC
https://spec.bc.ca

Home | Vancouver Public Library

West Seattle also has a tool library
https://www.wstools.org/
I used this quite often when I lived there and donated tools when I moved away.

o@impactology@mastodon.social @mike805 @HeliosPi

West Seattle Tool Library

The West Seattle Tool Library is a local non-profit providing community resources for checking out tools for use to complete your DIY Projects.

West Seattle Tool Library
@HeliosPi I think something like this so I'm glad to see folk are already on the research and already on the heralding!! (I also think Habitica for self-crediting/creating currency, too)
@Filene True that. Habitica looks pretty neat, thanks for mentioning it.
@HeliosPi all those "sharing economy" startups btfo by... Actual sharing lol
@HeliosPi we need a better term for this than "library". Yes, everyone infers the meaning quickly, but it's etymologically bad. Ironically, "store" would be a good word if it weren't conflated with shops.