About Us

The Minnesota Tool Library is a cooperative, volunteer-driven nonprofit that offers our community Access Over Ownership. We believe you don’t need to privately own costly tools that clutter cupboards, basements and garages... it's a waste of space and resources that could be better utilized by building in community. Instead we share tools and trade skills with one another to empower eachother and help create a more resilient and equitable community. MTL'ers enjoy low-cost access to the tools we need to repair and maintain our homes, build our businesses, and invest in our communties - by borrowing items from our shared library. It's as simple as checking out a book and our inventory is vast. Moreover, we engage eachother to expand our collective skill set - offering both formal classes and informal mentoring and project advice. Everyone from novice to skilled craftsperson is welcome and we'll help you along the way. Whether you're looking to tackle some home-improvement tasks, enjoy a hobby, build a business, or try that Pinterest project - we have the tools, shared space, and support to help make your DIY dreams a reality. 

Mission, Vision, and Values

Our Mission

To empower each other, reduce waste and improve communities by sharing tools, trade skills, and shop space.

Our Vision

The Minnesota Tool Library envisions a vibrant and resilient community where:

• We reduce waste and unnecessary consumption of resources;
• Community members are more connected to each other;
• Resources and knowledge are shared equitably;
• Community members have inspirational spaces to collaborate on creative projects;
• Everyone is empowered to use tools to Fix Your Stuff and Fix the World;

Our Values

Trustworthiness: We seek to offer technically proficient, competent services that community members can trust and rely on.

Community Building: We will be mindful of the impacts of our work beyond our organization. We will make decisions that result in greater investment in our neighborhoods and increase economic equity.

Integrity: We will seek to apply our values consistently throughout our organization, going the extra mile to ensure that our actions align with our vision and mission.

Inclusivity: We will strive to be approachable to people from all walks of life, check our assumptions that are based in privilege, and encourage diversity of age, gender identity, race, education, ability, and sexual orientation in both our members and decision makers.

Accountability: We will make every effort to follow through on our promises and measure outcomes.

Transparency: We will work to make our decision making processes transparent and make decisions using clear criteria rather than subjective judgments.

 

Staff

Kate Hersey, Executive Director
Kate brings over 20 years of professional experience in the nonprofit sector to her role as Executive Director of the Minnesota Tool Library. She is influenced by her service as a VISTA, background teaching non-profit management & leadership development, years as a volunteer administrator, and experience capacity building through her private consulting practice.

A firm believer in the sharing economy, Kate thinks local organizations like the MN Tool Library have a unique opportunity to educate and empower, connect neighbors in building community (both literally and figuratively), and to impact our economic and environmental footprints.

Kate resides in the Como neighborhood of St. Paul where she lives in a fixer-upper with her husband and two tutu-wearing and tool-wielding Mini MTL'ers. She’s no stranger to home improvement projects, basic carpentry, and crafty Pinterest pursuits. 

Branch Managers:

Logan Carroll
As an active MTL'er (since 2017), Logan has been a regular patron at Northeast and borrowed tools over 200 times. Originally from the Black Hills in South Dakota, he currently lives with his partner and Mini MTL'er in South Minneapolis.The Tool Library's mission, our commitment to equity, and the idea of Access Over Ownership really resonates with him. He joins our staff as a Branch Manager for SPTL - where you'll find him sharing his passion and providing a kindred library experience that he's loved to others in our community. Logan's worked a lot of odd jobs over the years; including as a butcher, a journalist, a direct support professional, and a carpenter.

Thomas Ebert
Thomas manages our NEMTL Branch and is one of our organizations co-founders. He worked in the Waste Reduction field for nearly a decade in the recycling programs at Portland State University and the City of Beaverton and was a member of the North Portland Tool Library - where he witnessed the value in shared community resources and waste reduction. After a 13 year stint on the West Coast he moved back to the Midwest (he originally hails from Milwaukee, WI) and settled in NorthEast. He feels very fortunate to have combined forces with neighbor and Co-founder, Zach Wefel, and gained the support of many talented and committed community members who have helped make the Minnesota Tool Library possible. 

Thomas holds an undergraduate degree in Community Development from Portland State, and has lots of community building experience under his belt. He hopes the tool library can become a “sharing hub”- encouraging us to view nearly all that we do through a lens of cooperative support.

Robert Hiller
Robert (Bob) is a Minnesota native, but has lived and worked all around the country as an applied physicist (his background is in engineering and acoustics) and professor. He's very handy with appliance and tool repair, computers/electronics, and 3D printing in addition to home maintenance tasks. Bob enjoys volunteer work and has been a consistent presence at our Fix-It Friday shop hours; he also shares his time and talents as a docent and demonstrator with the Bakken Museum, reviewing and editing technical papers, repairing just about everything under the sun at Hennepin and Ramsey County fix-it clinics, and teaching science to homeschoolers.

Bob's focus for the tool library is providing highly-usable space and tools for our members so they can get their projects done - and advancing their knowledge to do it efficiently, safely, and cost-effectively. When not behind the counter, you can likely find him patching up tools in the repair lairs at both MTL branches or organizing our Community Fix-Ins.

Reyd Jordan
As a patron of MTL turned staff, Reyd's journey was sparked by the intrigue of access to shared tools that would allow him to complete DIY projects and repairs without breaking the bank or needing another storage shed. Now he helps make that dream a reality for others too as a Branch Manager, predominantly at Northeast. Reyd loves the MN Tool Library's ability to reduce waste and unnecessary consumption while at the same time fostering community and connections among members and volunteers. A lifelong Minnesotan and Twin Cities resident since 2018, Reyd has an undergraduate degree in Environmental Science.  He's passionate about promoting sustainability with the MN Tool Library and through his other work as a sustainable gardener. Reyd lives in the Saint Anthony Park Neighborhood where he participates as a member of the Land Use Committee and neighborhood Tree Guild club.

Mark Thoson
Mark has lived in the Twin Cities for over 45 years, is semi-retired, and now gardens and maintains his home in Saint Paul, where he joins us as a Branch Manager for SPTL. The vast majority of his working life has been involved in making things - from fine jewelry to furniture, from orthotics to kitchen products, and from tomatoes to flowers. He owned and operated a fine jewelry store, custom designing gold and gemstone heirlooms for 13 years; and he curently utilizes discarded trees and solar power to make utilitarian and customizable wood products for his Etsy shop, SolarTreeGoods.com.  Throughout his working life, a good tool for the job, plus safe and efficient use has always provided pleasure to his work.

Hobby-wise, Mark enjoys laughing at his attempts at playing the cello and will indulge in low stakes poker- but he’s clearly never going to make a career in either field! He volunteers with the Humanists of MN moderated discussion groups and book clubs, and served on their board of directors for 7 years. Mark’s very happy to combine his advocacy and commitment  to sustainable and cooperative ventures at the MN Tool Library.

 

Project Staff:

Tim Francis
Lured by the promise of mild winters, Tim moved to the Twin Cities from Texas after a career in theater as a technical director, lighting designer and educator. Not quite ready to forever hang up the old tool belt, he bought a 100 year old house in St.Paul guaranteeing the need for continued access to a wide variety of tools. Tim was happy to discover the SPTL branch near his house and spent a year of service as MTL's VISTA, strengthening volunteer engagement practices.  Now he serves as our Operations Coordinator - supporting Branch admin and special projects to make a meaningful impact on the long term sustainability of this "amazing community resource".

When not at MTL, Tim is an aspiring long distance hiker and recently walked from the Arizona/Utah border to Flagstaff on the Arizona Trail. Even though he now owns a pair of snowshoes, he looks forward to exploring the Superior Hiking Trail and Boundary Waters area once the snow melts.

Linnea Henrikson
Linnea is a lifelong crafter with a knack for creative DIY solutions. A recent college graduate, she brings experience coordinating projects through her work over the past five years in Twin Cities environmental organizing and community education – often focusing on the intersections of sustainability, art, mutual aid, and people power – as well as numerous odd jobs over the years. She enjoys making art of many forms, gardening, and reading speculative fiction.

In her role as Program Coordinator, Linnea connects with members and instructors to create class programming that aligns with the MTL community’s needs and interests. She is excited to have found the Tool Library, as its mission connects to her strong belief in the importance of cooperative economies and building self-reliance through community.

 

Board of Directors

Zach Wefel
Zach is a Co-founder of the MTL and member of its Board of Directors. Zach became the owner of a “not-new” home, started a year of repairs, and grew weary of constantly tracking down the tools he needed. He saw that the tool library model was a popular way to address the consistent need for home improvement tools. While he was thinking on and off about the feasibility of starting a tool library, he met Thomas at a neighborhood meeting. Realiing they shared the same goal, they partnered up, stopped daydreaming, and started planning.

Zach brings his experience as a lawyer, small-business owner, and new homeowner to the table, along with a strong optimism for the effect the tool library will have upon its members and the community. He adds, “I’ve had the rewarding experience of starting a business on my own, but there is something even more rewarding in starting a community resource - especially so, when you get to work with talented and dedicated individuals. I’d like to thank the Windom Park neighborhood for providing us our initial funding, my fellow board members for volunteering their time and energy, and my co-founder for simultaneously being a hard-nosed realist and an ambitious dreamer.”

Katheryn Schneider​​​
Katheryn is one of the library's founding members and is a an active commitee, event, and branch volunteer. In 2006 she decided she had had enough of the corporate world and quit her job at Wells Fargo so she could devote her time to building a better, more environmentally sustainable and socially just community. In addition to the Minnesota Tool Library, she serves as a leader with the Pachamama Alliance, on her neighborhood District Planning Council, and with Rice Street Gardens (a  community garden where more than half the gardeners are recent immigrants from Southeast Asia.)

Katheryn lives in the North End with her partner and has 2 grown children who live in the Twin Cities (one is also member of the Tool Library).  She is a member of St Mary’s Episcopal Church and is a counselor for the Quest Youth Summer camp.  She and her husband enjoy rock and ice climbing and are recent grandparents.

Timothy McCormick
President of the board of directors and resident of St. Paul's Frogtown-Midway neighborhood, Timothy came to the Twin Cities from a very small town in rural North Dakota to go to school at the University of Minnesota.

Timothy is passionate about empowerment and building resilient communities.  Growing up in a small town, he saw first-hand how a community can come together to support families in need, and was raised seeing the value of volunteering firsthand.  He remembers spending childhood evenings and weekends volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, Dollars for Scholars, and his municipal volunteer recycling program - WKRP. 

While he had lots of DIY experience growing up, Timothy really got into carpentry when he and his wife bought a 1911 home, and he got into woodworking while building the display case for his younger brother's memorial flag.  He found out about the Tool Library while building a playground for Northeast College Prep Charter School, and he is excited to partner with other organizations to develop vibrant, inspiring communities.

Noelle Notermann

Noelle Notermann brings a rich and multifaceted background to the board. Currently a Senior Software Engineer at Target, she applies her technical expertise to innovative in-house development projects. Before transitioning to tech, she spent nearly a decade as a law school administrator specializing in leadership development, change management, and program design. Noelle is deeply committed to community engagement, serving as a volunteer mediator and racial equity facilitator to empower individuals and organizations toward positive change.

Passionate about sustainability and the principles of the share economy, Noelle is excited to contribute to the Minnesota Tool Library’s mission of promoting access over ownership and fostering resource stewardship. When not wrangling her multi-child, multi-dog household or debating the merits of DIY-ing versus PAP-ing with her husband—a dedicated volunteer for Passive House Minnesota—she enjoys building connections and exploring hands-on ways to strengthen her community

Chris Pratt

Chris only recently discovered the joys of the Minnesota Tool Library.  Although the founders were Chris’s neighbors and he discussed the concept with them over the years, when he bought his house in Northeast Minneapolis in 1984, the tool library wasn’t even a dream. His house was built for his grandparents in 1928 by his great-grandfather who built most of the houses on the block. During his 40 years of home ownership Chris built his own supply of tools with a woodshop in the basement. When he retired from a career in software development in 2024, he had the opportunity to spend time at the tool library woodshop and fell in love with the idea of helping others learn to use the tools to create their own projects. Chris now volunteers two days a week as a mentor in the woodshop and loves how the library functions as a shared tool source for its members.

He has always been involved in his community, helping found a local food co-op where he was elected to three terms on their board of directors. He is also the garden coordinator for a local community garden, helping others find space to grow food in their neighborhood. He’s glad to have finally discovered the valuable role the tool library plays in the greater community.

 

Tim Nelson
Tim and his wife Erika moved into their home in the Mac-Groveland neighborhood of St. Paul 25 years ago and have been fixing it up ever since. Like many MTL'ers, they've experienced both the jams and joys of DIY in a home that's soon to celebrate it's 100th birthday (1925). Tim is a radio reporter by day, and a Jack-of-All-Trades in his spare time; which he spends as a hobby car mechanic, welder, sewist, sewing machine mechanic, woodworker, network administrator, mason, plumber, electrician, dog trainer and a licensed amateur radio operator. He also works on locomotives and other railroad equipment as a volunteer at the Minnesota Transportation Museum's Jackson Street Roundhouse.

Tim is the proud father of two adult children, including an active-duty United States Marine. He is also a Coon Rapids native, a Gustavus Adolphus College alumnus, and once swam across Lake Minnetonka from Excelsior to Wayzata.

 

Media Contact:

Kate Hersey, Executive Director
Email
612-440-TOOL (8665)