License our Technology - Community Organisations

Dear community organisations

Starting a Library of Things is a fun and exciting way to create a unique resource for your community. It helps people save money, reduce waste, learn skills and come together. We’ve done it for 10 years – and the stories we hear are seriously inspiring. Plus there are great peer networks of lending libraries across the UK providing support and inspiration.

Before you start, it’s worth knowing that although Library of Things seems like a simple idea, it can be difficult to start and sustain as a standalone project. Many grassroots lending libraries struggle to access suitable space, funding, technology, volunteers, and a supply chain of quality items. So we recommend first learning more about what works and doesn’t work elsewhere, and think about the needs and capacity of your community.

Read on for lots of juicy information on how different communities approach lending libraries, and how you can partner with us to power your own lending library.

Looking forward to speaking soon, Library of Things team

Choosing the right model

The self-service locker

Example: London Library of Things

How it works: See it in action here

Pros: Convenient & accessible, doesn’t need much space, can be installed in any library or community venue, lower ongoing costs so more viable. Good for cities & larger towns.

Cons: Higher upfront costs, less direct in-person skills-sharing (happens via events instead)

The share shop

Example: Share & Repair Bath, Re:Make Newport, Edinburgh Tool Library

How it works: See it in action here

Pros: Strong social value (in-person service means more skills-sharing), combines well with repair service or makerspace

Cons: Hard to secure affordable premises, higher running costs (utilities, shop management staff or volunteers), tends to need ongoing grant support

The ‘borrow bus’

Example: Share Shed in Devon, BorrowBus in North Wales

How it works: See it in action here

Pros: Great for rural areas with a number of towns and villages to serve, avoids cost of a property,

Cons: Upfront cost of van, plus tends to need ongoing grant support

If you’re in a village or close-knit neighbourhood, it can also work well to have a more informal lending library like a shed with a padlock, a community venue with some storage space or a Whatsapp group for neighbours

Whichever model you choose, we can partner with community organisations to help you launch and operate your own high quality lending library.

As a partner, we can provide:

Partnering with us

User-friendly software that integrates flexibly with any set-up, whether self-serve lockers, staffed shops or home delivery. This software has in-built:

Tools for local movement-building & participation – like our demand heatmap & circular skills hub
Impact measurement & reporting
Systems & templates for local operations – how-to guides, maintenance wikis, Thing sourcing systems, SMS reminders, marketing emails…

📧
Guidance on how to approach councils, funders & potential host spaces

🤝
Introductions to our allies in the movement of community-led lending libraries across the UK

Self-serve lockers
if required
(see below)

Becky Harford, Benthyg Cymru

“Library of Things has been a brilliant partner! Their software and systems are so simple and intuitive for our borrowers, volunteers and team”

Buy an ‘off-the-shelf’ Library of Things!

You can choose to use just our software to power your shop or mobile lending library – or you can order a ready-made locker:

Library of Things operated
X% share of rental revenue, fully stocked with LoT’s tried and tested catalogue, maintenance included

DIY
Keep all rental revenue, stock and maintain your own kiosk

Compact - 10 lockers

£15k up front
£200 / pm

£7.5k up front
£100 / pm

Standard - 20 lockers

£30k up front
£400 / pm

£15k up front
£150 / pm

Plus - 30 lockers

£40k up front
£600 / pm

£25k up front
£200 / pm

Custom

Talk to us

Got a shopfront and don’t need a kiosk?

Talk to us

Place order

Find out more

I want one of these! What next?

Locker-based Libraries of Things work well inside high footfall, publicly accessible spaces like libraries, shopping centres, coworking spaces, reuse hubs and other community venues. Look for:
- opening hours spanning 6+ days per week
- rent-free space
- enough space to house the locker without blocking fire exits or walkways when in use.

Read our full criteria for what makes a good host space here.
A Library of Things is successful if it’s regularly used and supported by local people. In London, we aim for each location to have over 30 ‘borrows’ per week to cover its running costs.
To test local demand before you invest in a Library of Things:
- Start a campaign using our campaign tool here and gather 250+ expressions of interest from local people
- Hold a community assembly or webinar
Once up and running, you will need to promote the service regularly to ensure ongoing usage
Here are some tried and tested fundraising options:
1. Grants – like National Lottery Community Fund’s Awards for All (up to £20,000)
2. Local crowdfunding campaign – Crowdfunder offers a range of match-funding options
3. Councils – some councils have available budget in their climate, sustainability and waste teams, libraries capital budgets, CIL funds, or local grant-funding programmes. We recommend having a conversation with a councillor or senior officer working in climate and/or sustainability to see if they’re supportive of this initiative.

Find out more

Place order

Every day, our platform powers dozens of item rental locations – saving money for thousands of people, and preventing hundreds of tonnes of waste and emissions through purchase prevention and wider behaviour change.

Here’s the impact you could have in one neighbourhood every year (data is based on one of our locations, Hammersmith Library of Things):