Toronto Tool Library and Makerspace | |
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43°38′23″N79°26′26″W / 43.639671°N 79.440546°W , 43°41′03″N79°19′07″W / 43.684200°N 79.318675°W , 43°40′51″N79°25′52″W / 43.680739°N 79.431167°W , 43°39′00″N79°23′51″W / 43.649987°N 79.397534°W | |
Location | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Established | 2012 |
Branches | 4 |
Access and use | |
Population served | 2,615,060 (2012) [1] |
Members | 800 |
Other information | |
Director | Tim Willison |
Employees | 7 |
Public transit access | 510 |
Website | torontotoollibrary |
Toronto Tool Library (TTL) is a tool library system based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. [2] Tool libraries loan specialized tools for both experienced and inexperienced community members who are interested in home repair, maintenance, building projects, community projects, gardening and landscaping. [3] In The Kitchen Library, small to medium-sized appliances are loaned for cooking and baking, serving equipment, culinary workshops. It partnered with the Toronto Public Library in 2015. [4]
In 2012, TTL was founded by Ryan Dyment and Lawrence Alvarez. [5] TTL received its first grant from the Centre for Social Innovation and started a registered non-profit arm called the Institute for a Resource Based Economy (IRBE) in 2012. [6] In March 2012, a tool lending library was established in Toronto west at the Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre, 1499 Queen Street West, Toronto. [7] In October 2013, a tool lending library and Makerspace with a wood shop, laser cutter, 3D printers, workshops and community gatherings was established in Toronto East at 1803 Danforth Avenue, Toronto. [8] The TTL partnered with the Toronto Public Library to open a brand new Tool Library on April 30, 2015, at the Downsview Public Library branch of the TPL, located at 2793 Keele Street. [9]
TTL is supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Pioneer +TO, tool donors and volunteers. [10] In 2018, TTL was at risk of closing, but was able to remain open due to a crowdfunding campaign which raised over $37,000. [11] [12]
The Toronto Tool Library is governed by a Board composed of eight citizen members. [13]
The tool library adapted Share Starter's free "Tool Library Starter Kit" [14] which includes start up guidelines, frequently asked questions, and sample documents. The library uses "Local Tools" from "myTurn.com, PBC", a web-based inventory management system to track tool library members and to automatically display the tool availability online. [15] The library has loaned over 12,000+ specialized tools from power drills and ladders to pressure washers and roto-tillers to community members with all skill levels welcomed. [16] The inventory of equipment includes automative, bike, carpentry and woodworking, electrical and soldering, home maintenance, metalworking, plumbing, remodelling, safety equipment, sustainable living, yard and garden. The types of equipment include: network equipment, books, cars, googles, helmets, handtools, packages, power tools, wheelbarrows & wagons.
The Makerspace offers affordable workshops open to Tool Library members on tool related skills and projects. In the Intro to Tools workshop, participants learn to use hand and power tools that are available at the Tool Library.
Parkdale is a neighbourhood and former village in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, west of downtown. The neighbourhood is bounded on the west by Roncesvalles Avenue; on the north by the CP Rail line where it crosses Queen Street and Dundas Street; on the east by Dufferin Street from Queen Street south; and on the south by Lake Ontario. The original village incorporated an area north of Queen Street, east of Roncesvalles from Fermanagh east to the main rail lines, today known as part of the Roncesvalles neighbourhood. The village area was roughly one square kilometre in area. The City of Toronto government extends the neighbourhood boundaries to the east, south of the CP Rail lines, east to Atlantic Avenue, as far south as the CN Rail lines north of Exhibition Place, the part south of King Street commonly known as the western half of Liberty Village neighbourhood.
Downsview is a neighbourhood in the north end of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located in the district of North York. The area takes its name from the Downs View farm established around 1842 near the present-day intersection of Keele Street and Wilson Avenue. It now extends beyond the intersection of Sheppard Avenue and Dufferin Street, though it is popularly seen as including the areas to the north right up to the Toronto city limit at Steeles Avenue. The area includes several large post-World War II subdivisions. Within the area is Downsview Airport, the former site of Canadian Forces Base Downsview, which has since been largely converted following the end of the Cold War into an urban park known as Downsview Park. The airport is still used as a manufacturing and testing facility for Bombardier Aerospace. As of the 2021 census, the Downsview-Roding-CFB neighbourhood was split into the two neighbourhoods of Downsview and Oakdale–Beverley Heights.
Line 2 Bloor–Danforth is a rapid transit line in the Toronto subway system, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). It has 31 stations and is 26.2 kilometres (16.3 mi) in length. It opened on February 26, 1966, and extensions at both ends were completed in 1968 and again in 1980.
Line 1 Yonge–University is a rapid transit line of the Toronto subway. It serves Toronto and the neighbouring city of Vaughan in Ontario, Canada. It is operated by the Toronto Transit Commission, has 38 stations and is 38.4 km (23.9 mi) in length, making it the longest line on the subway system. It opened as the "Yonge subway" in 1954 as Canada's first underground passenger rail line and was extended multiple times between 1963 and 2017. As of 2010, Line 1 was the busiest rapid transit line in Canada, and one of the busiest lines in North America. In 2022, it averaged over 670,000 riders per weekday.
Roncesvalles, also known as or Roncesvalles Village or Roncy Village, is a neighbourhood in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, centred on Roncesvalles Avenue, a north–south street leading from the intersection of King and Queen Streets to the south, north to Dundas Street West, a distance of roughly 1.7 kilometres. It is located east of High Park, north of Lake Ontario, in the Parkdale–High Park provincial and federal ridings and the municipal Ward 4. Its informal boundaries are High Park to the west, Bloor Street West to the north, Lake Ontario/Queen Street West to the south and Lansdowne Avenue/rail corridor to the east. Originally known as "Howard Park", most of this area was formerly within the boundaries of Parkdale and Brockton villages and was annexed into Toronto in the 1880s.
The Centennial College of Applied Arts and Technology is a public college in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the oldest publicly funded college in Ontario. Its campuses are situated on the east side of the city, particularly in Scarborough, with an aerospace centre at Downsview Park in North York.
Toronto–Danforth is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1979. It lies to the east of Downtown Toronto. Its best-known MP was New Democratic Party (NDP) leader and Leader of the Opposition Jack Layton.
Dufferin Street is a major north–south street in Toronto, Vaughan and King, Ontario, Canada. It is a concession road, two concessions (4 km) west of Yonge Street. The street starts at Exhibition Place, continues north to Toronto's northern boundary at Steeles Avenue with some discontinuities and continues into Vaughan, where it is designated York Regional Road 53. The street is named for Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, who served as Governor General of Canada from 1872 to 1878. Prior to 1878, the street was labelled as Western City Limits or Sideline Road south off Bloor. In 2003 and 2007, it was voted as one of "Ontario's Worst 20 Roads" in the Ontario's Worst Roads poll organized by the Canadian Automobile Association.
A hackerspace is a community-operated, often "not for profit", workspace where people with common interests, such as computers, machining, technology, science, digital art, or electronic art, can meet, socialize, and collaborate. Hackerspaces are comparable to other community-operated spaces with similar aims and mechanisms such as Fab Lab, men's sheds, and commercial "for-profit" companies.
A tool library or shared workshop is an example of a library of things. Tool libraries allow patrons to check out or borrow tools, equipment and "how-to" instructional materials, functioning either as a rental shop, with a charge for borrowing the tools, or more commonly free of charge as a form of community sharing. A tool library performs the following main tasks:
John F. Germany Public Library is the flagship library of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System (THPL). It is part of the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative and the Tampa Bay Library Consortium.
Vancouver Tool Library (VTL) is Canada’s original tool lending library system based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Halifax Tool Library (HTL) is a tool lending library based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Members pay an annual subscription and may borrow specialized tools for home repair, maintenance, building projects, community projects, gardening and landscaping. The HTL is a registered Non Profit community organization in Nova Scotia. The HTL offers standard, Student/Low-Income option, and organizational memberships to non-profits and small businesses. The HTL is supported by the HRM Capital Grant program, Dalhousie University student union, the Veith House Society, Ecology Action Centre, Parker Street food & furniture bank, Forest Friend, Bike Again, North Brewing Company, Catalyst, Fusion HFX, Deiter's tool and Saw.
Calgary Tool Library (CTL) is a tool lending public library system based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Tool libraries loan specialized tools for both experienced and inexperienced community members who are interested in home repair, maintenance, building projects, community projects, gardening and landscaping. Makerspaces provide access to tools and resources and host planned programming, workshops, free play and community group times related to making, DIY, and innovation. The CTL offers tool library memberships to any resident of Calgary and area and to organizations. The CTL is supported by The Calgary Foundation, First Calgary Financial, Brookfield Residential, and Remington Development Corporation.
London Tool Library (LTL) is a tool library based in London, Ontario, Canada.
Cornwall Tool Library (CTL) is a tool lending public library system based in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. Tool libraries loan specialized tools for both experienced and inexperienced community members who are interested in home repair, maintenance, building projects, community projects, gardening and landscaping. The CTL is a part of the Resource-Based Economy Group (RBEG), a registered Canadian non-profit, is responsible for the operations and management of the CTL. The CTL offers standard memberships to community members over 18 years of age.
Ottawa Tool Library (OTL) is a not for profit tool lending public library system based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Tool libraries lend specialized tools for both experienced and inexperienced community members who are interested in home repair, maintenance, building projects, community projects, gardening and landscaping as well as cooking. The OTL offers annual, short-term, group and gift memberships. See the website for current rates.