We're on a mission to bring people together to share...

Cost of living

People can struggle to afford the cost of buying or renting tools, or don't have space to store them.  Many people moving into a first property need many tools all at once, which can put pressure on budgets.

Environment

Lots of people buy tools that sit unused in sheds or garages for most of the year. Borrowing instead of buying uses less resources and reduces waste.

Fresh start

Many people want to try starting their own side hustle or small business but struggle with the upfront costs involved in getting going. 

Information

Helping people discover other community services that they could benefit from.

People from our local communities are looking for all sorts of things, we don't all need to own things we might only use every so often. 

 

Sharing things helps each other out.  It helps reduce our carbon footprint, safeguarding our wonderful shared world for the next generation.

THE STATS

Every loan keeps stuff out of landfill and money in someone's pocket. Here's what we've achieved together so far.

70

things in our library

1

site

126

followers

2

borrowed things

6

members

£

saved in our community

NEWS AND STORIES

July 2026: Chellaston site opens its doors

Our first home for borrowing is at Chellaston library - open every Thursday between 12 and 2pm from 23 July 2026.

July 2026: Online catalogue of things available for browsing and borrowing

We have launched our online catalogue of things, which is available from Thursday 16 July 2026 for membership and borrowing. 

The catalogue contains useful items for the summer months including; outdoor/camping, gardening, household and cleaning...

  • Need a jet washer or carpet cleaner?

  • Want to host an outdoor event and need a BIG Jenga?

  • Want to try out camping for a weekend and need a tent, chairs, cooking equipment?

We have all these and more, and we are working on expanding the catalogue with DIY and power tools in the Autumn.

May 2026: Donations come pouring in

A shout-out to the repair/making comunity in Derby has resulted in lots of generous donations to our Library of Things.  We now have over 100 items that are being processed by our dedicated team of fabulous volunteers, to build up our online catalogue.

We have had 3 volunteer days where we've checked, cleaned, fixed, and tested a wide range of useful things for our library.  Each thing has been photographed and researched for manuals and useful information fo rour borrowers (like how heavy something is).

All this precious information is being uploaded by our volunteers into our online catalogue, available to borrowers from July 2026.

We are so grateful for our wonderful volunteers who have come from Derby Repair Cafe, Mickleover Repair Cafe, Churches, the city council locality teams, and more.