On 5/5/2008 10:32 AM David Nebenzahl spake thus:

I'm a borrower at my local tool lending library, the Temescal Branch of
the Oakland Public Library. They've been lending a broad range of tools
for more than a decade now with none of the problems you've posed here.
They have everything from ordinary hand tools to gardening stuff to tile
saws to hammer drills, Sawzalls, post-hole diggers, grinders, routers,
you name it.

I just came back from the tool lending library (returned the Makita side
grinder I borrowed), so I can tell you that they've actually been around
for nine years and have never had a liability problem, once, in all that
time.

It's pretty simple, really: borrowers sign a liability waiver, which
protects the library from claims against it in case of injury. The guy
there said he remembered exactly one case of someone cutting themself on
a table saw, but that it didn't result in any litigation against the
library. (File under "**** happens", I suppose.)

You can look at their web info at
http://www.oaklandlibrary.org/Branch...toolsched.html.


--
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute
conversation with the average voter.

- Attributed to Winston Churchill