Hit the slopes knowing that your gear is in great shape after our Snowboard & Ski Tune-Up Workshop. You’ll be making sharper turns and slaloms for the rest of the season and you’ll be set for next.
Photo courtesy of www.concierge.com
After this workshop, participants will leave with the confidence to use our waxing and tuning tool set at their own home. The workshop will focus mainly on downhill skis and snowboards; most of the information being taught will be transferable to cross-country skis. Facilitator Sean Hillis will go through basic waxing and edge tuning/maintenance techniques, then your new skills will be put to work through lots of practice!
When: Sunday, March 10th, 2013, from 11:00am-1:30pm
Where: The Tool Library, 3448 Commercial Street
Cost: $15 for VTL Members | $20 for Non-Members
What to Bring: You are welcome to bring your skis or snowboard. All other materials will be provided. The workshop will take place outside so wear comfortable, tighter-fitting clothing that is weather appropriate.
Questions? Email lauren [at] vancouvertoollibrary [dot] com
Advance registration is required! Please pre-pay and sign up through the PayPal button below or come into the shop to register. Refunds are available up to 48 hours before the workshop begins.
Workshop Registrants: Please include your email address in the PayPal form! This is how we’ll contact you with any workshop updates and to confirm your registration. Note that VTL Members will be required to present their member cards at the workshop.
In our first year, our current website served us well. Now that we’re growing, it’s time for a bit of a facelift. If you’re a web designer, please take a look at our RFP and make your bid for the project.
About the Vancouver Tool Library
The Vancouver Tool Library (VTL) is a cooperative tool-lending library located in the Kensington-Cedar Cottage neighbourhood in East Vancouver. We encourage the sharing of tools for home repairs, bicycle maintenance, and gardening between community members. The VTL offers an alternative to the current system in which we each purchase our own: a long-lasting, collectively-owned resource shaped by the community, allowing our members to use tools at their leisure without having to buy, maintain, or store them.
Through this alternative purchasing and ownership model, the VTL helps reduce redundancy in tool ownership, the consumption of consumer goods, and the extraction of non-renewable resources required to manufacture both tools and goods. Although the space holds a finite amount of tools, its presence in the community facilitates the exchange of knowledge and ideas between members and the public, opening a dialogue and encouraging engagement in neighbourhoods.
For those who are new to the idea of building and repairing on their own, we provide workshops to reduce the initial intimidation and uncertainty sometimes felt when using tools for the first time. We regularly feature and applaud projects that our members have completed, demonstrating what is possible with a bit of time, a few tools, and the know-how. To build or repair something by hand is to feel pride, accomplishment, and joy; these are feelings the VTL strives to support in its members and beyond.
Website Overview
Our current website allows members to see which tools are available for loan, what events and workshops are coming up, and what is new in the shop. We receive positive feedback on the logo and branding of our website; this will remain the same. The issue is that our website is predominately a one-way interaction. Our site contains a fair amount of information, but only in a few places are members asked to send in feedback or ideas. At this time, they are unable to interact with each other via our website. Most interaction takes place in our shop – we want to extend that to our online presence.
Project Goals and Objectives
Our goal is to generate a different kind of interaction between users on our website. We would like to encourage our members to display their completed projects and events to the public. We are especially interested in highlighting our members’ projects through a dedicated photo gallery accompanied by their stories and design processes. With a full and varied gallery to look through, our visitors will recognize all of the different things that can be accomplished with our tool inventory. We want the content on our website to inspire and excite users, leaving them with concrete plans for their next project. Our content will be a visual representation of the satisfaction that comes from building something from nothing. This should also help us continue to fulfill our mandate of reducing barriers to tool use; our users should be leaving the site eager to start building or repairing.
To a much lesser extent, we are targeting new members. Our membership growth is steadily increasing through word-of-mouth so we would rather focus on enticing our current members to linger on our site’s pages longer and contribute to our knowledge-sharing community.
Technical Parameters
Because different staff and volunteers will be updating content quite frequently, the website must be relatively simple to maintain. Currently, we are using a customized WordPress theme that we purchased. We are open to the idea of trying another type of format or staying with a theme. We will be remaining with our current web host and will continue to operate our tool inventory through a program called Local Tools, which most tool libraries in Canada and the United States are using. We would like to have a mobile capable site that focuses on our inventory, hours of operations, and workshop information.
Usability Requirements
The people in our audience know their way around a computer; they are comfortable with technology and different platforms. The median age of our members is 28. The front page must supply all vital information, preferably through “call to action” buttons. Other information should be available through tabs at the top of the home page and must be accessible in as few clicks as possible; we never want our users to feel frustrated because they cannot find the information they are seeking.
Functional Parameters
Our home page should supply the most important and relevant information to our users. It will have three “call to action” buttons with our most popular pages: tool inventory, workshops, and volunteering. Shop hours and address will be easily visible. We would like to continue to have a slideshow of 3-5 pictures, each of which bring users to another page on the site with a click (blog posts, events, etc).
The new features we are interested in are a photo gallery, community event submissions page, and a mechanism through which our members can interact with each other (with as little moderation as possible on the part of the VTL). We are open to ideas on existing interfaces for these features. The gallery should allow our members to upload pictures of projects they’ve worked on and share their stories. The interactive feature will allow users to ask tool-related questions to others in the community. Content for these features will only be coming from our active members. The extra resources available should be an incentive for members to renew with us. They should sign in with their VTL membership ID number (given to them when they sign up) and a password. The general public will be able to see the pictures and information but not contribute. On the events submission page, members should be able to add dates of upcoming events to a communal calendar.
On the workshop page, we would like to have an idea submission form. Aside from surveying our members through e-mails and workshop feedback forms, we do not receive many requests for certain types of workshops.
We want to include a prompt for users to sign up for a membership with modo car co-op, who will be partnering with the VTL to supply our members with cars to transport heavier tools home. This should be under the Membership tab.
The search bar should be easily located at the top of the home page, along with buttons that would take users to our social media accounts in new pages.
Proposal Directions
In your proposal submission package, please include your resume and portfolio, with examples of websites you’ve designed. We ask that all persons or teams submitting a proposal also provide a statement of interest, answering the question “what would you bring to this project that no one else could offer?”. Given the scope of the project, please detail the amount of time you or your team would allocate to which specific tasks and your hourly rate. We would also like to see a letter of reference from a client for whom you have previously completed a website.
Timeframe
We would like the website to be completed by mid-spring, to coincide with the start of our busy season (April – May).
Contact Information
Please send completed proposals in one document, PDF format to Chris Diplock, President at president[at]vancouvertoollibrary[dot]com by March 1, 2013.
Every month, we feature a project created by a different Vancouver Tool Library member. This month, we’re featuring a very Valentine’s Day-appropriate project. This one comes from our very own Director of Volunteers, Kathy Yan Li.
Tell us about the project you built and what inspired you to work on it.
I was involved in the
Vancouver Canadian Asian Theatre‘s production of “The Theory of Everything”. Because it was a community theatre production, we had very limited resources. I was designing the lights, but because they couldn’t find a set designer in the end, I offered to build a fundamental set piece: a neon light sign that said ‘The Chapel of Love’ on a budget of $120. Things looked grim, so I called on my friend Paul Bucci, who came up with the design and concept. We decided against faking the look of neon light tubing, and went with cut outs in the sign, which turned out pretty well. We cut the entire sign out of one sheet of plywood.
Which tools did you use for this project?
We used a jig saw, saw horses, paint brushes, and a belt sander.
Did you face any challenges?
Our main challenge was finding a space to make the sign, so we ended up working the back alley of Paul’s dad’s place. His back yard was sloped downwards, so we worked half in and out of his house. Even after we had finished the cutting and painting, finding a place to store it before moving it into the theatre was another challenge.
How do you feel now that you’ve completed a project of this nature?
Pretty good. It turned out a lot better than what we had expected.
Next project plans?
Creating life-sized chocolate figures of ourselves.
I definitely want in on that next project. Thanks Kathy! Beautiful sign!
We are currently seeking a Director of Communications to join the Board of Directors. Please see the position description below. Sharing this with your networks makes you awesome!
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About The VTL
The Vancouver Tool Library (VTL) is a cooperative tool lending library located at 3448 Commercial Street. We carry a wide variety of tools for home repair, gardening, and bicycle maintenance, which are loaned to our members free of charge. We also offer affordable workshops on tool related skills and projects. We are motivated by a vision of our community empowered by the tools and skills needed to transform their homes and communities into vibrant spaces that reflect a commitment to sustainability. More information is available on our website, at www.vancouvertoollibrary.com
Commitment
The VTL Board of Directors is a group of seven people (all volunteers) who are responsible for representing our Members’ interests and overseeing the business and long term direction of the organization. This is a volunteer position that requires a time commitment of approximately 15 hours per month to complete the responsibilities outlined below.
Roles and Responsibilities
- Acquire and maintain sound knowledge and understanding of the organization
- Represent the VTL in a professional and friendly manner
- Attend monthly Board meetings
- Read and respond to VTL emails in a timely manner
- Co-chair monthly Events and Communications Committee meetings
- Supervise the VTL Events and Communications Officer on communications duties including newsletter development, social media, blog post writing
- Serve as primary media contact
- Maintain VTL website
Qualifications of the applicant
- Interested in working in a non-profit environment
- Experience in a supervisory role
- Organized and responsible
- Excellent written and oral communications skills
- Experience with media and marketing is an asset but not required
Benefits
- Grow your personal network by meeting and working with a great Board and Volunteer group
- Learn and gain professional experience in a leadership role
- Opportunity to learn about tools and gain the skills needed to use them
- Personal satisfaction of contributing to a non-profit community organization
To apply for this position, please send your resume and a statement of interest to president@vancouvertoollibrary.com by February 28th. We look forward to hearing from you!
Over the past few weeks, our Director of Tools, Brian, and our Shop Manager, Geof, have been busy acquiring new tools for our members to rent. Some have been on the list of frequently requested tools for a while! In particular, we’re excited to announce the following additions to our inventory:
- Hitachi EC510 Air Compressor: a large capacity compressor for use with finishing and framing nailers.
- Hitachi NT 50AE2 2” 18 GA Brad Nailer: our second in stock due to popular demand!
- Stanley Black Oxide Drill Bit Set: black oxide bits are speedy and durable; they can be used for drilling metal as opposed to wood or masonry.
- Kuu Ski and Board Waxing Kit and Tuning Kit: here’s a great manual on tuning from Kuu themselves.
We had the following types of sanders in our inventory already but we upgraded to higher quality tools due to ongoing maintenance issues:
And the pièce de résistance: Karcher 1500 PSI Electric Pressure Washer (picture at right). Our most requested tool has arrived at the VTL! Perfect for those spring and summer projects to spruce up your home.
See you at the shop!
