Resource Banks

The best example are libraries, which are basically resource banks specialized in books. If you need an item for sporadic use for a day, a weekend, or a few days, you can borrow it from a resource bank. Objects you can borrow can be tools, sports or mountain equipment, devices, or even spaces. They can be centralized, like libraries, or decentralized using an app or another organization tool. Apart from “resource bank” they are also called “libraries of things” or “lending libraries”.

When they are centralized, a shared space is managed where things are kept and there is a system of keeping track of who has taken what. Media libraries are also resource banks. In the future almost all the things we will use will be from organizations like this. In most cases, the only reason we want to own something is to have quick and easy access to it. When this is provided with good organization, we don't have to own so many things and we can provide sustainable prosperity for everyone. There is plenty for everyone in this world.

Decentralized ones do not have a shared space. Instead they involve a group of people that are well communicated and organized to lend each other things. Each person manages their objects that they lend. There are applications, web pages and sophisticated programs to well organize the logistics of sharing objects. Sharing things with others is a behavior to which we are not used. Therefore, to teach this behavior to a community it may be easier to simply use phone chat groups (telegram, signal, whatsapp) in which operating rules are established and regularly reminded. Anyone can start such a group for their apartment building, neighborhood, town or city.

For them to work well they need a minimum of people who use it. Until they have a critical mass of a few dozen active users, they must be actively energized. Because they do not generate money, nobody is paid to energize them, so it's up to you. It's not much effort, half an hour a week is more than enough, just a little push. It is worthwhile because it greatly improves the prosperity of users and their quality of life since it expands the amount of things to which all have access to and fosters community and connection.

The best place to start is your local library!

This page contains a map of some resource banks in the world,although many are not on this map. You can look for one near you and if you know one that is not there, please add it yourself! https://localtools.org/find/#map_top

Here we will organize Resource Banks by localization.

Global

These networks are designed for anyone to be able to join them from anywhere in the world. It is possible that there is not much activity where you live, that means that it is up to you to expand it in your area. With just a bit of effort, anyone can do it. Spending half an hour a week spreading awareness, inviting neighbors and strangers to join in, in 2 years you will have achieved enough activity for the network to function autonomously. You will have made a difference in the history of your town and the world.

Lendi

http://lendiapp.com/ 100% Trade Free!

Mainly active in Barcelona, Catalunya, for now, Lendi is an mobile application designed for people to lend each other objects. It is available in Spanish. In Lendi you can do 2 things: + Borrow the object you need: You enter the application, in the menu “Borrow an object” write what you need. When a neighbor offers to lend it to you, it will send you a notification with their contact. + Offer to lend an object: When neighbors in your neighborhood need an object, it sends you a notification in case you can give them a hand.

Lendi acts as an intermediary. Our mission is to put in contact a neighbor who needs an object, with another neighbor who can lend said object. The details of each loan (when the transfer of the object is made, where, for how long, etc.) you agree on individually.

Peerby

It can be 100% free-of-commerce (especially on mobile), although it unfortunately allows commerce. https://www.peerby.com

Peerby is a mobile application and website, originally from the Netherlands, that allows the loan of objects between neighbors. Once registered, it is available in Dutch, English, French and German. It is very active in the Netherlands and also is active in Brooklyn, Berlin, Barcelona, Madrid and other places. It automatically asks its users what they can offer, thus accelerating the growth of the available objects. After taking a crowdfunding loan they had to focus on the person-to-person (P2P) rental part but it can still be used to share objects for free.

Resource bank management programs

There are programs to manage the availability, location and status of the objects in a resource bank. This greatly expands its capacity and effectiveness. It makes it possible to have many objects shared between a population and to know what is available and where, quickly. It requires a population (or managers) educated on its use, with the desire and time to enter and update the information. They are also perfect for managing shared material between organizations and companies.

MyTurn

For non-profit citizen use you can ask them to provide it for free.

With a modern cloud-based platform, myTurn combines the best and most essential features of asset tracking, rental and sale of surplus equipment. Its unique platform helps us easily access emerging collaborative and circular economies. MyTurn provides technology and expertise to optimize the utilization of physical assets and facilitate a multi-stakeholder transition to a more circular economy where product lives are maximized and then recycled or remanufactured into new products.

They operate a good, easy-to-use platform that helps communities and regional associations save money and increase the use of resources. Communities are becoming more equitable and resilient as more people have access to the resources they need and could not previously afford. Universities share equipment more efficiently between labs, establish bike-sharing programs, and establish partnerships with communities. Governments and companies are putting equipment that was often idle in warehouses back into operation.

Lend-Items

Free up to 100 objects.

Lend-Items is extremely responsive, modern, and mobile-friendly. It allows you to establish an online catalog of all your items and then keep track of who you have lent them to. Items can be books, laptops, cars, or anything else you can think of. Borrowers can log into your library to find and reserve an item, as well as view their current loan history and loans. They serve more than three thousand resource banks.

Organized by Country

Catalonia Spain USA