ABOUT THE VICTORIA TOOL LIBRARY

The Victoria Tool Library conducted a survey from December 2014 to November 2015, focusing on what potential users wanted out of a tool library, how much they would pay for membership, how they would like to be involved, and demographic information. Over 400 responses were received and the results are summarized below.

Uses for the tool library

We asked people what kinds of tools they would most like to borrow from the tool library, and overwhelmingly the most common category was general home improvement, followed by gardening, and woodworking. Other commonly requested uses included bike repair, furniture repair, art, car repair, plumbing, metalworking, and electronics repair. People also requested tools for sewing, cooking and crafting, especially knitting materials. The word cloud below represents the number of times each use was suggested by people taking the survey. The larger the word, the more times that use was suggested.

Specific tools requested

We had over 450 specific suggestions for 185 different tools or types of tools to be included in the Victoria Tool Library’s Inventory. The most popular requests were for table saws, drills, and ladders. Other suggestions included planer, Dremel, nail gun, painting equipment, chipper/shredder, gardening pruners, sewing machine, apple press and bike repair stand. The word cloud below represents the number of times each tool was suggested by people taking the survey. The larger the word, the more times that use was suggested.

Functions of the Tool Library

Displayed in the below table are responses for the question “How important do you think it is for the Victoria Tool Library to be a place to: ________________.”

Borrow Tools	Learn New Skills	Fix or Make Things	Organize Projects	Build Community	Offer Youth Programs
Extremely Important	83.8%	37.8%	36.5%	21.5%	41.0%	28.4%
Fairly Important	14.1%	49.2%	43.1%	42.7%	39.7%	34.5%
No Opinion	0.25%	5.3%	6.9%	17.1%	10.3%	17.3%
Somewhat Important	0.25%	6.3%	11.2%	16.1%	7.7%	15.7%
Not Important	1.5%	1.3%	2.3%	2.6%	2.3%	4.1%

These results tell us that the most important function people feel the Victoria Tool Library should play is facilitating the borrowing of tools. Learning new skills, fixing or making things and building community are also key functions, followed by organizing projects and offering youth programs.

Demographics

Of those who answered the gender question, 202 people identified as female, 149 identified as male.

Of those who answered the neighbourhood question, 208 responses were from Victoria, 22 from Esquimalt, 18 from Oak Bay, 88 from Saanich, 4 from Central Saanich, 3 from North Saanich, 22 from elsewhere in the Greater Victoria Area, 2 from elsewhere on Vancouver Island, and 5 from other locations not on Vancouver Island. Fairfield and Fernwood were the communities with the greatest number of responses, 48 and 47 respectively.