About the Crafty Library

The Crafty Library was officially begun in March, 2025.

You can read about its use and features here:

The page below is about managing the library and is mostly useful for people adding books to the library or helping to manage it.

Library Management

Library Management is divided into three areas:

• Approving new items for the library
• Adding new items to the library
• Removing items from the library when they are returned to their owners

In addition, physical organization of library items helps users find them.

Approving Library Items

Books, magazines, pamphlets, sewing patterns and other printed materials are all candidates for inclusion in the Crafty Library.

In general, jigs, accessories, tools and materials are not candidates for the library and should be kept in the appropriate workspace.  Any donation, and the storage of such items, would be at the discretion of the steward of that workspace.

The essential choice is whether you learn from it (belongs in the library), or use it directly (belongs in a workspace).  Sewing patterns seem to straddle this divide, but they are printed information, so the library is an acceptable location.

Adding Items to the Library

Loans to the Crafty Library are subject to the approval of the library steward,  a workspace steward or instructor, or any council member: any such approval is sufficient.

Any loaned items must be stamped, embossed or marked with the name of the owner on the inside of the front cover of any book or magazine, preferably in an upper corner, or In a conspicuous place that cannot be easily removed.  For example, an “Ex Libris” sticker or stamp.

Anyone who approves an addition to the Crafty Library agrees to notify the steward about the additions so they can be added to the index and if needed, moved into position within one of the branches.  It is fine for them to be stamped and inserted into the library and then to notify the steward about the new items.

Loaned items are protected by all of the same measures that protect Ace MakerSpace’s own tools and materials; however, Ace MakerSpace is not responsible for the loss of or damage to loaned items.  The owner of loaned items acknowledges that loaned items could possibly be damaged, destroyed, stolen, lost, etc.  The owner of loaned items acknowledges that they might not get loaned items back.

Loaning items doesn’t convey membership at Ace, and someone doesn’t need to be a member of Ace to make a donation.  Non-members who make donations may contact the library steward for access to their loaned items, for example, to remove them.

The steward adds information for all new items loaned to the Crafty Library.

Removing Library Items

The owner may remove their loaned items at any time.  If they do so, they agree to promptly notify the library steward.  If the owner cannot find the item, they should ask the library steward for help, regardless of who approved the loan of the item.

The owner doesn’t need to ask permission to remove their owned items.  Notifying the steward is our social contract around how the end of the loan is handled, not a contingency of its return.

The Original Ace Collection

Ace Makerspace has had a loosely organized library of materials in coworking in a book case near the couches, as well as on a shelf by the couch.   There are still many books and magazines there, but the workshop, metal and electronics books were moved to the Co-Working branch.

With very few exceptions, we do not know who loaned these materials to Ace.  They are being indexed as part of our collection, but almost all of them are not stamped with an owner’s name.

Library Index

The Crafty Library Index is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12A6ofsjagc3sP5XueK1nrkwNN-eoECdMIntPE2IUxLA/edit?usp=sharing

The library steward has write access to this spreadsheet, but nobody else does.  Everyone else has readonly access to it.

The Library Steward

The library steward maintains a spreadsheet of all library items.  They add new items when they are donated, and move them to a separate sheet when they are removed.  The sheet tracks their name and condition, ISBN number if applicable, manufacturer and pattern number, etc. to unambiguously identify each item.

The library steward also maintains a separate spreadsheet with the contact information of people who are currently loaning items to the library, so they can be contacted if needed.  This spreadsheet shall be owned by Ace Makerspace and the current library steward shall be invited to edit it.  If the steward role passes to a different person, only the new steward should have access to the contact spreadsheet.

The library steward is one of the people who can accept new library items offered, along with all Ace Makerspace board members, instructors and stewards.

The library steward handles the intake of new items, ensuring they are properly labeled and that the owner’s contact information is recorded as well as adding the info to the library item spreadsheet.

The library steward also handles notifications from members about damage or loss of library items. 

The library steward also coordinates access to the library for non-members who currently have loaned items to the library, for example, so they can be removed.

The library steward may arrange items in the main library.  Workspace stewards and instructors may arrange their branch libraries however they wish.   However, libraries should be arranged  with the intention of being most useful to members.  So, for example, by topic and not by color of the cover or by author name.

/Asset Log

To make it easier to track information about the library, it has an asset number so the /asset command can be used in slack channels.  It is mostly used by the library steward.  

Whereas tools have a convention of up/down following the asset number the library has a convention of the following:

Add – followed by description of what has been added 

Removed – followed by description of what has been removed

Damaged – followed by description of what has been damaged 

Lost – followed by description of what has been lost

A separate /asset command is not needed for every item added or removed.  A single /asset command can generally describe the set of things added.

A separate /asset command is needed for every item damaged or lost unless multiple items are listed within a single /asset command.  Regardless of the number of /asset commands used, all damaged or lost items should be listed in a /asset command.