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title, date, summary, draft, featureImageCaption
| title | date | summary | draft | featureImageCaption |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resource Sharing and Scheduling | 2025-12-27 | Tools for coordinating shared resources—tool libraries, equipment pools, community spaces, and volunteer activities. When communities share effectively, everyone has access to more while owning less. | True | Photo by [Eric Rothermel](https://unsplash.com/@erothermel) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/FoKO4DpXamQ) (Unsplash License) |
Most households own tools they use only a few times per year—drills, ladders, camping gear, specialized kitchen equipment. Meanwhile, community spaces sit empty between scheduled events, and skilled community members have expertise they'd gladly share but no easy way to connect with those who need it.
The result: duplicated purchases, wasted money, environmental impact from manufacturing rarely-used items, and missed opportunities for community connection.
Resource sharing solves the coordination problem. These tools answer the fundamental questions: What's available? Where is it? Who has it now? When can I use it?
Why This Matters for Communities
Economic Benefits
The average power drill is used for only 13 minutes in its entire lifetime. A quality drill costs $150-400. A tool library membership might cost $25-50 per year for access to hundreds of tools.
Communities can collectively afford professional-grade equipment no individual would purchase. People can try new hobbies, complete home projects, or start small businesses without upfront capital investment.
Tool libraries report 10-20x utilization compared to individual ownership—the same resources serve far more people.
Environmental Sustainability
Fewer items need to be produced when they're shared effectively. Shared items are often better maintained and repaired rather than discarded. Resources stay in use longer and serve more people.
This is circular economy in practice.
Community Building
Lending and borrowing builds relationships and reciprocity. Resources often come with knowledge—experienced users teach newcomers. Sharing creates natural touchpoints for community interaction.
Research shows that communities with strong sharing networks have higher trust, more civic participation, and better outcomes during crises.
Resilience
When money is tight, sharing becomes essential. During emergencies, communities with established sharing networks can mobilize resources quickly. Local sharing reduces dependence on commercial services and supply chains.
Real-World Examples
Tool Libraries
Berkeley Tool Lending Library (California): One of the oldest and most successful, operating since 1979. Free tool lending to Berkeley residents, with thousands of tools available.
Toronto Tool Library: Multiple locations, membership-based, also offers workshops and repair cafés.
Library of Things movement: Public libraries worldwide now lend non-book items—cake pans, telescopes, sewing machines, musical instruments.
Food Sharing Networks
Foodsharing.de (Germany): 200,000+ "food savers" have rescued 50+ million kg of food from being wasted.
Community fridges: Physical locations where anyone can leave or take food, coordinated through digital tools.
Mutual Aid and Volunteer Coordination
Karrot: Originally built for food-saving coordination, now used by mutual aid groups, community gardens, and neighborhood initiatives worldwide.
Choosing the Right Tool
Leihs: Equipment Lending System
Best for organizations with significant physical inventory that needs formal tracking—tool libraries, equipment pools, educational institutions, makerspaces.
Strengths: Complete inventory management with photos and categories; sophisticated lending workflows (reservations, hand-outs, returns); barcode/QR code support; reporting and statistics.
Origin: Developed by Zurich University of the Arts for managing media equipment.
LibreBooking: Space and Resource Scheduling
Best for scheduling shared spaces (meeting rooms, studios, kitchens) and equipment where time-based booking is the primary need.
Strengths: Multi-resource booking with conflict prevention; waitlists for in-demand resources; quotas and credits for fair usage; calendar integration.
Used by: Libraries, coworking spaces, makerspaces, educational institutions.
Karrot: Volunteer Coordination
Best for grassroots volunteer groups coordinating regular activities—food rescue, community gardens, neighborhood initiatives, mutual aid groups.
Strengths: Place management; activity scheduling (one-time and recurring); feedback gathering; newcomer onboarding; built-in chat; conflict resolution tools; Android app.
Philosophy: Explicitly designed to support "community-building and a more transparent, democratic and participatory governance."
Scale: 100+ active groups, 10,000+ users in 30+ countries.
Open Source Options
| Project | Description |
|---|---|
| Leihs | Equipment lending system with inventory management and lending workflows. 📊 50-100 installations, primarily European educational and cultural institutions. 📦 GitHub · GPL-3.0 |
| LibreBooking | Resource scheduling for rooms, equipment, and shared resources. 📊 Thousands of installations. Popular with libraries and coworking spaces. 📦 GitHub · GPL-3.0 |
| Karrot | Coordination tool for grassroots initiatives and volunteer groups. 📊 100+ active groups, 10,000+ users in 30+ countries. 📦 GitHub · MIT |
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Leihs | LibreBooking | Karrot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary use | Equipment lending | Space/resource booking | Activity coordination |
| Inventory tracking | Excellent | Basic | Place-based |
| Lending workflows | Excellent | Basic | Not primary focus |
| Booking/scheduling | Yes | Excellent | Activity-focused |
| Built-in communication | Limited | Limited | Excellent |
| Mobile app | Web only | Web only | Android |
| Best for | Tool libraries | Meeting rooms | Volunteer groups |
The Bigger Picture
The "sharing economy" has been largely captured by commercial platforms like Uber and Airbnb that extract value from communities rather than building them.
These open source tools represent a different vision:
- Community-owned infrastructure: The software belongs to everyone
- No platform fees: Value stays in the community
- Local governance: Communities set their own rules
- Privacy-respecting: Data stays with the community
This is about reclaiming the commons—using technology to enable the kind of neighborly sharing that used to happen naturally, but at a scale that modern communities need.
Every tool shared is a tool that didn't need to be manufactured. Every skill exchanged is a relationship strengthened. Every resource coordinated is a community made more resilient.
The tools exist. The models work. Communities are already doing this.