Libraries of Things as a new form of sharing. Pushing the Sharing Economy

Abstract

Abstract:Although the willingness to share is huge, sharing is rarely applied in everyday life, because many current Sharing Economy offers are not practicable. This paper asks what contributions an innovative Sharing Service -a library not simply lending books but a wider range of items -can make to close the gap between willingness to share and practice. Most of these innovative libraries were founded in the last few years, but many still fail to overcome the identified gap. As global environmental problems demand a change of consumer behaviour to enable human actions within planetary boundaries, bridging the gap could have a huge impact. Libraries of Things could reduce the average resource and energy consumption of users, maintaining quality of life. This paper analyses existing Libraries of Things and Tool Libraries. The outcome is assessed against empirically proven user expectations to detect the discrepancies between supply and demand of current offers commonly available.

Access Over Ownership: Case Studies of Libraries of Things

“…This is despite public libraries being commonly proposed as potential centres for sustainable community development [37]. Studies on consumer response to such libraries indicate that there is a high willingness to share rather than own across many countries, but despite this, sharing is rarely put into practice, in part due to a lack of structured sharing options [38]. A study of LoTs in Germany found that users are motivated by cost savings, convenience and positive social aspects of sharing, while barriers include lack of awareness about LoTs, hygiene issues, security, low quality of items, high effort and unwanted dependency on other people [38].…”

“…Studies on consumer response to such libraries indicate that there is a high willingness to share rather than own across many countries, but despite this, sharing is rarely put into practice, in part due to a lack of structured sharing options [38]. A study of LoTs in Germany found that users are motivated by cost savings, convenience and positive social aspects of sharing, while barriers include lack of awareness about LoTs, hygiene issues, security, low quality of items, high effort and unwanted dependency on other people [38]. Additionally, there were discrepancies with respect to supply and demand of loanable goods as users are not keen to lend personal possessions to strangers and completely let go of them, unless they are of low quality.…”

“…This strategy guarantees quality, allows greater control over product range availability and perhaps can send a quality signal to users in terms of items entering the scheme new rather than towards their "end of life". This may tackle some of the factors deterring potential scheme users such as concerns about hygiene or item quality [38].…”

“…Only a minority of users mentioned ideologies linked to the sustainability of alternative lifestyles, environmental issues and opposition of "commercial forces" [33]. Studies of engagement with access-based goods demonstrate that familiarity with the concept is the most prevalent factor that predicts consumer adoption [20,21,38]. Therefore, effective communication of concepts of reuse and sharing that reach a wide range of consumers and utilise a full range of communications techniques, including social media, are likely to be key to the future success of sharing and other CBMs [54].…”

Board 75: Establishing a Tech Tool Library with Instructional Resources at an Academic Institution

“…4 Research has shown that there is an interest in a "Library of Things" and that patrons want access to items and workshops for their use. 5 As a large public university, UF has an enrollment of around 55,000 students, of which some 10,000 are associated with the 9 departments, 15 degree programs, and 20 centers and institutes within the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. About two-thirds of the engineering students are undergraduates and all are required to have a laptop computer.…”