Borrowers come together to build community spirit

We’re used to borrowing books from a library but what if you could borrow tools or kitchen equipments as you need them? Elizabeth O’Neill looks at a community project in London where this is happening.

WHILE the hyper expensive Lexicon in Dun Laoghaire flung open its doors as Ireland’s newest library in December last year, across the pond, a more modest and less traditional library is about to open. It will be eschewing books completely and instead stocking its shelves instead with household objects.

The Library of Things, to be opened in Lambeth, south London, is the idea of three friends who’d read about the Leila, or Leiladen, or “borrowing shop” in Berlin. The German capital, already has a well established sharing economy: Public fridges, communal toy boxes in playgrounds, car pooling, and of course a liking for Airbnb are just some examples of community sharing. Like the Leila, the Library of Things, will offer useful, but underused items for the local community to share and borrow.