7 ms·

Renting a sewing machine from the library

349 points by sohkamyung 4mo ago

Avicebron 4mo ago
One of the libraries near me has kayaks for loan as well as picking up the slack when all of the funding for after school programs was slashed. The value of third spaces is slowly creeping back into the public mindspace, but not enough.
delichon 4mo ago
I'd argue that sewing machines are among the most complex, high skill items found in a typical home, above the laptop and car. I find it very hard to keep mine operational. I struggle with it a lot more than I sew with it. They require fine motor skills and scads of parts and supplies. If you plan to rent them, plan for a repair staff or frequent replacements. Compared to a book, a sewing machine is a space ship, and you should see what people can do to a book. To be sustainable it needs a replacement value deposit, which isn't easy for someone who can't afford an entry level model.
- calvinmorrison 4mo ago
  Yes and no. I can stitch. I regularly do adjust clothes. I am a bad amateur. It's crazy what my neighbor does (She has a industrial sewing machine) and does piece finish work. It's a real skill. However, I highly recommend everyone get and learn how to perform basic stitches because hand stitching is a lot hard to get a good quality stitch out of, especially for doing things like repairs in areas that wear.
- criddell 4mo ago
  I bought a sewing machine a five years ago and I haven’t had to do any maintenance or repairs to it. What kinds of things are breaking on your machine?
  - delichon 4mo ago
    I only use it a couple of times per year, and simply threading it is a genuine challenge for me. So is keeping a stich running. People who sew more or have good fine motor skill may just not remember the noob experience. I expect a lot of new renters to have a learning curve to climb.
    - jessewmc 4mo ago
      it helps to have a good sewing machine - the difference between a poor quality one and e.g. a nice bernina is dramatic. even an old one thats been well maintained will give you many years of reliable use with minimal maintenance, and they're very affordable used
      - danielheath 4mo ago
        > even an old one My overlocker was made in West Germany (when that was a country), and is still going strong. Threading was a bit tricky the first few times, but the manual is really exceptionally well written.
    - yw3410 4mo ago
      In the United Kingdom, we learn (maybe past tense, I've no idea if the curriculum has changed) how to use a sewing machine at secondary school.
      - deanc 4mo ago
        I’m almost 40 and educated in the UK. I don’t think sewing has been taught in UK schools for quite many generations now - although no idea what the state of affairs is today.
        stevekemp 4mo ago
        It might be you need to make a choice to choose it; I know that when I was at school in the UK I got to choose between "CDT" (craft, design, and technology) or home economics, which was sewing, cooking, & etc. I picked woodwork, as 95% of the boys did, and about 80% of the girls picked the home-lessons instead. I do recall doing some sewing lessons outwith the home-ec classes, but it was very irregular. I know I skipped some stuff because my grandmother had already taught me to knit when I was six-eight years old. Only at home did I use a sewing machine, never at school.
- felooboolooomba 4mo ago
  Opposite experience. I studied mine extensively when I got it. I rarely have problems. But it's definitely a mechanical wonder.
- teaearlgraycold 4mo ago
  You have confused high maintenance with complex. Not to belittle sewing machines, which are very cool and not exactly simple.
- deleted 4mo ago
  [deleted]
- markdown 4mo ago
  Get yourself an old Singer. They're the Toyota of sewing machines.
- AngryData 4mo ago
  Sewing machines are complex, but ive had experiences both ways with them. One model I had endless troubles with both getting to run and keep running well, but then ive had others that are seemingly bulletproof. At my family's cabin my great-grandmother had a foot powered one that to this day works flawlessly and has never seen any maintenance or repairs ive ever seen and she use to make tons of quilts on it. I don't use it much these days but I do squirt a bit of oil on it every few years and make sure it is still working.
- krisoft 4mo ago
  Have you considered that maybe your sewing machine is faulty in some way? Either the model or the particular instance of it. I’m also a complete sewing machine noob. We have a sewing machine at our hackspace, someone gave me a minute long tutorial and I had zero trouble with it afterwards. I think the whole “tutorial” was just: follow the arrows when threading it, don’t push down the pedal when your finger is under the needle. And it just worked as it should. Maybe i just got lucky! But my experience was so different from yours that it made me think that maybe your sewing machine is either bad quality or has some hidden defect.
- bregma 4mo ago
  It depends. We have a few sewing machines that are finicky. Tension goes off rapidly, binds a lot, lint buildup constantly has to be cleaned, clunks mysteriously sometimes. We also have a Singer manufactured in 1899 that just does what it's supposed to reliably (and you can still get parts for it!). Now mind you, it doesn't do fancy stitches or buttonholing or anything but straight stitching and a basic zigzag and you do have to keep the treadle properly lubricated but it even works during a power failure. Sewing machines, like stand mixers and vacuum cleaners, in the end are power tools as much as radial arm saws, hammer drills, and routers are. It's great to have all the fancy features, but sometimes lowest tech is the best.
- stevenwoo 4mo ago
  The sewing machine stays in that library so I’m going to make the assumption they have a bit of in house expertise for advice and counsel - they have a photo of the anecdote in question and it’s only a starting point on how Finland is trying to use libraries to promote society and democracy by providing tools and spaces and opportunities - you might be focusing too much on minutiae - one of the librarians speaks about the ways they work to increase library use. There’s a short contrast with the USA and UK closing libraries in recent years and one of the librarians interviewed moved to Finland from the UK - that may also be a reason the BBC went with this story.
- mauvehaus 4mo ago
  Virtually every user-serviceable problem can be solved by one of the following: Reading the fine manual and making sure the machine is threaded correctly. Replacing the needle. Adjusting the tension, starting with getting the bobbin tension grossly correct, then balancing it with the top tension. <- This is not hard; it's just that most people haven't been taught[0]. Removing the accumulated lint from the bobbin driver and feed dogs. Lubricating the machine. If none of those work, have it serviced. If the service person tells you the machine is crap, go to a thrift shop and buy a Singer 66, 99, 15 or equivalent Japanese clone for $25-$100. For a little more money, you can get a 201. A Featherweight is a joy to use and takes up no space in storage, but is much costlier than any of the above options. Don't buy a slant shank machine (400 or 500 series); that was an evolutionary dead-end. If you absolutely need a machine that zigzags, ask the service person what they recommend. [0] This is applicable to Singer class 15 machines and their clones, but the general principles apply to any lockstitch machine: https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/manuals/ha-1-ib-wgh-instruction-manual.pdf https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/manuals/ha-... If you have a transverse shuttle (you almost certainly don't) or a vibrating shuttle (you probably don't), you may need to look up information specific to your machine.
felooboolooomba 4mo ago
If you went into programming because you like making things, odds are high you'll like sewing too. Speaking from experience.
- ranger207 4mo ago
  What kind of stuff do you make sewing? About the only think I've ever wanted to sew was a new pocket on a jacket
  - galleywest200 4mo ago
    Throw pillows out of old t-shirts.
  - analog31 4mo ago
    My family has one. I'm not sure we'd get one if we didn't already have it. With that said, I've repaired clothing, backpacks, and a fairly expensive musical instrument case. For the latter repairs, I broke a few needles, and had to work the mechanism by hand, a stitch at a time, because the motor wasn't strong enough, but it got the job done. As for making things, curtains. They're not hard because they're rectangular, and mainly just need cutting and hemming, but the result is sizes and materials that would require buying something custom made.
  - Cerium 4mo ago
    Camping gear, hammocks, bags, any small change or repair. Strap breaks on a backpack, fix it. Pocket rips, fix it.
  - probably_wrong 4mo ago
    I started sewing because I wanted to make a Guybrush Threepwood costume for Halloween. I'm currently making a bag and the next items in the pipeline are a couple summer shirts and a custom cover for a camera lens I have. I also brought my sewing machine to a kid's birthday party to make small plushies with the kids. I've also repaired a non-insignificant number of clothes from friends and family. I know I used to roll my eyes when people used terms like "upcycling", but I have to say that I've come around since.
erelong 4mo ago
there's things like "tool libraries" and it might be good to see more lending beyond books; some of the libraries I've seen have morphed more into like makerspaces and/or meeting spaces rather than just places to get books
- queenkjuul 4mo ago
  Tool libraries rock, i think this model could work really well for lots of things especially in big cities. I am blessed with a huge apartment but even i have to make decisions about what tools to keep around given the space. Yeah i could buy something from harbor freight and use it once and donate to the thrift store, but how much better if my neighbors and i could just share a big collection of stuff we all might need once every year or two
  - justinclift 4mo ago
    There's at least one in Melbourne, Australia (near the CBD) too: https://www.brunswicktoollibrary.org https://www.brunswicktoollibrary.org
iberator 4mo ago
Sewing machines are great for computer people: you can train your fashion sense and motor skills(!) - most 'nerds' lack it :) Also it's an incredible women magnet :)
- nntwozz 4mo ago
  Hey baby, wanna see my sewing machine? I can add a gusset anywhere you want.
  - kaikai 4mo ago
    Forget about gussets, I can offer pockets
    - tim-tday 4mo ago
      Ha. Give a lady something she really wants and you’re in.
      - a96 4mo ago
        Cheese?
ElijahLynn 4mo ago
My local library which is part of the Washington county Library system (next to Portland). It's where Hillsboro is, which is where Intel's manufacturing is, also called Silicon Forest, has a Library Of Things! I've checked out a KitchenAid stand mixer, synthesizer, guitar, stud finder, drum machine, ukulele, air quality detector, and many more things. They also have a sewing machine and a. Vitamix. It's amazing! I love being able to check out new things from our library! I think there's an effort towards tool checkout as well in the future! There's a tool library in a couple cities east of us as well that I keep hearing about! PDX has it going on!!!
- retired_account 4mo ago
  The Washington County library system is excellent; I love that one card will get you access to the entire area.
  - rfarley04 4mo ago
    That's my library system too! I go to tualatin and it has a dedicated room for their makerlab and have classes every day for all kinds of stuff. Whenever I go in its pretty well attended.
- erikschoster 4mo ago
  Our little town in Minnesota has some of these too (https://winona.lib.mn.us/library-of-things/ https://winona.lib.mn.us/library-of-things/) it's really cool! There's also a new maker space getting set up now which will have a tool library open to the community.
- xattt 4mo ago
  Libraries of Things are a thing now. The items that are most useful are those that lend things that you use from once a year to every couple of years. My local library (PEI Library Service) has a telescope, radon detector, a basic (and I mean basic) toolkit, some gardening tools among other things. The collection has a couple of surprises, but mostly underwhelming. I did request something more practical, like a bicycle disc brake flushing kit, but this has not happened yet.
Plasmoid 4mo ago
My local library has been running a tool lender library for quite a while. It's quite popular as it rents out both manual and electric tools. This is great when you need an extension ladder but don't want to own an extension ladder.
bobbytheblkbear 4mo ago
This only works in a high-trust society.
- UtopiaPunk 4mo ago
  I think society only works in a high trust society. Well, maybe something exists functionally in low trust society, but it sounds miserable.
  - imthias404 4mo ago
    your username is fitting.
  - monssooon 4mo ago
    There are also surveillance societies with social scores so when you break the sewing machine you lose points and cannot get to borrow it again
redwood 4mo ago
Berkeley had a very cool tool lending library
- dredmorbius 4mo ago
  "Had"?
  - ihaveajob 4mo ago
    Has. I can confirm.
Telaneo 4mo ago
I really wish my local libraries would offer things like this. I do own a sewing machine, and even if I didn't, I could probably call on a friend if I did need one, but there are several other categories of things this doesn't apply as much too: gardening tools, ladders, skis, a wheelbarrow. If I could just pop in a library and come back when I'm done, that'd be really convenient. I can borrow CDs, DVDs, records, sheet music, games, but those were probably a pretty logical continuation of lending out books, so the jump to random items is probably one that needs justification to the people higher up the chain. Hopefully this will serve as a good example.
- queenkjuul 4mo ago
  There are some tool libraries where i live specifically for big or expensive stuff like ladders, power saws, etc; stuff most people need once every few years but don't want to keep in their apartment
Telemakhos 4mo ago
Why do the pictures with this article feel so weird? Like, the first one is of a guy in Finland reading a book with an English title while standing in front of a shelf full of books with English titles.
- wzdd 4mo ago
  Oodi is at least equally community / maker space and library, very distinctively and attractively designed, quite new, and in the middle of Helsinki, so there are a lot of non Finnish speakers visiting so there is a large English section.
- f4k3Ng4y 4mo ago
  Manufactured reality
  - queenkjuul 4mo ago
    70% of Finns speak English
- bcraven 4mo ago
  Would you prefer it on a Finnish webpage? https://oodihelsinki.fi/mita-oodilaiset-lukevat-syyskuussa/ala-architects-20181120-helsinki-central-library-oodi-9/ https://oodihelsinki.fi/mita-oodilaiset-lukevat-syyskuussa/a...
- antupis 4mo ago
  There is lots of English/Swedish books in average Finnish library.
yakkomajuri 4mo ago
Finnish libraries are fantastic. Many had free-to-use 3D printers as far back as 2012! Libraries are a place of possibilities and fun, and it makes people want to be there. You can imagine the long-term positive impact this has.
- netsharc 4mo ago
  The Deichman Library in Bjørvika, Oslo, Norway (they named their public library after a businessman/book collector who donated his books to the city) is basically a hangout space: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT1xI7SSdLo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT1xI7SSdLo
whycombinetor 4mo ago
Denver has this... nominally. 3 machines (2 in circulation, one is a "Display"). 4 week checkout period. 103 current holds. 103*4/2/12 ≈ 17 year wait time.
- dhosek 4mo ago
  That theoretical wait time doesn’t usually end up being so long. Between borrowers returning things early, people on the wait list giving up and most importantly, the library deciding that the current inventory is insufficient, the wait times usually are much less than that (I’ve observed this with books and other materials at my local library and the wait on in-demand times is never as long as the queue would imply).
  - bombcar 4mo ago
    Books yes, DVDs yes. But we can check out a Netflix Roku, and the wait time really is what it says on the tin + a bit more; which works out to about once a year, which is about what we need ...
    - dhosek 4mo ago
      Hmm, my library had a T-Mobile wireless hotspot available and the wait time on the hold was less than what was expected. It ended up being rather fortuitous as the first half of 2020 corresponded to the beginnings of the dissolution of my marriage and I spent that time living in a mostly unfurnished house with no internet and I got the hotspot just before everything shut down in March and it enabled me to have internet for a couple months while the library was closed.
- wafflemaker 4mo ago
  In the equation there seems to be a typo; 103 - number of ppl in queue, 4 - up to X weeks per person, 2 - number of machines 12 - ?? Maybe you initially wanted to use full months for how long a person can hold an item, but then switched to weeks, and accidently still used number of months to get the number of years? Anyway, for an imprecise number, you can do with months - 104*1/2/12 ~4.3y. For more precise result, use seconds, as that's the unit used for the precise length of the year. Year is not 365 days. It's actually longer, quoting Wikipedia for (tropical) year, > Approximately 365 solar days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45 seconds That gives 104 * (4 * 7 * 24 * 60 * 60) /2 /(((365 * 24 + 5) * 60 + 48) * 60 + 45) Which results in 3.986 years. At maximum. Much less than 17! Edit: getting asterikses * right
cuvinny 4mo ago
My library has something similar. Sewing and embroidering machines, 3D printers and even a CNC machine. Most are free to use as long as you bring the material, the only one that I can remember having a cost is the laser cutter but even then it was under 10 bucks an hour. They have a bunch of other things like being able to check out a pass the the state parks and some museum passes. This is the Charleston County library system.
- random__duck 4mo ago
  That sounds so cool, are they building an entire fablab in there?
  - cuvinny 4mo ago
    Yea, they built a new library near me a couple years ago and have a full makers space in a separate large room. I guess "check out" is the wrong term as you can't take the machines home. You just go there and use them or have the trained librarian operate the machine.
- EvanAnderson 4mo ago
  The Greene County Ohio Public Library (Xenia, OH) did something like this a few years ago and other libraries in the area (Dayton Metro and Troy-Miami County) started similar spaces, too. They all have a similar array of machines-- CNC, 3D printing, dye sub printing, laser engravers, vinyl cutters, sewing and embroidery, video and photo editing, etc. It's amazing to me that within a five year timespan all of this became available to anybody in the community for the cost of materials.
Havoc 4mo ago
> 55% of Finns visit libraries at least once a month. Wait what? That seems insanely high even for a progressive society. As a reference point UK is at 30% on YEARLY STATS NOT MONTHLY >In England, 30% of adults aged 16 and over used a public library service at least once in the previous 12 months.
- deanc 4mo ago
  I live in Finland and even I am sceptical of this figure. Maybe that’s because I go once a year. I will say it’s very very common for folks to use the library for its primary purpose of renting books - which of course requires a visit twice in a month - once to collect and once to return.
  - fragmede 4mo ago
    On the return trip, you collect another set of books, making it a habit.
  - fragmede 4mo ago
    On the return trip, you collect another set of books, which you then also have to return in two weeks.
- timonoko 4mo ago
  The report is deliberately misleading by the red-green government. If you read between the lines it is a poll among the library visitors.
- stevekemp 4mo ago
  I moved to Finland, and starting when my child was about three years old I took him to Oodi every weekend. The soft-play area was heaven for him, and he liked flicking through the donald-duck comic books. Even now, when he's nine, I go every month or two with him for an afternoon. He has no shortage of books at home, but he gets to run around, look at books, and play with other kids. He enjoys himself enormously.
  - 4mo ago
JackLau 4mo ago
Iowa has this too, the Des Moines Public Library has a Library of Things with over 50 items.
jameszol 4mo ago
I’m trying to privately build a public library in a rural Idaho community. Borrowing sewing machines has been a popular request, as soon as we have space for them. It’s exciting to see that it’s a worldwide desire and not just a rural trend. Very cool to read about how Finland is doubling down on investing in libraries and skill building tools like sewing machines!
- WaitWaitWha 4mo ago
  How are you going about this? Asking because I thought about doing something similar (e.g., Makerspaces, hackerspaces, Fab Labs).
  - jameszol 4mo ago
    Luckily a few others here in Idaho have done it by way of a Friends of the Library official non-profit 501(c)(3), so I have a model to follow that works in our region and for our rural conservative conditions. The standard non-profit benefits apply: we apply for a lot of grants, we set up endowments, accept land or stock as gifts, take on capital projects like building a library. The public library can then lease from us (probably for $0) or if we put a large enough endowment fund together we would very much consider taking it all private vs just a purpose built building for the library.
p1dda 4mo ago
Socialist wet dream. In reality someone has to pay for all these adults wasting time instead of working for a living.
- tim-tday 4mo ago
  I know this is supposed to be sarcastic, but This is actually a great framing for why we should love our libraries. They’re decidedly NOT productive to business. They’re yours as a person. They’re your time, your leisure, your enrichment. I suppose they’re productive to business in the long run because the create more thoughtful and effective people so maybe they’re not all good. Still, a good reason to lean into them.
- queenkjuul 4mo ago
  Hilarious. Tool libraries exist and are quite successful here in capitalist US of A (and, apparently, in capitalist Finland. You didn't think they were communists or something, did you?)
- monssooon 4mo ago
  It may lead to less demand for things like sewing machines which in turn may lead to less competition to less productivity, the producers innovating less, less GDP less happy people... Where have we seen this type of thinking before... In socialist States... I agree... But how do we create supply and demand? Letting China produce cheaply and open our boarders for a couple of decades, maybe... Maybe we are in a doom loop where we need a poorer generation or two before people turn around... It is interesting times. The most interesting is how people view the same things completely opposite. Some are super happy about the trend others super frustrated... Imho it is a part of the great reset and the big debt cycle. Maybe an attempt to soften the blow?!
akouri 4mo ago
Libraries around me have just become a homeless shelter. Pretty sad because the buildings themselves are actually quite nice and I'd use them often if it weren't for the high likelihood of being harassed.
- ctdinjeu9 4mo ago
  [dead]
- TurdF3rguson 4mo ago
  You mean being asked for spare change makes you avoid that library? Why not just give them your change?
  - ghaff 4mo ago
    I don't have any change on me.
    - queenkjuul 4mo ago
      Do what I do: kindly tell them you have no change. Works for me every time
      - onetokeoverthe 4mo ago
        [dead]
      - IshKebab 4mo ago
        It's still annoying though.
        queenkjuul 4mo ago
        Boohoo
    - trick-or-treat 4mo ago
      Just say that then. Or give them a dollar.
queenkjuul 4mo ago
I always wanted to start a musical instrument library. I loved working in a music store, helping people pick out the right instruments for what they're trying to accomplish, but always constrained by their budget. We had a per-semester rental program for school band students, where we'd take a deposit and rental fees but we'd handle the maintenance and families could save a ton versus buying. Something similar where like, you want to loan out a particular amp or pedal or synth or cymbal or something to go record a record for a week, the library would be there to help you access gear you couldn't normally afford, and I'd be there to keep everything working and help you find the right tool for the job. Maybe someday.
- bzzzt 4mo ago
  I think musical instruments, especially digital ones like synthesizers or effects but also guitars and other acoustic instruments, have become a lot more affordable the last decade without severely impacting quality. You don't really need the expensive stuff anymore when you can record a quality recording with a second hand iPad and a below $100 microphone. Rental of expensive stuff will always be expensive too due to insurance, maintenance and fraud. It's not really helping to make stuff more accessible, more a convenience for the pro's that need stuff for a gig.
  - queenkjuul 4mo ago
    There's still a lot of crap cheap guitars out there, and some truly dreadful cheap amps
    - bzzzt 4mo ago
      There will always be crap sold to people who want a cheap gift or decorative item. But once you shop just a bit above the bottom price there are a surprising amount of decent instruments to be found.
      - queenkjuul 4mo ago
        I ran a music store dude i know what I'm talking about
LPisGood 4mo ago
My very small town growing up had sewing machines and they eventually even got a 3D printer. In high school I sewed a heart shaped pillow for a valentines day present; the library provided a bin of free fabric/stuffing as well as the machine. Libraries are awesome.
nicechianti 4mo ago
[dead]
karunamurti 4mo ago
In Japan there's a karaoke chain that rents sewing machine.
trueno 4mo ago
i love the one HN thread title a day that hits whatever this mark is. i love this lmao
- buildsjets 4mo ago
  Too bad the title got censored.
YeahThisIsMe 4mo ago
Noo, don't tell the major VC website about libraries.
timonoko 4mo ago
[flagged]
white_tiger 4mo ago
cool
deleted 4mo ago
[deleted]
stein1946 4mo ago
I am not sure I like the direction the modern libraries are taking. Libraries should be places where people pickup books and read them, that's it. They should not be community centers, DYI hobby centers, convention/exhibition places. I feel they have been co-opted by people who have no interest in knowledge acquisition.
- badlibrarian 4mo ago
  Andrew Carnegie funded 2,500+ public libraries and many were built with lecture halls, auditoriums, and meeting rooms on purpose. The public library was a civic institution from day one.
- eks391 4mo ago
  Libraries might not be a business but they still have to compete for funding. If those funding them think they are no longer relevant, the alternative is to slowly lose funding and die. People don't care about books anymore, so if the library must dangle an enticement to keep people engaged enough to retain the instilled indeed that knowledge should be freely available instead of siloed (and the other benefits of libraries), so be it. Adapt or die is the way of life.
- raegis 4mo ago
  Libraries have been renting non-books for a long time. Different communities have different needs. It's not a big deal. Some libraries in the Los Angeles area lend sewing machines, bike tools, and other useful stuff. The main branch library has 3d printers and other tech stuff ordinary folks can't afford. And of course, they have various workshops on numerous topics for adults and children. Given all the stuff I've taken advantage of, if the libraries here were only for borrowing books, they would seem kind of useless. And this is from someone who has the max 30 books checked out right now.
  - john-tells-all 4mo ago
    The Los Angles Public Library lends an amazing variety of tools -- https://lacountylibrary.org/tools/ https://lacountylibrary.org/tools/ - glue gun - Crikut cutter - pots and pans - tape measure - bike repair kit - bolt cutters - musical instruments <3
fnord77 4mo ago
South SF library has sewing machines SFPL used to have tools until it got ruined.
panchtatvam 4mo ago
That's one way to convert a library from home of books to home of everything non-bookish. No way the society is growing dumber day by day.
- a96 4mo ago
  It's not books or things. It's (>90%) books and little bits of many kinds of other things.
darkvertex 4mo ago
The main library here in Montreal has a sick makerspace with 3D printers (plastic and resin), wood CNC machines, a digital embroidery machine, button maker, shirt press, hole driller, laser cutter, vacuform and vinyl cutter: https://square.banq.qc.ca/fablab https://square.banq.qc.ca/fablab It's a pretty dope library. They also let you borrow movies, videogames for all consoles and even board games, vinyl records and a few music instruments.
ggandhi 4mo ago
I signed my daughter up for a library card when she was two. She can't read yet. I believed you can't teach a child to love libraries. You keep taking them, and let the room do the rest. That room do wonders and it did that to me and I am sure will do that to her too.
- a96 4mo ago
  A relative used to drive the library bus where I grew up in. Getting a library card must be one of my earliest memories. Along with learning the alphabet and skiing.
mongol 4mo ago
I am not very fond of this idea. I think libraries are for books, or possibly media. I can see the utility but I think it distracts from the actual purpose.
- MikeTheGreat 4mo ago
  I used to think this way too. When I was growing up, libraries were for books. And that one room where they had periodicals (magazines, newspapers, and such) but you had to read those there in that room. And encyclopedias, for kids to use for their research reports. And a story hour for kids (and, let's face it, for the parents). And that one computer in the back that had Oregon Trail and Summer Olympic Games on it. But mostly I remembered the books, and that's what I felt like libraries should be about. Now I feel like a library's purpose is to support it's community. Mostly they lend books because that's what they're known for and they're very good at it. They're expanding into eBooks because that's another big thing people read today. And music CDs and DVDs which is very similar to lending books, and people like those. Expanding out to lending things is a bit of a mind-bender for me too, but I think it's in line with what libraries have always done - help the community.
  - arghnoname 4mo ago
    I'm torn on this. Often I feel like the parent, but I recognize maybe I'm being stubborn. You say libraries purpose is to help the community. If that's true, what you're saying makes sense. On the other hand, if their purpose is to promote literacy and reading, well, this is off mission. I think of the former mission as more being a community center. My mother loves this form and spends a lot of time at her local library. I'm a curmudgeon and an intellectual snob apparently. I don't even like them having popular books, but I'm trying to be less rigid and more honest here and admit that some scope creep is probably healthy and the question is just where you draw the line.
- RetroTechie 4mo ago
  > but I think it distracts from the actual purpose. The purpose of a library is what it does. They used to lend books, to promote literacy & education. For youngsters to explore fields of knowledge & discover what they're interested in. Offer a selection of newspapers & magazines nobody can afford on their own. Fablabs, places for students to work on their laptop, workshops etc fit right into this. But the community center aspect has always been a thing. These days that might be extended in hosting a repair cafe, puzzles / board games, whatever that local community regards worthwhile. If you think that's a no-go, maybe public libraries aren't for you. Or just stick to the book area.
MomsAVoxell 4mo ago
I remember a day, long, long ago in a dusty, lonely outback Australian town, when Mum would send me down to the library on a Saturday morning to loan the iron, a kettle, and the last weeks’ papers, which she’d return on the very early Monday morning after putting me off on the .. two hour .. bus ride to school. Now I’m sitting in a room full of hard core technology, wondering if I shouldn’t talk to my local technical museum about setting up an 8-bit lending library with a catalog of fully operational machines ..
infl8ed 4mo ago
My local library has a few interesting things like this including a podcast kit (i.e. professional microphones and mixers) you can book in conjunction with a room booking and also a thermal imaging camera you can check out to "identify energy efficiency in the home by finding gaps in insulation, comparing the performance of different walls and rooms in the home, finding air leaks and identifying water leaks or damp issues". I approve wholeheartedly of these and similar initiatives.
monssooon 4mo ago
Ida Aukens prophecy has already come true. They own nothing and are happy about it...
- probably_wrong 4mo ago
  You are being unfair to the spirit of the original quote. Yes, the quote is naive in expecting a world where those who own share with those who rent without nefarious motives. But sharing, particularly in this context when profit is out of the equation, is a great idea. I don't have the money nor space for my own 3D printer, but thanks to my local library I own objectively more 3D printed stuff than I would without them.
  - monssooon 4mo ago
    Its a paper, much more than a quote
- emswift 4mo ago
  What? I’d love to be able to borrow a sewing machine, tools, etc. I live in a small flat and I don’t need permanent ownership of those things. They spend 99.5% of the time sat taking up space. What good is that? For a lot of machines it’s not good to leave them idle, or sat in a shed collecting mould and rust.
  - monssooon 4mo ago
    It is exactly what the WeF meant too. The opposite world is one where we can own what we want at any point in time, kinda like in the past. They say that is unsustainabl... I just disagree-I think it would be great if each generation would be better of than the last.. You are happy in your tiny flat not owning that much... I'm not disputing that. I just say that is what the wef predicted would happen. That is all. I'm glad you at happy like that... If you continue reading Idas Aukens prophecy, she goes on to talk about a society outside of the happy own-nothing-living where people live a different life... I just hope there will be room for both.
akho 4mo ago
I'm sorry, but that's not a library. It is useful, but calling these centers "libraries" just accelerates the death of actual libraries, and distracts from copyright reform.
- TFNA 4mo ago
  Finnish libraries still have books (and other media) and a very efficient system of moving them around the country to anywhere people want to borrow them.
- deleted 4mo ago
  [deleted]
zajio1am 4mo ago
Tool rental is a service that is commonly provided by private sector. I do not see a reason why this should be provided by a government. This seems like unfair competition to e.g. community hackerspaces.
- brap 4mo ago
  Agree, and I also don’t see why government should be involved in book rental. Why books and not say, car rental? What about jetski rental? (If the argument is that subsidizing books helps the poor, I’m all for it, a nonprofit or a charity would be a much better framework) This is the public sector M.O, instead of admitting something is obsolete they grab more scope and funding. My local post office now sells iPhones. And why shouldn’t they? Nobody stopped them when they just sold SIM cards, and then cases and chargers. It’s like a law of nature.
  - IshKebab 4mo ago
    Because being able to read book is good for society. > a nonprofit or a charity would be a much better framework Why? I do agree that libraries (in the UK at least) have mostly failed to see the writing on the wall and diversify. I used to live near a library that was on the edge of a super popular park. They had a "give us improvement suggestions" thing and I spoke to them about taking advantage of the park - it would have been a prime spot to open a cafe attached to the library. They actually couldn't comprehend that idea. Like, that's not what libraries are.
  - zajio1am 4mo ago
    At least in EU, private book/media rental is not legal without special licensing from copyright holders, while public libraries have exception for this.
    - ghaff 4mo ago
      In the US, there's not much demand for media rental any longer (RIP Blockbuster)--which has been largely replaced by licenced media streaming--but there are certainly private libraries of various types.
MagicMoonlight 4mo ago
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jvvw 4mo ago
It's a bit weird to see the BBC reporting on this happening in Finland, when plenty of 'Libraries of Things' exist in the UK! I think they tend to be run as community efforts rather than by public libraries. though.
- daveoc64 4mo ago
  The BBC Future website is not aimed at users in the UK, and features content produced by the BBC's commercial arm. Users in the UK can read it without ads, but it's not generally promoted or linked to by bbc.co.uk
  - jvvw 4mo ago
    Ah that makes more sense then!
nekusar 4mo ago
While in the USA, republicans are threatening funding of public libraries cause LGBTQ books are in there! GASP, SHOCKER! This article is also directly related to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48596911 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48596911 "The room the economy can’t see" Capitalists won't willingly fund 3rd spaces without a demonstrable profit. So they're at the behest of public funding (read: government). And when the new ruling party gets in, they can demand their bullshit on threat of funding or be shut down.
mkovach 4mo ago
My local library doesn't have a sewing machine, but it does lend out projectors, game consoles, a telescope, musical instruments, and bicycles. You can even check out a banjo, which seems like the sort of decision that says a great deal about a community's acceptance and tolerance. Electronics: https://alpl.org/equipment/ https://alpl.org/equipment/ Instruments: https://alpl.org/musical-instruments/ https://alpl.org/musical-instruments/ Bikes: https://alpl.org/borrow-a-bike/ https://alpl.org/borrow-a-bike/
xtiansimon 4mo ago
The Olive Free Library in the Catskills, NY will lend a fishing pole. (The Catskills is considered the birthplace of “American” Fly Fishing traditions).
utopiah 4mo ago
It's such an absolutely weird tension... The libraries in Belgium at least are absolutely amazing! They are filled with : - books (obviously) beautifully curated - comics - magazines - sometimes even audiobooks in the form of CDs - sometimes also events with authors on absolutely important topics like ... what it means to be human and they are also - basically free (few Euros per year, at most, and if you cannot pay) - staffed with people who absolutely love the mission ... and empty. It's totally nuts. They are basically full of top materials with dedicated staff, but nobody goes there. We even have toy libraries and... it's the same. Sure during some moments of the week it's relatively busy but mostly empty. Meanwhile we can order online any book or toy or video games for very little money... but also we don't use them for very long. It's a very strange tension that we somehow manage to setup a very inclusive infrastructure for knowledge in few centuries, or arguably decades, yet in few years we totally cancelled ALL that effort. Now libraries are looking for events because nobody "needs" content anymore.
- userbinator 4mo ago
  The fact that libraries are not full of people doesn't negate their function. A hard drive doesn't need to be continually read and written to serve its purpose either.
  - utopiah 4mo ago
    > The fact that libraries are not full of people doesn't negate their function. Is this what I said or even implied?
    - userbinator 4mo ago
      but nobody goes there. Yes. You're implying libraries need to be full of people reading books all the time, when their main purpose is to store them.
      - utopiah 4mo ago
        Ah I see, then indeed we disagree about the point of a library. You see it as storage, I see it as a place for object, I see it as a place for people to meet, with the "excuse" o objects or via objects (e.g. books).
shamadev 4mo ago
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_DeadFred_ 4mo ago
My local library had a heritage seed bank. More of an exchange I guess where people donated their heritage seeds but it seemed pretty cool. Will try my hand next year. Would be cool to get inter-library exchanges going.
NishanStepak 4mo ago
For me it is just media. No things.
laughing_man 4mo ago
I would love to have a place I could rent that kind of stuff. There are a lot of hobbies I'd like to explore, but I don't want to shell out hundreds of dollars for equipment I'll never use again if I decide it's not for me.
rahimnathwani 4mo ago
Finland's investment reflects this commitment: in 2025, the country spent nearly €371m ($430m/£321m) on its public libraries – that's €65.78 ($76/£57) per person, compared to the average £10 ($13.5) per person spent in the UK, and a total public library expenditure of $15.2bn (£11.4bn ), or $45 (£34) per person in the US. Are those numbers correct? In San Francisco, the 2025 public library budget was over $240 per resident per year.
raveren 4mo ago
FWIW this is somewhat happening in Lithuania as well. Two biggest libraries in the tiny country stock fablabs, recording studios etc.
marysol5 4mo ago
cries in Great Britain Lucky to even find an open library with books now.
NuclearPM 4mo ago
I bought a sewing machine a few years ago. I felt really dumb having to spend (many) hours trying to set up the bobbin/thread.

349 points by sohkamyung 4mo ago

One of the libraries near me has kayaks for loan as well as picking up the slack when all of the funding for after school programs was slashed. The value of third spaces is slowly creeping back into the public mindspace, but not enough.

delichon 4mo ago

I'd argue that sewing machines are among the most complex, high skill items found in a typical home, above the laptop and car. I find it very hard to keep mine operational. I struggle with it a lot more than I sew with it. They require fine motor skills and scads of parts and supplies. If you plan to rent them, plan for a repair staff or frequent replacements. Compared to a book, a sewing machine is a space ship, and you should see what people can do to a book. To be sustainable it needs a replacement value deposit, which isn't easy for someone who can't afford an entry level model.

calvinmorrison 4mo ago
Yes and no. I can stitch. I regularly do adjust clothes. I am a bad amateur. It's crazy what my neighbor does (She has a industrial sewing machine) and does piece finish work. It's a real skill. However, I highly recommend everyone get and learn how to perform basic stitches because hand stitching is a lot hard to get a good quality stitch out of, especially for doing things like repairs in areas that wear.
criddell 4mo ago
I bought a sewing machine a five years ago and I haven’t had to do any maintenance or repairs to it. What kinds of things are breaking on your machine?
- delichon 4mo ago
  I only use it a couple of times per year, and simply threading it is a genuine challenge for me. So is keeping a stich running. People who sew more or have good fine motor skill may just not remember the noob experience. I expect a lot of new renters to have a learning curve to climb.
  - jessewmc 4mo ago
    it helps to have a good sewing machine - the difference between a poor quality one and e.g. a nice bernina is dramatic. even an old one thats been well maintained will give you many years of reliable use with minimal maintenance, and they're very affordable used
    - danielheath 4mo ago
      > even an old one My overlocker was made in West Germany (when that was a country), and is still going strong. Threading was a bit tricky the first few times, but the manual is really exceptionally well written.
  - yw3410 4mo ago
    In the United Kingdom, we learn (maybe past tense, I've no idea if the curriculum has changed) how to use a sewing machine at secondary school.
    - deanc 4mo ago
      I’m almost 40 and educated in the UK. I don’t think sewing has been taught in UK schools for quite many generations now - although no idea what the state of affairs is today.
      - stevekemp 4mo ago
        It might be you need to make a choice to choose it; I know that when I was at school in the UK I got to choose between "CDT" (craft, design, and technology) or home economics, which was sewing, cooking, & etc. I picked woodwork, as 95% of the boys did, and about 80% of the girls picked the home-lessons instead. I do recall doing some sewing lessons outwith the home-ec classes, but it was very irregular. I know I skipped some stuff because my grandmother had already taught me to knit when I was six-eight years old. Only at home did I use a sewing machine, never at school.
felooboolooomba 4mo ago
Opposite experience. I studied mine extensively when I got it. I rarely have problems. But it's definitely a mechanical wonder.
teaearlgraycold 4mo ago
You have confused high maintenance with complex. Not to belittle sewing machines, which are very cool and not exactly simple.
deleted 4mo ago
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markdown 4mo ago
Get yourself an old Singer. They're the Toyota of sewing machines.
AngryData 4mo ago
Sewing machines are complex, but ive had experiences both ways with them. One model I had endless troubles with both getting to run and keep running well, but then ive had others that are seemingly bulletproof. At my family's cabin my great-grandmother had a foot powered one that to this day works flawlessly and has never seen any maintenance or repairs ive ever seen and she use to make tons of quilts on it. I don't use it much these days but I do squirt a bit of oil on it every few years and make sure it is still working.
krisoft 4mo ago
Have you considered that maybe your sewing machine is faulty in some way? Either the model or the particular instance of it. I’m also a complete sewing machine noob. We have a sewing machine at our hackspace, someone gave me a minute long tutorial and I had zero trouble with it afterwards. I think the whole “tutorial” was just: follow the arrows when threading it, don’t push down the pedal when your finger is under the needle. And it just worked as it should. Maybe i just got lucky! But my experience was so different from yours that it made me think that maybe your sewing machine is either bad quality or has some hidden defect.
bregma 4mo ago
It depends. We have a few sewing machines that are finicky. Tension goes off rapidly, binds a lot, lint buildup constantly has to be cleaned, clunks mysteriously sometimes. We also have a Singer manufactured in 1899 that just does what it's supposed to reliably (and you can still get parts for it!). Now mind you, it doesn't do fancy stitches or buttonholing or anything but straight stitching and a basic zigzag and you do have to keep the treadle properly lubricated but it even works during a power failure. Sewing machines, like stand mixers and vacuum cleaners, in the end are power tools as much as radial arm saws, hammer drills, and routers are. It's great to have all the fancy features, but sometimes lowest tech is the best.
stevenwoo 4mo ago
The sewing machine stays in that library so I’m going to make the assumption they have a bit of in house expertise for advice and counsel - they have a photo of the anecdote in question and it’s only a starting point on how Finland is trying to use libraries to promote society and democracy by providing tools and spaces and opportunities - you might be focusing too much on minutiae - one of the librarians speaks about the ways they work to increase library use. There’s a short contrast with the USA and UK closing libraries in recent years and one of the librarians interviewed moved to Finland from the UK - that may also be a reason the BBC went with this story.
mauvehaus 4mo ago
Virtually every user-serviceable problem can be solved by one of the following: Reading the fine manual and making sure the machine is threaded correctly. Replacing the needle. Adjusting the tension, starting with getting the bobbin tension grossly correct, then balancing it with the top tension. <- This is not hard; it's just that most people haven't been taught[0]. Removing the accumulated lint from the bobbin driver and feed dogs. Lubricating the machine. If none of those work, have it serviced. If the service person tells you the machine is crap, go to a thrift shop and buy a Singer 66, 99, 15 or equivalent Japanese clone for $25-$100. For a little more money, you can get a 201. A Featherweight is a joy to use and takes up no space in storage, but is much costlier than any of the above options. Don't buy a slant shank machine (400 or 500 series); that was an evolutionary dead-end. If you absolutely need a machine that zigzags, ask the service person what they recommend. [0] This is applicable to Singer class 15 machines and their clones, but the general principles apply to any lockstitch machine: https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/manuals/ha-1-ib-wgh-instruction-manual.pdf https://ismacs.net/singer_sewing_machine_company/manuals/ha-... If you have a transverse shuttle (you almost certainly don't) or a vibrating shuttle (you probably don't), you may need to look up information specific to your machine.

felooboolooomba 4mo ago

If you went into programming because you like making things, odds are high you'll like sewing too. Speaking from experience.

ranger207 4mo ago
What kind of stuff do you make sewing? About the only think I've ever wanted to sew was a new pocket on a jacket
- galleywest200 4mo ago
  Throw pillows out of old t-shirts.
- analog31 4mo ago
  My family has one. I'm not sure we'd get one if we didn't already have it. With that said, I've repaired clothing, backpacks, and a fairly expensive musical instrument case. For the latter repairs, I broke a few needles, and had to work the mechanism by hand, a stitch at a time, because the motor wasn't strong enough, but it got the job done. As for making things, curtains. They're not hard because they're rectangular, and mainly just need cutting and hemming, but the result is sizes and materials that would require buying something custom made.
- Cerium 4mo ago
  Camping gear, hammocks, bags, any small change or repair. Strap breaks on a backpack, fix it. Pocket rips, fix it.
- probably_wrong 4mo ago
  I started sewing because I wanted to make a Guybrush Threepwood costume for Halloween. I'm currently making a bag and the next items in the pipeline are a couple summer shirts and a custom cover for a camera lens I have. I also brought my sewing machine to a kid's birthday party to make small plushies with the kids. I've also repaired a non-insignificant number of clothes from friends and family. I know I used to roll my eyes when people used terms like "upcycling", but I have to say that I've come around since.

erelong 4mo ago

there's things like "tool libraries" and it might be good to see more lending beyond books; some of the libraries I've seen have morphed more into like makerspaces and/or meeting spaces rather than just places to get books

queenkjuul 4mo ago
Tool libraries rock, i think this model could work really well for lots of things especially in big cities. I am blessed with a huge apartment but even i have to make decisions about what tools to keep around given the space. Yeah i could buy something from harbor freight and use it once and donate to the thrift store, but how much better if my neighbors and i could just share a big collection of stuff we all might need once every year or two
- justinclift 4mo ago
  There's at least one in Melbourne, Australia (near the CBD) too: https://www.brunswicktoollibrary.org https://www.brunswicktoollibrary.org

iberator 4mo ago

Sewing machines are great for computer people: you can train your fashion sense and motor skills(!) - most 'nerds' lack it :) Also it's an incredible women magnet :)

nntwozz 4mo ago
Hey baby, wanna see my sewing machine? I can add a gusset anywhere you want.
- kaikai 4mo ago
  Forget about gussets, I can offer pockets
  - tim-tday 4mo ago
    Ha. Give a lady something she really wants and you’re in.
    - a96 4mo ago
      Cheese?

ElijahLynn 4mo ago

My local library which is part of the Washington county Library system (next to Portland). It's where Hillsboro is, which is where Intel's manufacturing is, also called Silicon Forest, has a Library Of Things! I've checked out a KitchenAid stand mixer, synthesizer, guitar, stud finder, drum machine, ukulele, air quality detector, and many more things. They also have a sewing machine and a. Vitamix. It's amazing! I love being able to check out new things from our library! I think there's an effort towards tool checkout as well in the future! There's a tool library in a couple cities east of us as well that I keep hearing about! PDX has it going on!!!

retired_account 4mo ago
The Washington County library system is excellent; I love that one card will get you access to the entire area.
- rfarley04 4mo ago
  That's my library system too! I go to tualatin and it has a dedicated room for their makerlab and have classes every day for all kinds of stuff. Whenever I go in its pretty well attended.
erikschoster 4mo ago
Our little town in Minnesota has some of these too (https://winona.lib.mn.us/library-of-things/ https://winona.lib.mn.us/library-of-things/) it's really cool! There's also a new maker space getting set up now which will have a tool library open to the community.
xattt 4mo ago
Libraries of Things are a thing now. The items that are most useful are those that lend things that you use from once a year to every couple of years. My local library (PEI Library Service) has a telescope, radon detector, a basic (and I mean basic) toolkit, some gardening tools among other things. The collection has a couple of surprises, but mostly underwhelming. I did request something more practical, like a bicycle disc brake flushing kit, but this has not happened yet.

Plasmoid 4mo ago

My local library has been running a tool lender library for quite a while. It's quite popular as it rents out both manual and electric tools. This is great when you need an extension ladder but don't want to own an extension ladder.

bobbytheblkbear 4mo ago

This only works in a high-trust society.

UtopiaPunk 4mo ago
I think society only works in a high trust society. Well, maybe something exists functionally in low trust society, but it sounds miserable.
- imthias404 4mo ago
  your username is fitting.
- monssooon 4mo ago
  There are also surveillance societies with social scores so when you break the sewing machine you lose points and cannot get to borrow it again

redwood 4mo ago

Berkeley had a very cool tool lending library

dredmorbius 4mo ago
"Had"?
- ihaveajob 4mo ago
  Has. I can confirm.

Telaneo 4mo ago

I really wish my local libraries would offer things like this. I do own a sewing machine, and even if I didn't, I could probably call on a friend if I did need one, but there are several other categories of things this doesn't apply as much too: gardening tools, ladders, skis, a wheelbarrow. If I could just pop in a library and come back when I'm done, that'd be really convenient. I can borrow CDs, DVDs, records, sheet music, games, but those were probably a pretty logical continuation of lending out books, so the jump to random items is probably one that needs justification to the people higher up the chain. Hopefully this will serve as a good example.

queenkjuul 4mo ago
There are some tool libraries where i live specifically for big or expensive stuff like ladders, power saws, etc; stuff most people need once every few years but don't want to keep in their apartment

Telemakhos 4mo ago

Why do the pictures with this article feel so weird? Like, the first one is of a guy in Finland reading a book with an English title while standing in front of a shelf full of books with English titles.

wzdd 4mo ago
Oodi is at least equally community / maker space and library, very distinctively and attractively designed, quite new, and in the middle of Helsinki, so there are a lot of non Finnish speakers visiting so there is a large English section.
f4k3Ng4y 4mo ago
Manufactured reality
- queenkjuul 4mo ago
  70% of Finns speak English
bcraven 4mo ago
Would you prefer it on a Finnish webpage? https://oodihelsinki.fi/mita-oodilaiset-lukevat-syyskuussa/ala-architects-20181120-helsinki-central-library-oodi-9/ https://oodihelsinki.fi/mita-oodilaiset-lukevat-syyskuussa/a...
antupis 4mo ago
There is lots of English/Swedish books in average Finnish library.

yakkomajuri 4mo ago

Finnish libraries are fantastic. Many had free-to-use 3D printers as far back as 2012! Libraries are a place of possibilities and fun, and it makes people want to be there. You can imagine the long-term positive impact this has.

netsharc 4mo ago
The Deichman Library in Bjørvika, Oslo, Norway (they named their public library after a businessman/book collector who donated his books to the city) is basically a hangout space: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT1xI7SSdLo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT1xI7SSdLo

whycombinetor 4mo ago

Denver has this... nominally. 3 machines (2 in circulation, one is a "Display"). 4 week checkout period. 103 current holds. 103*4/2/12 ≈ 17 year wait time.

dhosek 4mo ago
That theoretical wait time doesn’t usually end up being so long. Between borrowers returning things early, people on the wait list giving up and most importantly, the library deciding that the current inventory is insufficient, the wait times usually are much less than that (I’ve observed this with books and other materials at my local library and the wait on in-demand times is never as long as the queue would imply).
- bombcar 4mo ago
  Books yes, DVDs yes. But we can check out a Netflix Roku, and the wait time really is what it says on the tin + a bit more; which works out to about once a year, which is about what we need ...
  - dhosek 4mo ago
    Hmm, my library had a T-Mobile wireless hotspot available and the wait time on the hold was less than what was expected. It ended up being rather fortuitous as the first half of 2020 corresponded to the beginnings of the dissolution of my marriage and I spent that time living in a mostly unfurnished house with no internet and I got the hotspot just before everything shut down in March and it enabled me to have internet for a couple months while the library was closed.
wafflemaker 4mo ago
In the equation there seems to be a typo; 103 - number of ppl in queue, 4 - up to X weeks per person, 2 - number of machines 12 - ?? Maybe you initially wanted to use full months for how long a person can hold an item, but then switched to weeks, and accidently still used number of months to get the number of years? Anyway, for an imprecise number, you can do with months - 104*1/2/12 ~4.3y. For more precise result, use seconds, as that's the unit used for the precise length of the year. Year is not 365 days. It's actually longer, quoting Wikipedia for (tropical) year, > Approximately 365 solar days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45 seconds That gives 104 * (4 * 7 * 24 * 60 * 60) /2 /(((365 * 24 + 5) * 60 + 48) * 60 + 45) Which results in 3.986 years. At maximum. Much less than 17! Edit: getting asterikses * right

cuvinny 4mo ago

My library has something similar. Sewing and embroidering machines, 3D printers and even a CNC machine. Most are free to use as long as you bring the material, the only one that I can remember having a cost is the laser cutter but even then it was under 10 bucks an hour. They have a bunch of other things like being able to check out a pass the the state parks and some museum passes. This is the Charleston County library system.

random__duck 4mo ago
That sounds so cool, are they building an entire fablab in there?
- cuvinny 4mo ago
  Yea, they built a new library near me a couple years ago and have a full makers space in a separate large room. I guess "check out" is the wrong term as you can't take the machines home. You just go there and use them or have the trained librarian operate the machine.
EvanAnderson 4mo ago
The Greene County Ohio Public Library (Xenia, OH) did something like this a few years ago and other libraries in the area (Dayton Metro and Troy-Miami County) started similar spaces, too. They all have a similar array of machines-- CNC, 3D printing, dye sub printing, laser engravers, vinyl cutters, sewing and embroidery, video and photo editing, etc. It's amazing to me that within a five year timespan all of this became available to anybody in the community for the cost of materials.

Havoc 4mo ago

> 55% of Finns visit libraries at least once a month. Wait what? That seems insanely high even for a progressive society. As a reference point UK is at 30% on YEARLY STATS NOT MONTHLY >In England, 30% of adults aged 16 and over used a public library service at least once in the previous 12 months.

deanc 4mo ago
I live in Finland and even I am sceptical of this figure. Maybe that’s because I go once a year. I will say it’s very very common for folks to use the library for its primary purpose of renting books - which of course requires a visit twice in a month - once to collect and once to return.
- fragmede 4mo ago
  On the return trip, you collect another set of books, making it a habit.
- fragmede 4mo ago
  On the return trip, you collect another set of books, which you then also have to return in two weeks.
timonoko 4mo ago
The report is deliberately misleading by the red-green government. If you read between the lines it is a poll among the library visitors.
stevekemp 4mo ago
I moved to Finland, and starting when my child was about three years old I took him to Oodi every weekend. The soft-play area was heaven for him, and he liked flicking through the donald-duck comic books. Even now, when he's nine, I go every month or two with him for an afternoon. He has no shortage of books at home, but he gets to run around, look at books, and play with other kids. He enjoys himself enormously.
- 4mo ago

JackLau 4mo ago

Iowa has this too, the Des Moines Public Library has a Library of Things with over 50 items.

jameszol 4mo ago

I’m trying to privately build a public library in a rural Idaho community. Borrowing sewing machines has been a popular request, as soon as we have space for them. It’s exciting to see that it’s a worldwide desire and not just a rural trend. Very cool to read about how Finland is doubling down on investing in libraries and skill building tools like sewing machines!

WaitWaitWha 4mo ago
How are you going about this? Asking because I thought about doing something similar (e.g., Makerspaces, hackerspaces, Fab Labs).
- jameszol 4mo ago
  Luckily a few others here in Idaho have done it by way of a Friends of the Library official non-profit 501(c)(3), so I have a model to follow that works in our region and for our rural conservative conditions. The standard non-profit benefits apply: we apply for a lot of grants, we set up endowments, accept land or stock as gifts, take on capital projects like building a library. The public library can then lease from us (probably for $0) or if we put a large enough endowment fund together we would very much consider taking it all private vs just a purpose built building for the library.

p1dda 4mo ago

Socialist wet dream. In reality someone has to pay for all these adults wasting time instead of working for a living.

tim-tday 4mo ago
I know this is supposed to be sarcastic, but This is actually a great framing for why we should love our libraries. They’re decidedly NOT productive to business. They’re yours as a person. They’re your time, your leisure, your enrichment. I suppose they’re productive to business in the long run because the create more thoughtful and effective people so maybe they’re not all good. Still, a good reason to lean into them.
queenkjuul 4mo ago
Hilarious. Tool libraries exist and are quite successful here in capitalist US of A (and, apparently, in capitalist Finland. You didn't think they were communists or something, did you?)
monssooon 4mo ago
It may lead to less demand for things like sewing machines which in turn may lead to less competition to less productivity, the producers innovating less, less GDP less happy people... Where have we seen this type of thinking before... In socialist States... I agree... But how do we create supply and demand? Letting China produce cheaply and open our boarders for a couple of decades, maybe... Maybe we are in a doom loop where we need a poorer generation or two before people turn around... It is interesting times. The most interesting is how people view the same things completely opposite. Some are super happy about the trend others super frustrated... Imho it is a part of the great reset and the big debt cycle. Maybe an attempt to soften the blow?!

akouri 4mo ago

Libraries around me have just become a homeless shelter. Pretty sad because the buildings themselves are actually quite nice and I'd use them often if it weren't for the high likelihood of being harassed.

ctdinjeu9 4mo ago
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TurdF3rguson 4mo ago
You mean being asked for spare change makes you avoid that library? Why not just give them your change?
- ghaff 4mo ago
  I don't have any change on me.
  - queenkjuul 4mo ago
    Do what I do: kindly tell them you have no change. Works for me every time
    - onetokeoverthe 4mo ago
      [dead]
    - IshKebab 4mo ago
      It's still annoying though.
      - queenkjuul 4mo ago
        Boohoo
  - trick-or-treat 4mo ago
    Just say that then. Or give them a dollar.

queenkjuul 4mo ago

I always wanted to start a musical instrument library. I loved working in a music store, helping people pick out the right instruments for what they're trying to accomplish, but always constrained by their budget. We had a per-semester rental program for school band students, where we'd take a deposit and rental fees but we'd handle the maintenance and families could save a ton versus buying. Something similar where like, you want to loan out a particular amp or pedal or synth or cymbal or something to go record a record for a week, the library would be there to help you access gear you couldn't normally afford, and I'd be there to keep everything working and help you find the right tool for the job. Maybe someday.

bzzzt 4mo ago
I think musical instruments, especially digital ones like synthesizers or effects but also guitars and other acoustic instruments, have become a lot more affordable the last decade without severely impacting quality. You don't really need the expensive stuff anymore when you can record a quality recording with a second hand iPad and a below $100 microphone. Rental of expensive stuff will always be expensive too due to insurance, maintenance and fraud. It's not really helping to make stuff more accessible, more a convenience for the pro's that need stuff for a gig.
- queenkjuul 4mo ago
  There's still a lot of crap cheap guitars out there, and some truly dreadful cheap amps
  - bzzzt 4mo ago
    There will always be crap sold to people who want a cheap gift or decorative item. But once you shop just a bit above the bottom price there are a surprising amount of decent instruments to be found.
    - queenkjuul 4mo ago
      I ran a music store dude i know what I'm talking about

LPisGood 4mo ago

My very small town growing up had sewing machines and they eventually even got a 3D printer. In high school I sewed a heart shaped pillow for a valentines day present; the library provided a bin of free fabric/stuffing as well as the machine. Libraries are awesome.

nicechianti 4mo ago

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karunamurti 4mo ago

In Japan there's a karaoke chain that rents sewing machine.

trueno 4mo ago

i love the one HN thread title a day that hits whatever this mark is. i love this lmao

buildsjets 4mo ago
Too bad the title got censored.

YeahThisIsMe 4mo ago

Noo, don't tell the major VC website about libraries.

timonoko 4mo ago

[flagged]

white_tiger 4mo ago

cool

deleted 4mo ago

[deleted]

stein1946 4mo ago

I am not sure I like the direction the modern libraries are taking. Libraries should be places where people pickup books and read them, that's it. They should not be community centers, DYI hobby centers, convention/exhibition places. I feel they have been co-opted by people who have no interest in knowledge acquisition.

badlibrarian 4mo ago
Andrew Carnegie funded 2,500+ public libraries and many were built with lecture halls, auditoriums, and meeting rooms on purpose. The public library was a civic institution from day one.
eks391 4mo ago
Libraries might not be a business but they still have to compete for funding. If those funding them think they are no longer relevant, the alternative is to slowly lose funding and die. People don't care about books anymore, so if the library must dangle an enticement to keep people engaged enough to retain the instilled indeed that knowledge should be freely available instead of siloed (and the other benefits of libraries), so be it. Adapt or die is the way of life.
raegis 4mo ago
Libraries have been renting non-books for a long time. Different communities have different needs. It's not a big deal. Some libraries in the Los Angeles area lend sewing machines, bike tools, and other useful stuff. The main branch library has 3d printers and other tech stuff ordinary folks can't afford. And of course, they have various workshops on numerous topics for adults and children. Given all the stuff I've taken advantage of, if the libraries here were only for borrowing books, they would seem kind of useless. And this is from someone who has the max 30 books checked out right now.
- john-tells-all 4mo ago
  The Los Angles Public Library lends an amazing variety of tools -- https://lacountylibrary.org/tools/ https://lacountylibrary.org/tools/ - glue gun - Crikut cutter - pots and pans - tape measure - bike repair kit - bolt cutters - musical instruments <3

fnord77 4mo ago

South SF library has sewing machines SFPL used to have tools until it got ruined.

panchtatvam 4mo ago

That's one way to convert a library from home of books to home of everything non-bookish. No way the society is growing dumber day by day.

a96 4mo ago
It's not books or things. It's (>90%) books and little bits of many kinds of other things.

darkvertex 4mo ago

The main library here in Montreal has a sick makerspace with 3D printers (plastic and resin), wood CNC machines, a digital embroidery machine, button maker, shirt press, hole driller, laser cutter, vacuform and vinyl cutter: https://square.banq.qc.ca/fablab https://square.banq.qc.ca/fablab It's a pretty dope library. They also let you borrow movies, videogames for all consoles and even board games, vinyl records and a few music instruments.

ggandhi 4mo ago

I signed my daughter up for a library card when she was two. She can't read yet. I believed you can't teach a child to love libraries. You keep taking them, and let the room do the rest. That room do wonders and it did that to me and I am sure will do that to her too.

a96 4mo ago
A relative used to drive the library bus where I grew up in. Getting a library card must be one of my earliest memories. Along with learning the alphabet and skiing.

mongol 4mo ago

I am not very fond of this idea. I think libraries are for books, or possibly media. I can see the utility but I think it distracts from the actual purpose.

MikeTheGreat 4mo ago
I used to think this way too. When I was growing up, libraries were for books. And that one room where they had periodicals (magazines, newspapers, and such) but you had to read those there in that room. And encyclopedias, for kids to use for their research reports. And a story hour for kids (and, let's face it, for the parents). And that one computer in the back that had Oregon Trail and Summer Olympic Games on it. But mostly I remembered the books, and that's what I felt like libraries should be about. Now I feel like a library's purpose is to support it's community. Mostly they lend books because that's what they're known for and they're very good at it. They're expanding into eBooks because that's another big thing people read today. And music CDs and DVDs which is very similar to lending books, and people like those. Expanding out to lending things is a bit of a mind-bender for me too, but I think it's in line with what libraries have always done - help the community.
- arghnoname 4mo ago
  I'm torn on this. Often I feel like the parent, but I recognize maybe I'm being stubborn. You say libraries purpose is to help the community. If that's true, what you're saying makes sense. On the other hand, if their purpose is to promote literacy and reading, well, this is off mission. I think of the former mission as more being a community center. My mother loves this form and spends a lot of time at her local library. I'm a curmudgeon and an intellectual snob apparently. I don't even like them having popular books, but I'm trying to be less rigid and more honest here and admit that some scope creep is probably healthy and the question is just where you draw the line.
RetroTechie 4mo ago
> but I think it distracts from the actual purpose. The purpose of a library is what it does. They used to lend books, to promote literacy & education. For youngsters to explore fields of knowledge & discover what they're interested in. Offer a selection of newspapers & magazines nobody can afford on their own. Fablabs, places for students to work on their laptop, workshops etc fit right into this. But the community center aspect has always been a thing. These days that might be extended in hosting a repair cafe, puzzles / board games, whatever that local community regards worthwhile. If you think that's a no-go, maybe public libraries aren't for you. Or just stick to the book area.

MomsAVoxell 4mo ago

I remember a day, long, long ago in a dusty, lonely outback Australian town, when Mum would send me down to the library on a Saturday morning to loan the iron, a kettle, and the last weeks’ papers, which she’d return on the very early Monday morning after putting me off on the .. two hour .. bus ride to school. Now I’m sitting in a room full of hard core technology, wondering if I shouldn’t talk to my local technical museum about setting up an 8-bit lending library with a catalog of fully operational machines ..

infl8ed 4mo ago

My local library has a few interesting things like this including a podcast kit (i.e. professional microphones and mixers) you can book in conjunction with a room booking and also a thermal imaging camera you can check out to "identify energy efficiency in the home by finding gaps in insulation, comparing the performance of different walls and rooms in the home, finding air leaks and identifying water leaks or damp issues". I approve wholeheartedly of these and similar initiatives.

monssooon 4mo ago

Ida Aukens prophecy has already come true. They own nothing and are happy about it...

probably_wrong 4mo ago
You are being unfair to the spirit of the original quote. Yes, the quote is naive in expecting a world where those who own share with those who rent without nefarious motives. But sharing, particularly in this context when profit is out of the equation, is a great idea. I don't have the money nor space for my own 3D printer, but thanks to my local library I own objectively more 3D printed stuff than I would without them.
- monssooon 4mo ago
  Its a paper, much more than a quote
emswift 4mo ago
What? I’d love to be able to borrow a sewing machine, tools, etc. I live in a small flat and I don’t need permanent ownership of those things. They spend 99.5% of the time sat taking up space. What good is that? For a lot of machines it’s not good to leave them idle, or sat in a shed collecting mould and rust.
- monssooon 4mo ago
  It is exactly what the WeF meant too. The opposite world is one where we can own what we want at any point in time, kinda like in the past. They say that is unsustainabl... I just disagree-I think it would be great if each generation would be better of than the last.. You are happy in your tiny flat not owning that much... I'm not disputing that. I just say that is what the wef predicted would happen. That is all. I'm glad you at happy like that... If you continue reading Idas Aukens prophecy, she goes on to talk about a society outside of the happy own-nothing-living where people live a different life... I just hope there will be room for both.

akho 4mo ago

I'm sorry, but that's not a library. It is useful, but calling these centers "libraries" just accelerates the death of actual libraries, and distracts from copyright reform.

TFNA 4mo ago
Finnish libraries still have books (and other media) and a very efficient system of moving them around the country to anywhere people want to borrow them.
deleted 4mo ago
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zajio1am 4mo ago

Tool rental is a service that is commonly provided by private sector. I do not see a reason why this should be provided by a government. This seems like unfair competition to e.g. community hackerspaces.

brap 4mo ago
Agree, and I also don’t see why government should be involved in book rental. Why books and not say, car rental? What about jetski rental? (If the argument is that subsidizing books helps the poor, I’m all for it, a nonprofit or a charity would be a much better framework) This is the public sector M.O, instead of admitting something is obsolete they grab more scope and funding. My local post office now sells iPhones. And why shouldn’t they? Nobody stopped them when they just sold SIM cards, and then cases and chargers. It’s like a law of nature.
- IshKebab 4mo ago
  Because being able to read book is good for society. > a nonprofit or a charity would be a much better framework Why? I do agree that libraries (in the UK at least) have mostly failed to see the writing on the wall and diversify. I used to live near a library that was on the edge of a super popular park. They had a "give us improvement suggestions" thing and I spoke to them about taking advantage of the park - it would have been a prime spot to open a cafe attached to the library. They actually couldn't comprehend that idea. Like, that's not what libraries are.
- zajio1am 4mo ago
  At least in EU, private book/media rental is not legal without special licensing from copyright holders, while public libraries have exception for this.
  - ghaff 4mo ago
    In the US, there's not much demand for media rental any longer (RIP Blockbuster)--which has been largely replaced by licenced media streaming--but there are certainly private libraries of various types.

MagicMoonlight 4mo ago

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jvvw 4mo ago

It's a bit weird to see the BBC reporting on this happening in Finland, when plenty of 'Libraries of Things' exist in the UK! I think they tend to be run as community efforts rather than by public libraries. though.

daveoc64 4mo ago
The BBC Future website is not aimed at users in the UK, and features content produced by the BBC's commercial arm. Users in the UK can read it without ads, but it's not generally promoted or linked to by bbc.co.uk
- jvvw 4mo ago
  Ah that makes more sense then!

nekusar 4mo ago

While in the USA, republicans are threatening funding of public libraries cause LGBTQ books are in there! GASP, SHOCKER! This article is also directly related to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48596911 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48596911 "The room the economy can’t see" Capitalists won't willingly fund 3rd spaces without a demonstrable profit. So they're at the behest of public funding (read: government). And when the new ruling party gets in, they can demand their bullshit on threat of funding or be shut down.

mkovach 4mo ago

My local library doesn't have a sewing machine, but it does lend out projectors, game consoles, a telescope, musical instruments, and bicycles. You can even check out a banjo, which seems like the sort of decision that says a great deal about a community's acceptance and tolerance. Electronics: https://alpl.org/equipment/ https://alpl.org/equipment/ Instruments: https://alpl.org/musical-instruments/ https://alpl.org/musical-instruments/ Bikes: https://alpl.org/borrow-a-bike/ https://alpl.org/borrow-a-bike/

xtiansimon 4mo ago

The Olive Free Library in the Catskills, NY will lend a fishing pole. (The Catskills is considered the birthplace of “American” Fly Fishing traditions).

utopiah 4mo ago

It's such an absolutely weird tension... The libraries in Belgium at least are absolutely amazing! They are filled with : - books (obviously) beautifully curated - comics - magazines - sometimes even audiobooks in the form of CDs - sometimes also events with authors on absolutely important topics like ... what it means to be human and they are also - basically free (few Euros per year, at most, and if you cannot pay) - staffed with people who absolutely love the mission ... and empty. It's totally nuts. They are basically full of top materials with dedicated staff, but nobody goes there. We even have toy libraries and... it's the same. Sure during some moments of the week it's relatively busy but mostly empty. Meanwhile we can order online any book or toy or video games for very little money... but also we don't use them for very long. It's a very strange tension that we somehow manage to setup a very inclusive infrastructure for knowledge in few centuries, or arguably decades, yet in few years we totally cancelled ALL that effort. Now libraries are looking for events because nobody "needs" content anymore.

userbinator 4mo ago
The fact that libraries are not full of people doesn't negate their function. A hard drive doesn't need to be continually read and written to serve its purpose either.
- utopiah 4mo ago
  > The fact that libraries are not full of people doesn't negate their function. Is this what I said or even implied?
  - userbinator 4mo ago
    but nobody goes there. Yes. You're implying libraries need to be full of people reading books all the time, when their main purpose is to store them.
    - utopiah 4mo ago
      Ah I see, then indeed we disagree about the point of a library. You see it as storage, I see it as a place for object, I see it as a place for people to meet, with the "excuse" o objects or via objects (e.g. books).

shamadev 4mo ago

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_DeadFred_ 4mo ago

My local library had a heritage seed bank. More of an exchange I guess where people donated their heritage seeds but it seemed pretty cool. Will try my hand next year. Would be cool to get inter-library exchanges going.

NishanStepak 4mo ago

For me it is just media. No things.

laughing_man 4mo ago

I would love to have a place I could rent that kind of stuff. There are a lot of hobbies I'd like to explore, but I don't want to shell out hundreds of dollars for equipment I'll never use again if I decide it's not for me.

rahimnathwani 4mo ago

Finland's investment reflects this commitment: in 2025, the country spent nearly €371m ($430m/£321m) on its public libraries – that's €65.78 ($76/£57) per person, compared to the average £10 ($13.5) per person spent in the UK, and a total public library expenditure of $15.2bn (£11.4bn ), or $45 (£34) per person in the US. Are those numbers correct? In San Francisco, the 2025 public library budget was over $240 per resident per year.

raveren 4mo ago

FWIW this is somewhat happening in Lithuania as well. Two biggest libraries in the tiny country stock fablabs, recording studios etc.

marysol5 4mo ago

cries in Great Britain Lucky to even find an open library with books now.

NuclearPM 4mo ago

I bought a sewing machine a few years ago. I felt really dumb having to spend (many) hours trying to set up the bobbin/thread.