Maker

Putting His Tools

Into Circulation

Dustin Zuckerman’s tool library. By Dale Dougherty

Reserved is a word with multiple meanings for in 2008 for a practical reasons — he himself had a librarian, even one who doesn’t lend books. needed tools he couldn’t afford to buy or rent for Soft-spoken and reserved, Dustin Zuckerman a gardening project. But he also saw the lending works the periodicals desk at the Santa Rosa Junior library as a way to help others. “I got to think-College Library by day. On his own time, he runs ing that I wanted to have something to show for the Santa Rosa Tool Library out of his modest myself,” he says. “So I started this project.” apartment. When he explained the idea to friends, they Patrons of the tool library can go online to reserve surprised him with a $200 gift card from Sears, tools for a weekend project and then drop by where he bought a set of plumbing tools to seed Zuckerman’s apartment in downtown Santa Rosa, his library. He made several visits to his family’s Calif., to pick them up. On a summer Saturday, pawnshop in Los Angeles, where he filled up his about 15 people will come to borrow tools such as van with donations such as a rotary hammer drill. disc sanders, jackhammers, drills, pickaxes, pres- Once he got the library going, patrons donated sure washers, and 100-foot tape measures. tools they didn’t need or didn’t use much. Now he Zuckerman, 38, started the tool-lending library has more than 700 tools of 300 types; those most

Photography by Sam Murphy

38 Make: Volume 18