Co-Founder of Library of Things Rebecca Trevalyan explains what the company has taught her about how and why people change their behaviour.
Local resident Eleanor was walking through Southside Shopping Centre in the centre of Wandsworth Town, and was excited by the new service she found there:
“I had thought about buying a wallpaper stripper and was walking to B&Q when I saw the Library of Things locker and that a wallpaper stripper was inside! I booked straight away and was amazed by how compact and brilliant it was to use. Thank you for saving me space and funds! I’ve persuaded my friends and family to borrow other items too.”
Meanwhile, in Kentish Town, Nick was trying to find easy ways to reduce the cost of energy bills at home. He realised he could rent a thermal imaging camera (over £400 to buy) for £15 per day from the Library of Things in his local library:
“We went round the house identifying the cold spots – not all of which were obvious. And we shared the information with other members of our residents group, which has a sustainability subgroup. We’re already saving on our energy bills.”
Over in Hackney Wick, Ade wanted to try out a new skill, so visited his local Library of Things in a community arts venue on the edge of his housing estate:
“I used a sewing machine for the first time. I’m so happy I rented the machine rather than buying it. I wasn’t sure if I would figure it out, but I’m now feeling much more confident in my sewing skills. I’m excited for other similar projects.”
Nearly 30,000 Londoners like Eleanor, Nick, and Ade have used Library of Things – affordably renting items to do DIY, repairs, cleaning, gardening, hobbying and events – and saving money and reducing waste in the process.
Members collect and return the items to self-service lockers embedded within 18 public libraries, reuse and repair hubs, shopping centres and arts venues in neighbourhoods across the capital.
According to surveys:
- 84% of members say Library of Things saves them money.
- 65% say Library of Things makes them feel proud of and better connected to their neighbourhood.
- 50% say they’ve learnt new skills.
- 72% say they’re now more motivated and able to repair, reuse and recycle more.
So Library of Things creates and enables positive behaviour change. But how does this translate to waste and emissions prevented?
What is the impact of Library of Things?
Our surveys suggest that about 50% of all item rentals directly prevent a purchase. In many cases, item rental also stimulates further indirect behaviour change, like more reuse and repair.
We multiply these figures by the average weight and embedded life-cycle emissions of the ~60 products in our catalogue, to calculate an estimate of the waste and emissions prevented.
For example, in the last 12 months, 17 sites have prevented about 140 tonnes of waste and 400 tonnes of emissions.
Measuring this is particularly important to us because our mission is to make borrowing better than buying for people and the planet.
We want people to share, rent and re-use resource-intensive electrical items, rather than buying them from retailers like Amazon or Argos.
What have we learned about behaviour change?
This year we’re celebrating our 10th anniversary since starting Library of Things in South London. We helped to catalyse a global movement of sharing libraries – there are now over 2000 across Europe!
Here are seven behaviour change lessons we’ve learnt over the last 10 years:
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What people say they want isn’t always what they actually want
From 2016-18, we tested 400 items with 1000 people by renting them from two shipping containers in a car park. We sourced items in line with a huge “wish list” members said they wanted to borrow – disco balls, pet carriers, guitars…
But less than half of these items were actually borrowed at all. In fact, only 60 items were used frequently enough to justify the work that went into them – sourcing, storing, promoting, pricing, cataloguing, maintaining and repairing.
We just couldn’t manage 400 items in a high-quality way.
That’s why we now focus on a catalogue of around 60 quality items. We call these “the greatest hits”. These are the “gateway” items to behaviour change.
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Convenience is critical
Many people are now used to the convenience of retailers like Amazon. Within 60 seconds you can purchase any item and receive it on your doorstep the next day.
During our volunteer-staffed shipping container experiment, we were only able to open for three days per week, six hours per day.
The feedback came loud and clear: “Please extend your opening hours, I’m at work/busy with children at those times”.
But our volunteer team already faced burnout and couldn’t take on more shifts – there was more work than met the eye!
That’s why we chose to co-locate Library of Things in accessible, staffed high street hubs like libraries and co-working spaces – which typically are open 6+ days per week.
We chose to invest in designing and building our own software and self-serve lockers – to make the user journey simple and accessible to many.
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Affordability is essential
We co-designed Library of Things with members of Community Shop – a social supermarket for people on lower incomes. We heard that pay-as-you-go was preferable to subscriptions: “I don’t know how often I’ll use this” and “I try to avoid recurring payments.”
So we chose a £1 or £2 one-off membership fee, plus a pay-as-you-go system with daily rental prices less than 10% of the cost of buying. We also have a no-questions-asked Concession Membership discount.
We want greener choices to be more affordable for everyone than polluting choices – whether sharing or renting items, taking the train, or buying organic.
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Word-of-mouth is king
Since we started, Library of Things members have spread the word to families, friends, and neighbours – without us needing to ask. They love the service, so they tell others.
This is one of the best forms of marketing. Not only is it free, but it also builds trust. Our experience is that people’s behaviours are “better” when they feel part of a community – they’re more likely to bring items back clean, intact and on time. They’re more likely to “pay it forward” and share skills with others.
We complement this with digital marketing, email marketing and social media ads have been effective at driving usage amongst those who are online.
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Upfront investment pays off
We try to be “demand-led” in terms of where we launch. We look for evidence that local people in a neighbourhood want a Library of Things before getting started (while also being mindful of Lesson #1 – that people don’t always want what they ask for!)
To enable this, we use our campaign tool – where anyone can set up and share a petition to call for a Library of Things near them. In Ealing, we had over 1,100 signatures on the petition before launching.
This means that before launching, we have a ready-made list of local ambassadors and allies, and a spirit of “this is our Library of Things”.
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Councils need to be key partners and allies
Councils can unlock budgets, spaces and marketing power that are critical for services like Library of Things.
Southwark Council’s Climate team was particularly brilliant in promoting Canada Water Library of Things. And it paid off.
They commissioned adverts on billboards and bus stops, they advertised in council newsletters that went out to every resident, and they continually do social media promotion and outreach at events. Canada Water Library of Things has been busy from day one.
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Local relationships create trust and belonging
Ambassador Juliana talks to a potential member about the service.
Over the years, we’ve invested a lot into ambassadors, locally-embedded people who champion behaviour change who do talks in places like schools and faith groups, and help organise events like DIY or repair workshops.
They weave relationships and establish trust and shared purpose in the neighbourhood, which can lead to the gradual adoption of positive behaviours.
There’s something fundamental happening here. By developing stronger local relationships and resilient spaces to gather and share, we’re creating alternatives to some of the underlying drivers of individualist consumerism: loneliness and separation.
One Ambassador, Juliana, spoke with hundreds of people at 50+ events around Hammersmith.
She said: “Having a conversation with someone changes their relationship to reuse. I could feel the impact – people started to understand that Library of Things is a community resource, there are ways they can get involved – it’s not just a set of tools to rent. That gave them hope and belonging.”
Of course, in-person outreach is rarely a “quick wins” approach – it can take years before this translates to measurable impact metrics – but it is a radically inclusive approach and, in some cases, a transformational one.
What next?
We’re now working Europe-wide to grow the movement that we first helped catalyse back in 2014.
We’re partnering with councils, community organisations and businesses across the UK and Europe, to help them to start and sustain their own sharing libraries.
Partners can access our Sharing Library Platform to power their service, including software, self-serve lockers (where needed), a supply chain, how-to guides, campaign tools, impact calculators – and, of course, our behaviour change expertise.
Read more about Library of Things and how to partner with us here.
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