The Guelph Tool Library has reopened in its new downtown location after being closed throughout the course of the pandemic.
Formerly located in the old Tytler Public School since 2017, the Guelph Tool Library opened its new home at Old Quebec Street Shoppes in Downtown Guelph on Sept. 26.
Approximately 925 tools were moved from one location to the other, said coordinator Stephanie Clark during an interview in the new location on Thursday.
“It was a long few weeks, but we had a lot of our volunteers come out to help,” said Clarke. “We just worked in shifts to get it done.”
So far everything fits, said Clarke, with the exception of some gardening equipment that was formerly stored in an outdoor shed at the old location. For now those items are being piled on desks within the space.
“Figuring out where to keep those has been a bit of a challenge,” she said.
The new location in the heart of the Old Quebec Street Shoppes is slightly bigger than that of the previous space, allowing more spacing between the shelves and an additional desk has been added — one for loans and another for returns.
They are still waiting for a new sign, but the new location is nestled in an alcove between the Guelph Nighthawks office and Creme Couture in the mall.
The Tool Library received funds from United Way Guelph-Wellington-Dufferin's Emergency Community Support Fund through a partnership with the Guelph Arts Council, which them to rent the new downtown space.
For now the Tool Library is open only on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. but are planned to also include Sundays later this month. Clarke said the shorter hours are due to new cleaning protocols.
“We are quarantining tools as the come back in, so we need the buffer days between the time they come back and when they can be loaned out again,” said Clarke.
The Tool Library has enacted a new two-step cleaning process where items get disinfected and then they get quarantined and then they can get cleaned again, said Clarke.
“We are also encouraging our members to do a secondary cleaning once they get it home, especially if they are buying an item for food production. They wash it before they use it and wash it after they are done and then it gets disinfected when it comes back here.”
The Tool Library has also moved to a new reservation system for borrowing of all its tools.
“Everyone has to book their tools at least 48 hours in advance so we have time to get the tools ready for people and verify that it’s here, working and has been cleaned,” said Clarke.
With the change of seasons comes a change in what items people typically come in to borrow, said Clarke.
“Already the bigger requests have been for sewing machines, dehydrators and canning equipment, but a lot of people are still requesting power tools for outdoor projects they are finishing up,” she said.
The most requested tool remains the rototiller.
“It’s always our most popular item, especially seasonally. It wasn’t a surprise that when reservations resumed it was rototiller, rototiller, rototiller,” she said.
The Guelph Tool Library held an outdoor repair cafe in August while the weather was nice, but is holding off hosting similar indoor events while restrictions remain in place throughout the pandemic.
“Typically at a repair cafe we have 20 volunteers, so we wouldn’t be able to run an event on that scale indoors,” said Clarke.
Instead, the Tool Library will host scaled-down workshops and events with groups of two or four people and then livestream those events online.
The Tool Library also takes in donations of used eyeglasses, batteries and cell phones in bins just inside the front door.
Memberships for the Guelph Tool Library are $40 a year, but that will soon be going up.
“In November we are going to be increasing that price just to be in line with what other tool libraries are charging, but it will still be an affordable price and we will still have other pricing options,” said Clarke.
Current and recently-expired memberships that lost time due to the closure will be offered an extension via email.
