Kate Lally and Veronica Adams, Tool Library president and vice president
Amy Dunshee and her husband pulled up to the Harrisburg Tool Library as soon as it opened at 5:30 p.m. on a Thursday.
After 30 years with a carpentry workshop off Fishing Creek Valley Road, they were giving a truck bed’s worth of tools ahead of an upcoming move, excited to donate supplies that had served them well.
According to Kate Lally and Veronica Adams, the library’s president and vice president, hundreds of tools have been donated like this by dozens of supporters.
Adams said that a flurry of donation drop-offs in the first few minutes after volunteers open the doors has become the norm.
“It’s kind of beautiful to be interacting with someone and just knowing that they chose us and not anywhere that could be easier,” Adams said.
With an army of tools arrayed in its small, 600-square-foot space, the library now takes “Wish List Only” tool donations and has shifted its strategy to seeking monetary donations and memberships—the latter of which currently occupies Lally’s focus.
“We want the resource to exist, and we want people to use it,” she said.
Phil Wells, director of the Tool Library
Homegrown Idea
The library is the first of its kind in Harrisburg. It began asking for donations (in the form of both money and tools) in October 2025. It opened its doors last January, but its conception began long before, at a 2024 pop-up market by Plant Family.
It was there, by coincidence, Adams overheard Lally, her friend and neighbor, talking about how she wanted to start a tool library for the city.
She jumped into the conversation.
“I turned around, and I was like, ‘Me too!’” Adams remembered. “I was like, ‘I know how to do that. We could do that together.’”
Soon after, they assembled a group of other interested neighbors and had their first meeting around Lally’s kitchen table, building out their vision as an organization.
A field trip to the Carlisle Tool Library then provided a spurt of motivation. Its organizers talked them through available resources in what Lally described as the typical collaborative spirit of tool libraries everywhere.
“People who are doing this nationally and globally only want there to be more tool libraries and are interested in sharing what they’ve learned,” Lally said.
Tool Library power tools
Months later, the Harrisburg Tool Library’s organizers registered as a nonprofit and picked an easily accessible location, leasing a space on N. 3rd Street in Midtown.
“It was a priority for people to be able to access our building physically,” Lally said. “It is accessible for wheelchairs and strollers and also a central location in Harrisburg.”
Connections she made talking with others at her children’s daycare, Little Amps and other local spots helped them not only get the space, but garner funding in the form of a $25,000 state grant.
To Lally, such connections represent the spirit of Harrisburg.
“When you say that something is happening, people tend to say, ‘How can I help?’” she explained. “They want to be involved. They want to be connected. They want to put their mark on something.”
Patrick Fraunfelter, tool libarian
Board by Board
The library is run by five board members and “at least two handfuls” of tool librarians, according to Adams.
“Since January, our librarians have been coming every single week we’ve been open,” she said. “They’ve been helping us practice the systems, fail the systems—make it better.”
Patrick Frownfelter is one of these librarians. An actual librarian by training, he has developed a Dewey Decimal “without the decimal” System for categorizing the library’s stock, building out categories for gardening, carpentry, standard hand tools, plumbing, electric and more.
“You go from hand tools to hammer to claw hammer—that kind of thing,” Frownfelter explained.
The Midtown resident said that he loves volunteering because he feels the tool library is something the city needs.
“Who wants to spend $300 for a tool you’re going to use once?” he said.
Tool Library inventory
As of early June, the library had 66 members. According to their data, over half live in Harrisburg or the surrounding east shore. A smaller percentage come from the west shore, including towns like Carlisle, Lemoyne and New Cumberland.
Sliding-scale annual memberships, ranging from $1 to $250 per year, allow people to pay what they can afford to belong. People evaluate for themselves and choose a contribution based on their ability to meet all their basic needs, their job stability and their existing debt. Once a member, they can check out any tools from the library’s catalog at no cost.
Frownfelter himself saved money by checking out a toilet installation kit a few months back.
Lally said that the library doesn’t currently have limitations on how many tools somebody can check out at a time.
“Right now, we’re operating from an abundance perspective,” she said.
Tool Library gardening tools
Building the Plane
Lally and Adams emphasized that, despite their lead roles in the organization, they don’t necessarily know much about using the tools themselves—it was the mutual aid aspect of tool libraries that lured them in.
They enjoy untraditional offerings in the library’s collection, like fruit pickers and canning pots, while other board members are more tool-informed, they said.
Namely, Lally’s husband, Phil Wells.
“I’ve kind of done it all,” he said. “Handyman stuff, commercial work.”
Wells, who serves as the library’s director, began working in construction at 16 and has fixed up things all over the city—working at the Broad Street Market, the Millworks and the state Capitol, and on buildouts at both Elementary and Little Amps Coffee locations.
He also built out the library’s space with pegboards, shelving and an information kiosk.
“I’m self-taught in a lot of ways,” Wells noted, including his extensive knowledge of how to use and repair tools.
His construction experience helps him advise members who might be unsure what tools they need for projects when they come in. He’s shared his thoughts, for instance, on the difference between drilling into a brick wall versus drywall and what type of fasteners someone would need for each.
Phil Wells holds a tool
“When I was here last week, we had a woman come in looking for a palm sander and extension cord, and I kind of went through the palm sanders and got her one that is easy to use,” Wells said.
This type of sander can range from $40 to $250 new, but the library has a wide selection available for members. It offers a good example of the utility the tool library can provide for someone who might not use a palm sander regularly. Once a home project is complete, the member takes the tool back to the library for another person to use.
“Our main focus is just helping renters and homeowners fix their homes,” Wells explained. “There’s really very limited resources for specifically Harrisburg city residents to repair their homes.”
Adams explained that most homes people buy in the city are over 100 years old and require regular maintenance.
“The homes that people can afford are homes that are not renovated,” she said. “So, we see this as an opportunity to provide for people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to own a home or people who wouldn’t be able to keep their homes.”
While only 36% of Harrisburg residents own, according to the most recent census data, the roughly 63% of city renters could also benefit from taking out needed supplies.
“Our goals are to keep our neighbors and our community safe through self-sustainability and interdependence,” Lally said.
This year, the Tool Library’s big goal is to add more members and get those who have joined comfortable using it.
“I want tools to be constantly in and out,” Lally said.
While both Adams and Lally had community organizing experience coming into the Tool Library, they emphasized that something like this can be done by just about anyone.
“The biggest issue is just the ability to bring people together and work together strongly as a team,” said Adams, who works professionally as a nonprofit consultant.
“It’s not always easy,” she said. “It’s like you’re laying down the railroad tracks while you’re reading the manual on how to operate the train.”
“Building the plane while you fly it,” offered Lally.
But it can be done.
“With focused and intentional conversations, any neighbors can come together and create something like this,” Adams said.
Kate Lally and Veronica Adams, tool library leadership
The Harrisburg Tool Library is located at 1314 N. 3rd St. in Harrisburg. To learn more or become a member, visit hbgtoollibrary.com.
Harrisburg Tool Library reading materials
Tool Time
Hours
The Harrisburg Tool Library is open on Thursdays from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. at 1314 N. 3rd St. in Midtown Harrisburg.
Inventory
Only some of its inventory has been catalogued online by its all-volunteer staff. So, the best way to find out if they have something is to show up in person and ask.
Volunteers
The organization is currently looking for more volunteers, particularly those with community organizing or workshop programming experience. Interested parties can fill out a form on its website.
Membership motive
The Tool Library is also interested in hearing from the public about what tools might motivate them to join. To add input, email [email protected].
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