The Ottawa Tool Library is a non-profit tool lending library in the heart of Ottawa – providing tools, expertise and a workspace for projects. We’re located at 877A Boyd Avenue (entrance off Dobbie Street). We’re accessible by public transit and have parking at the front of the building. We have a dedicated WorkSpace at OTL where you can work on your personal projects.
We also host events like Repair Cafés; Demo Nights on leather working, bike repair, canning or zero-waste living; and workshops for all ages to introduce topics including plumbing, sewing, and drywall repair.
Our History & Mission
In 2014, the Society for Social Ingenuity (SSI) was federally incorporated as a not-for-profit organization with a mission to contribute to global climate targets by promoting social innovation projects and the development of a circular economy in Ottawa. Through SSI’s main project, the Ottawa Tool Library, we engage, connect and empower the community to participate in sharing resources by providing access to tools, skills and knowledge.
Our volunteer-driven services and programs are designed to support the development of a thriving DIY community, enabling local people, communities, and businesses to practice sustainability by keeping products and materials in use and circulating, and reducing consumption and waste. We achieve this by supporting people to learn how to make, fix, and do things for themselves and providing them with the tools, skills, knowledge and community connections to do so. By engaging in our programs and services, community members develop relationships and social networks, building collective knowledge, skills, and resources. This strengthens local social capital and enhances the capacity, diversity, resiliency and well-being of our community.
Our Tool Hospital
Our Tool Hospital is named after our friend, volunteer and first Tool Doctor, Phil – we called him “Dr. Phil”. He was involved almost from the outset, as we cleaned tools in a church garage in 2015. Once we had a space, he spent hundreds of hours erecting walls, building and rebuilding shelves to accommodate our growing inventory, cleaning and maintaining tools, teaching and quizzing many of us about what they were and how to use them. Phil in his ‘Canadian tuxedo’, his minivan and later his Vespa scooter were all fixtures at the OTL.
Phil passed in 2019, but not before making an indelible impression on the OTL and our community. His absence from the OTL is deeply felt, but his memory lives on in the OTL. We renamed his beloved Tool Hospital the Dr. Phil Yang Memorial Tool Hospital in his memory and affixed a plaque so that every visitor knows his incredible contribution to the OTL.
We miss you, dear friend. Thanks for everything.