Why buy it when Hull already owns one?

985 tools, party kit and gadgets on the shelves at 270 Greenwood Avenue. Borrow for a week for a small fee, bring it back, and someone else borrows it next.

Browse the catalogue How borrowing works

Open 24/7 online for reservations

Open for pickup Tuesday and Wednesday, 10am to 7pm

Opening hours / find us

Loan counts to 31 August 2024. Most items have several copies, so tap any outline to see them in the catalogue and check dates. The dashed outline is on our wanted list.

Borrowing in three steps

Join

Pay as you go for £5 and a small fee per borrow, or £80 for a full year of free borrowing.
Reserve online

Find what you need in the catalogue and book the dates. Every item is checked, tested and safe to use.
Collect and return

Pick it up at 270 Greenwood Avenue, use it for the week, bring it back. We're open Tuesday and Wednesday, 10am to 7pm, so you can call in on the way home.

Fees, rules and questions answered

Give someone a year of borrowing

For the person who has everything, or the one who's about to decorate, landscape or throw a party. No wrapping, no clutter, nothing to store.

£80

Full-year membership

Fair use policy applies: borrow for up to 2 weeks at a time, up to 6 items out at once.

Twelve months of free borrowing, from carpet cleaners to cement mixers.

£5

Pay-as-you-go membership

A low-cost way in. Pay a small fee each time you borrow.

Buy a gift membership Or a gift card for any amount

A member holding the library's yellow cement mixer outside the Library of Stuff — The cement mixer has been out 69 times. That's 69 mixers nobody had to buy.

Hull's most borrowed

Loans per item since we opened. The carpet cleaner has never been the most glamorous thing on the shelf, but it's the hardest working.

Carpet cleaner
334 loans
Folding tables with stretch covers
203 loans
Wacker plate
193 loans
Party speaker system
168 loans
Disco lights
147 loans
Pressure washer
138 loans
Gazebo
122 loans
LCD projector
94 loans
Cement mixer
69 loans
Electric chainsaw kit
65 loans

What sharing adds up to

Money our members saved by borrowing instead of buying, from each impact report since we opened on 8 March 2020.

£2,959

£11,045

£49,102

£140k

£247k

£385k

183 tonnes

of CO₂ saved, about the same as 45 UK cars driven for a year

3,168

members, from all over Hull and as far as Selby

7,221

loans, plus 6,854 consumables sold at cost

Figures from our 54-month impact report, to 31 August 2024. Savings total £385,000. Carbon method: Edinburgh Tool Library method. Read the impact reports

From a front room in Hull to national TV

Alan has been fixing things since he was 12. In March 2020 he opened the library from home, with David as the first official borrower. Two weeks later the country locked down, so we ran click and collect from the driveway.

Founder Alan Dalgairns with David, the library's first official borrower — Alan (right) with David, our first official borrower.

2019
Library of Stuff CIC formed
Formed on 15 August. Market research with the community and the first donated items.
2020
Opened from Alan's home
Opened on 8 March. Through the lockdowns we ran a Covid-safe, outdoor click and collect.
2022
Greenwood Avenue unit
Our first proper premises, at 372 Greenwood Avenue.
2024
Endike Lane community centre
A workshop, an office and neighbours next door at the food bank.
2026
270 Greenwood Avenue
Our home today, right at the crossroads.

Holding the BBC Make a Difference Award at BBC Radio Humberside

Award-winning, and on national TV

BBC Make a Difference Awards: Green category winner. StartUp Awards: Social Enterprise of the Year 2023, North East, Yorkshire and the Humber.

Seen and heard on BBC News, GB News, BBC Morning Live, BBC Look North, Channel 4's Steph's Packed Lunch, BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio Humberside.

Fill an empty hook

468 of the things on our shelves were given by people in Hull. Every gift means a neighbour borrows instead of buys.

Donate things

Tools and kit in good working order that you rarely use. Check the wanted list first; it's what members are asking for.

See the wanted list

Give your time

Help on the counter, list items in the catalogue from home, or service and sharpen tools. Volunteers earn membership credit, so you borrow for free.

Volunteer with us

Donate money

We're not self-funding yet. Your donation buys second-hand kit and keeps the doors open.

Incubator
Funded (now)
Self-funding

Give once

Give monthly

Another amount? Email info@libraryofstuff.co.uk

On the wanted list

Electric folding bikes
Digital SLR with a wildlife lens
10–15 tonne bench press (small, bench-top)
Log splitter, hydraulic or electric
Block paving cutter

Got one in good working order? Bring it in on a Tuesday or Wednesday, or see how to donate items.

Supported by Hull & East Riding Charitable Trust, Aviva Community Fund, Co-op Local Community Fund, The Co-operative Bank, CHCP Foundation, Two Ridings Community Foundation, Hull City Council ward budgets, Access – The Foundation for Social Investment.

More than a lending shelf

Repair Café

Bring something broken and we'll fix it together. So far that's saved over a tonne of CO₂ and £5,380. Run with Unity in Community.

Book a repair

A child taking apart a laptop with screwdrivers

Ravagers Club

Kids take apart things destined for recycling to see how they work, then we sort the parts for recycling. With FCC Environment and Dove House Re-Use Shop.

Exploring Employment

Young adults gain real work experience at the library: customer service, repairs and PAT testing on real kit. Part of Unity in Community's Exploring Employment project.

Find out about Exploring Employment

Read the research and case studies about the library

Proudly partnered with Unity in Community

We're proud to work with Unity in Community, a Hull charity. Together we run the Library, Repair Café and the Exploring Employment project, which gives young adults real work experience at the library.

Visit Unity in Community

Why buy it when Hull already owns one?

Borrowed by neighbours this month

New on the shelves

Borrowing in three steps

Join

Reserve online

Collect and return

Give someone a year of borrowing

Hull's most borrowed

What sharing adds up to

From a front room in Hull to national TV