We’ve revised our tool renewal and tool donation policies to better fit the needs of our members and ensure the quality of our service! Check out the details below and please inquire in the shop if you have any questions.
Tool Renewals
Until now, we haven’t been allowing tool renewals. Recognizing that sometimes you just need a few more days to work on your projects, we now allow tools to be renewed up to two times, as long as there is one (or more) of the same tool available in the shop at the time the renewal is requested. This is to ensure that more popular tools, or ones we only have a few of, are available most often. Renewals can be made over the phone (during shop hours only) or in person.
Tool Donations
In order to ensure the safety and quality of the tools in our collection, we are now only able to accept tool donations when a Tool Officer is present in the shop. If you have tools you’d like to donate to the VTL, please fill out this tool donation form and a Tool Officer will be in touch to let you know what we can take, and set up a time that works for you to drop them off. A huge thanks goes out to all the generous folks who have donated tools so far. Their tools make up over half of our inventory!
Written by The Vancouver Tool Library, January 19th, 2012 | No Comments »
Hey VTL Supporters! We’re excited to once again be working with Ten Thousand Villages for a holiday fundraising event. Ten Thousand Villages creates opportunities for artisans in developing countries to earn income by bringing their products and stories to our markets through long-term, fair trading relationships.
Ten Thousand Villages’ Commercial Drive location (1204 Commercial Drive) will be donating 15% of their proceeds from all sales made on Thursday November 24th (from 4-9pm) and Sunday November 27th (from 11am – 7pm) to the Vancouver Tool Library!
We encourage you to stop by to support three great causes: a non-profit fair trade organization, international artisans, and your local tool lending library! VTL volunteers will be on hand to say hi and answer any questions you have about our organization.
We’re seeking a volunteer coordinator to join our Board of
Directors!
Read on for all the information about the position, or download a PDF here. Please help us spread the word by sharing this with your networks.
Commitment: This is a volunteer position requiring approximately 20 hours/ month
Volunteer Coordinator Roles and Responsibilities
We are a 100% volunteer powered organization, and the Volunteer Coordinator plays an essential role in ensuring our shop is staffed on a day-to-day basis and in facilitating the development of a volunteer environment that is educational, rewarding, and fun! Specific duties include:
Work two shop shifts per month
Recruit, train, and schedule shop volunteers
Facilitate shop volunteers’ skills development through the tiered Volunteer Mentorship Program
With other board members, recruit committee volunteers
Develop volunteer training materials, as necessary
Organize get togethers and learning projects for volunteers
Ensure front-of-house equipment (computer, cash register, etc) are running smoothly
Qualifications of the applicant
Highly organized, with excellent time management
Interest in working in a non-profit environment
Interest in facilitating the growth and development of a diversity of volunteers
Strong inter-personal skills, enjoy working closely with other volunteers
Experience in a volunteer environment preferred
Benefits and Recognition
Directors are highly valued members of our organization who work together to ensure the smooth operation and ongoing growth of the VTL. As the Volunteer Coordinator, you will:
Gain professional experience in a leadership role,
Have the opportunity to gain skills, knowledge, and confidence about tool use,
Grow your personal network by meeting and working with new people in the community,
Feel personal satisfaction from contributing to the successful development of an exciting, new non-profit community organization,
Be provided, upon request, a letter of recommendation or a letter of service recognition depending on volunteer preference.
To apply for this position, please send your resume and a statement of interest to president@vancouvertoollibrary.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
Written by The Vancouver Tool Library, November 09th, 2011 | No Comments »
Thanks to everyone who cast their vote for tool of the month over the past two weeks! Results are in and the tool we’ll fundraise for has been determined!
Truing Stand
November’s Tool of the Month: a wheel truing stand, which is used to straighten bicycle wheels. It which consists of an axle stand on which the wheel can rotate and calipers to measure slight deviations of the wheel’s rim from ideal (“true”) alignment. We don’t currently have a wheel truing stand in our inventory.
Our fundraising target for this tool is: $170
We could raise this much money if…
– Each of our members donated $0.72, or
– Each of our facebook fans donated $0.21 or
– Everyone on our mailing list donated $0.39
It doesn’t take much when we pool the resources of the VTL community, so pitch in what you can! We’ll keep you posted on here and through the newsletter as we get closer to the target and when we make the purchase. Donations can be made in the shop or via the paypal button below.
Written by The Vancouver Tool Library, November 05th, 2011 | No Comments »
You can now browse our complete and up-to-date tool inventory through the website! It’s looking fairly basic right now, but over the coming weeks we will be improving this inventory database with photos and information about each tool, and letting members know how they can log into their accounts to view tool availability online.
We want to send a big thank you to the nice folks at Local Tools, who have helped us out at every step of the way to get this inventory and membership database software (developed specifically for tool lending libraries!!) customized and up and running for the VTL.
You can check out the inventory here (or navigate via the “Borrow Tools” –> “Our Tool Inventory” buttons on the banner above), and stay tuned for improvements that should make it easier to use and easier to choose the tools you need for the job.
Written by The Vancouver Tool Library, October 28th, 2011 | No Comments »
