Whistler's climbing population and associated housing shortage has had one obvious side effect for residents: a distinct lack of storage space.
That's how Lori Pyne found a niche she could help fill through her work as manager of the Re-Build-It Centre in Function Junction.
"I was just seeing so many tools coming and going out of the Re-Build-It for a cheap price, and I wanted to make the centre of influence bigger so that more people got to take advantage of the tools that were coming and going," she explained.
That led to the launch of the Re-Build-It Centre's new tool-lending library, where patrons will be able to borrow from a variety of tools to help with their next project. It's a concept that is already growing in popularity—Pyne said there are more than 150 tool libraries in North America alone, including in Squamish and Pemberton—and one that is tailor-suited to Whistler.
"We have things like tablesaws, and no one has room to store a tablesaw—even a family with a garage doesn't have room, because they have five bikes and six pairs of skis," Pyne said. "It absolutely lends itself to Whistler, so when you get here and need a bookshelf in your room, you can come here, get the tool you need and make it happen."
Membership to the library is $50 a year, or $75 for a family, the library's only associated cost other than a $3 maintenance fee on larger, expensive items like tablesaws.
The initiative was made possible thanks to a $6,000 community enrichment grant from the Resort Municipality of Whistler.
Jackie Dickinson, executive director of the Whistler Community Services Society, which operates the Re-Build-It, believes the library fills a gap in an age when fewer people are connecting with the community around them.
"At one time, we were spending a lot more time chatting with our neighbours and a lot of this stuff happened organically," she said. "Now in our day and age, when people have different shifts and we're not always on the same schedule as our neighbours—and also we have a community where there is a lot of flux and transition—sometimes we're not seeing those same bonds. That's where you're seeing organizations like the (Whistler Public) Library and us creating these initiatives to really build community capacity."
Pyne was clear the tools—which range from five-metre (16-foot) ladders to paper shredders, jigsaws and even pop-up tents—are intended for small-scale, relatively short-term projects. (Tools are lent out for a week at a time, and can be renewed if needed.)
"This is for do-it-yourself projects, family-home renovation, tending your garden, tooling your skis and bikes, but it's not something that you should be doing for work," she said.
The Re-Build-It will also accept donated tools.
"If you have a unique tool that's taking up space in you home, bring it down and we'll add it to the library. You'll still be able to use it—and so will everyone else," Pyne said.
To view the available inventory, visit mywcss.org/tools.
