The Sonoma County Tool Library; Building Community One Tool at a Time, by Martin Reed
Our guest speaker for June 4, 2026 was Martin Reed, who presented on behalf of the Sonoma County Tool Library. Martin is a Sebastopol real estate agent and Executive Director of the Tool Library. Martin has recently led the library to a new home at 427 Mendocino Avenue. Martin started out with the library when he needed a jack hammer to deal with some concrete in his back yard. He was amazed to find an expensive jack hammer on loan without charge!
The Tool Library was started 19 years ago and provides free access to thousands of tools for Sonoma County residents. Its values include making tools available to everyone regardless of income and reducing consumption through sharing economy principles. The tools on loan range from landscaping tools for defensible space projects to power tools, sewing machines, drills, and bike repair kits. The tools are loaned without charge to Sonoma County residents. Last year the library made 4,000 loans. It currently has 650 borrowers signed up and is involved in 1,400 defensible space projects. The library focuses on helping people create defensible space by loaning tools, such as trimmers and chippers. One of the library’s most important current projects is the creation of microsites throughout the county to allow easier access to tools by people outside of Santa Rosa. Currently, tools are loaned at the Santa Rosa Avenue location.
The Tool Library also helps create community. Shared resources strengthen the fabric of the community. People get together to discuss their projects, how they approach problems, and the best tools to use for projects. Borrowing builds trust! The library has a few requests. Donation and volunteers are always appreciated, as are word-of-mouth referrals. The library does not accept donated tools as it prefers to buy new tools.
Many thanks to Martin for his presentation of an important Sonoma County resource that many of us may never have heard about.
