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Renting a sewing machine from the library

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Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#81

Post by analog31 »

ranger207 wrote: post #19
felooboolooomba wrote: post #7

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

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

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.

Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#82

Post by eks391 »

stein1946 wrote: post #80

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.

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.

Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#83

Post by badlibrarian »

stein1946 wrote: post #80

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.

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.

Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#84

Post by jameszol »

WaitWaitWha wrote: post #65
jameszol wrote: post #40

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!

How are you going about this? Asking because I thought about doing something similar (e.g., Makerspaces, hackerspaces, Fab Labs).

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.

Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#85

Post by bombcar »

xattt wrote: post #56
ElijahLynn wrote: post #11

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 lo…

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 bicyc…

Auto part stores often will lend both weird and specialized tools, and relatively basic ones, too.

Usually the way it works is you "buy" the tool and then "return" it.

Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#86

Post by raegis »

stein1946 wrote: post #80

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.

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.

Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#87

Post by bombcar »

dhosek wrote: post #48
whycombinetor wrote: post #31

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.

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)…

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 ...

Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#90

Post by totetsu »

stein1946 wrote: post #80

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.

It’s easier to take time to pick up a book and learn something if your life is going smoothly in other areas. If all your clothes need mending it can make a barrier of embarrassment to go to a public place like a library. With the hollowing out of the middle class, people live in smaller housing and move more, lose their inter generational resources. If there’s a trusted social institution that is knowen for borrow and lending, and people have a need to borrow tools for their everyday life it seems not such a deviation from the purpose of libraries
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