How We Operate a Camping Gear Lending Library in Ottawa

Click here to borrow camping gear from the Adventure Report Lending Library

Since Adventure Report started it’s camping gear lending library in 2020, I’ve had a LOT of people ask me about how it’s run. And how they can start a gear library in their own town! Which I think is amazing. And I know personally that before I started I had a TON of questions. But when I reached out to people that I thought might have answers, I didn’t hear anything back.

So ever since then whenever someone has asked me to tell them how things work, I’ve made sure to get on a phone call or a Zoom call with them to share my experience. And then I thought… Wait a second, I have a BLOG! That’s a much more efficient way for me to answer questions for anyone who has them!

So, here I’ll answer the questions that I get most often.

How did you start the library?

When I started the gear lending library, I had no idea how to run a gear lending library. I had seen @indigenouswomenhike start one for her community and thought the idea was brilliant- but that’s about all I knew. So I sat on the idea for years and did nothing about it.

When COVID hit though, it was such an eye opener to me about how important access to the outdoors was for people’s physical and mental health.

So instead of thinking that I needed to have the gear library all figured out before I started it, I decided instead I would start it and figure it out as I went along. Done is better than perfect!

What do you include in the gear library?

Our gear lending library is focused solely on camping equipment. We have Kits designed for car camping as well as backpacking. They’re called “Kits” because we designed the gear library in a way that we would be lending people basically EVERYTHING they needed to go camping. We wanted to run it like that because not only can it take a lot of money to get into camping, it takes a lot of TIME, when you think about finding a campsite to book, tracking down all the gear you need, planning your meals, getting all the clothes packed up… We recognize that time is a luxury that not everybody has, so we wanted it to feel like “one stop shopping” when it came to the gear… But for free!

Click here to look at each of the individual kits to see what’s included.

Where do you keep the gear?

Short answer: In closets throughout the city of Ottawa.

Long answer: We’re incredibly lucky that people are into this idea and are willing to volunteer their time and energy! A small team has come together to run the gear lending library (and we’re excited for it to grow) For each kit that we loan out, there’s a team member who stores it and distributes it to the people who are borrowing it.

We considered centralizing the location (and I’m sure this could work really well too), but we wanted to make sure that location wasn’t going to be another barrier to getting outdoors. All of our team members have the capacity to drop off kits to our borrowers, in instances where borrowers might not have access to a car, work a ton of shifts and can’t afford the time to drive out, etc.

How do you manage bookings?

Anyone can book the gear through our website. We use a WordPress Plug-in called “Hotel Booking Lite.” It’s not great, but it’s free (which is really it’s best feature, since we run the library on volunteer hours and donations, and not a lot of cash). This plug-in doesn’t even let me adjust bookings on the back end, that’s how lame it is. I have to go through my own website to make changes. But so far, it’s been… sufficient. (If anyone knows of a better free one, please let me know though!).

The plug-in has a spot for people to include their name, email address, and contact info so we know how to get in touch with them.

When somebody books a kit, an email is sent to the Adventure Report email address. Then I put the booking into a Google Calendar that is shared only with the team members for the library. I also message the team member who manages that particular kit to tell them about the new booking. Then they text the borrower and let them know we received their booking. The two arrange a time for the borrower to come and pick-up the kit, or for us to drop it off to them.

How do you keep the gear clean?

Once again, this is all thanks to our team members! And to be honest, the people who borrow our kits. Everyone has been really amazing about returning the gear clean and in great shape and we’re super grateful for that. It makes things so much easier for us!

When the kits are returned we take a quick look at everything to make sure it’s still in good shape, and give the pots and pans, plates etc. a little scrub to make sure they’re clean.

What do you charge for people to borrow the gear?

Nothing! Which is kind of the whole point. 😊

Maybe in the future we’ll add an option where people can donate while they’re booking. We’ll see.

What about liability and insurance?

We don’t actually carry any insurance (although as we grow, we’re looking into it- I’ll report back). We’re kind of operating the library on the premise of “borrowing stuff from your friend online,” just like you would borrow stuff from your friends in real life… And you don’t take out an insurance policy on your friends, do you?

On the website when people book there are terms and conditions that they must agree to before borrowing our gear- these basically say that we are not responsible for any harm the borrower comes to during the time that they’re using our gear.

We also do our best to provide a bit of education to folks who are borrowing, because at the end of the day it is important that people are taking part in these activities safely. There are links to instructional videos for the gear we include on the website, and we’ve incorporated info about how to “Leave no Trace” when backpacking with our backpacking kits.

How many people end up borrowing the gear every season?

Last year when we were just getting started and had fewer kits available, we were able to lend them to about 15 families/groups over the summer.

For the 2021 summer season, we already have nearly 50 bookings. And we’re excited to add more kits soon, so that even more people will be able to go camping!

Any Random Tips?

Photocopy whatever instructions you have or you’re able to find! Especially for items that are older, where you won’t be able to find instructions online. And for tents, which can sometimes feel like a guessing game to get up (just me?).

If you get a sleeping bag donated but it’s dirty, don’t give up on it! We soak ours in a mixture of 1/4 cup Borax, 1/4 cup baking soda, 1 scoop of powdered Tide, in super hot water! Let it sit until the stains have come out. Then put it through the washer on the delicates cycle (same cycle on the dryer). Warning: I’ve only ever tried this on sleeping bags with synthetic materials.

What haven’t you figured out yet?

So much… Lol. The number one thing I would like to spend more time on/pay more attention to is how to get the library more funding, because that just gives us so much more flexibility in terms of the gear we’re able to offer to folks. I know absolutely nothing about grants and all that stuff.

We also see ourselves partnering with other community organizations as we grow, and lending what we have to help those groups facilitate getting their communities outdoors.

Let us know if you have any questions we haven’t answered!