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Renting a sewing machine from the library

bbc.com

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Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#171

Post by stevenwoo »

delichon wrote: post #3

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…

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.

Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#172

Post by ghaff »

zajio1am wrote: post #159
brap wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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nonprofit or a charity would be a much better framework) This is the public sector M.O, instead of admitting something is obsolete they grab more scope and funding.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.…

At least in EU, private book/media rental is not legal without special licensing from copyright holders, while public libraries have exception for this.

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.

Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#174

Post by skiboyec »

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

Outdoor equipment, if you’re into that sorta thing. I didn’t know anything and I think my second backpack was nice enough to use.

Also laminated fabrics tend to be much easier to sew since they are so rigid

Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#175

Post by _DeadFred_ »

petcat wrote: post #150
steinwinde wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please critisize the harassment, not libraries for providing shelter to homeless people. A well managed library has a degree of supervision that allows the visitor to do something about harassment. This level of control is also important for homeless people, who are subject to harassment more than most. A reasonably well run library is also no place to consume alcohol or drugs in plain sight. In these respects librar…

> A well managed library has a degree of supervision that allows the visitor to do something about harassment. Library staff in my city are instructed not to do anything themselves about homeless. If there's a problem then they just call the police, who are equipped to handle it. Same as the city bus drivers are not going to enforce paying fares or making sure no riders are causing problems. They just pull over and c…

I grew up in Santa Cruz with a large homeless population. From interacting with them, they had to deal with full blown incidents/abuse/violence way more often than the average person had to deal with from them.

The problem is not homeless peoples' reaction to the world. The problem is societies place for them.

Homeless people have always existed and likely always will. The problem is in the last 45 years we've built a brittle, zero slack society. We've optimized around a particular vision of middleclass life while steadily eliminating the margins that once allowed vulnerable people, those prone to homelessness, and increasingly young adults who just need a place to start from, to exist on the periphery without being put in constant crisis. We removed the pathways that allowed unstable people to find enough footing to maintain a place to live.

We've embraced an economic model that requires continual growth and ever more housing. We've destroyed via economics and regulation many of the housing options that once existed for the very poor such as boarding houses, residential hotels, man camps. Demanding that everyone fit into a middle class model at all stages in life is cruel. It's even crueler when we act surprised or judgmental toward people whom society has systematically left with nowhere to go.

In AI speak 'we optimized away the edge cases and then blamed the people who (always had/always will) lived in them'.

Imagine regulating that everyone must eat a meal individually prepared in an industrial kitchen, with a mandated recipe from the community (any missing ingredients and the meal can't be cooked) and approved by inspectors post cooking, and capped the total meal kitchen capacity. Not everyone would be able to afford that. For peoples' largest expense (housing) that is what we have done and today 50% of young adult Americans are living at home with parents because that is our current housing model. What happens to young adults that don't have parents to live with? In part, homelessness.

Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#176

Post by john-tells-all »

raegis wrote: post #86
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 t…

The Los Angles Public Library lends an amazing variety of tools -- https://lacountylibrary.org/tools/

- glue gun

- Crikut cutter

- pots and pans

- tape measure

- bike repair kit

- bolt cutters

- musical instruments <3

Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#177

Post by myself248 »

zajio1am wrote: post #129

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.

Speaking as a co-founder of a large community hackerspace, we don't have the volunteer bandwidth to manage the additional overhead of tool lending. Please, please, please let the libraries offer more alternatives. It's exactly their mission.

Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#178

Post by James_K »

yw3410 wrote: post #17
delichon wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

[dead]

Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#179

Post by nephihaha »

yw3410 wrote: post #17
delichon wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

Girls often do. But I never touched a sewing machine at school because I am male. I wish I had been because I do sew nowadays and wish I'd been taught to earlier. Clothing repair, basic electrics, cookery etc do have a place in school.

Re: Renting a sewing machine from the library

#180

Post by asveikau »

Linosaurus wrote: post #156
blendergeek wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many autoparts store have a formal tool lending program that is structured as buy/return. I know it sounds like @bombcar is suggesting some “lifehack” that is closer to stealing. But, no, this is an actual service provided by actual auto parts stores. https://www.autozone.com/lp/loan-a-tool

Ok, so they don’t call it a ’buy’ program. It’s a lending program, for free. With a deposit for full value so it becomes a purchase if you don’t return it in time. Same structure but the phrasing matters. Cool idea.

From the website it seems like they're expecting that some people will do this with the intention of renting, but then decide to keep or not get around to the return process.
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