Libraries as Hubs of the Sharing Economy
MEETING FOR THE WEEK OF Feb. 23, 2026
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: Libraries as Hubs of the Sharing Economy
Speaker: Hazel Onsrud
Is this your first time visiting us? If so, welcome to our weekly online meeting! To complete our meeting, please continue reading from here to the bottom of this page. Each Monday, our week’s meeting is posted early in the morning, U.S. Pacific Time. These meetings are designed so that you can read and watch what we post anytime during the week. The entire meeting takes about 60 minutes to complete, with the video conference recording of the program being the bulk of the time. Note that you can easily read this meeting with your favorite device, so feel free to take our meeting on the go with you. Please also complete the attendance form at the bottom and leave a comment. Enjoy!
To properly attend this meeting, please:
Read and watch the content below in its entirety.
Complete the attendance survey.
Everyone is encouraged to leave a comment in the Disqus section at the bottom of the page.
Greetings Members, Rotarians, Friends and Guests:
Want to Learn More About Us? - Who We Are, What We Do, Why We Do It
Want to become a Rotarian? - Join us in helping to make the world a better place!
Thanks for joining our weekly meeting!
Mike Kane - AG 7 & Past Club President
WEEKLY FUNNY WITH SHAGS
We believe laughter is an important part of life, and we should all make time to laugh a little. This segment of our meeting is meant to tickle you just enough. These funnies are curated by member Steven "Shags" Shagrin!
Have you ever tried to eat a clock?
It is very time-consuming.
Inspiration
Sometimes one's service is realizing one's value, and helping others get to realizing theirs. Tiffany Yu started Diversability out of a desire to activate people with "disabilities" to be the confident, market force that they can become.
LEARN SOMETHING NEW
I Wonder What It Smells Like...
Taiwan firm creates clothing from banana waste
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PROGRAM: Libraries as Hubs of the Sharing Economy
SPEAKER: Hazel Onsrud
We bring you a new program every week on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education and how they contribute to service to others.
Libraries are more than places to borrow books; they are dynamic centers of community connection and resource sharing. From lending tools to hosting community meetings and supporting local solutions to global challenges, libraries play a vital role in the sharing economy. Present in diverse communities around the world, they enable patrons to engage and escape, key elements of personal and collective well-being. Join us to explore how libraries are advancing sharing and sustainability actions, discover inspiring examples of non-traditional lending programs, and learn how you can participate in this transformational community effort.
Our speaker, Hazel Onsrud, is a public librarian at Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick, Maine, in the United States. Onsrud works on community programming and collection development, including an extensive library of things focused on the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. She serves on the international Library of Things Mutual Aid Group, the Advisory Board of the Sustainable Libraries Initiative and the Steering Team of MECollab. She enjoys collaborating with good humans around the globe and was named a 2024 Library Journal Mover and Shaker and a 2025 New York Times Changemaker. Prior to her work as public librarian, Hazel co-founded the Maine Tool Library and spent a bunch of time learning from graceful teachers. In her free time, she likes to create things, eat molés and design gardens.
Members and guests, please welcome Hazel Onsrud!
To learn more, go to:
LOT Mutual Aid Group: https://sites.google.com/view/lotmutualaid/home
Curtis Memorial Library Library of Things: https://curtislibrary.com/library-of-things/
Sustainable Libraries Initiative: https://www.sustainablelibrariesinitiative.org/
Emily Drabinski - The Stories of Libraries
https://youtu.be/jTzhVjDujuY
Sif Jensen - Unjudge Someone, the Human Library
https://youtu.be/STpTmIo6EGQ
Anthony Chow - Reading Nation Waterfall: Ensuring Equal Access to Books for All Children
https://youtu.be/NhOhuUszuq0
Purnima Rao and Shivam Singh - Building The People's Library: India's Free Library Movement
https://youtu.be/W-gSoOwsBOY
To learn more about the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley, go to:
http://rotary.cool
Our Three Podcast Series
Our main program speakers are available as podcasts in addition to YouTube videos! Each week, they are available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, as well as many other platforms.
Our weekly podcast is now called:
Inspiring People - Stories of Innovation and Service
Inspiring Solutions for a Better World
Our original podcast, featuring some of the best of our previous speakers, is still available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and many other platforms.
Inspiring Women: Celebrating Trailblazers
Our newest podcast celebrates trailblazing women. It is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and many other platforms.
UPCOMING PROGRAM RECORDING SCHEDULE
All of our guest speakers and programs are recorded live online over Zoom video conference. We welcome members and guests to join us in one of these upcoming recordings. Recordings are approximately 30 minutes long and are subject to change without notice.
Our online video conference room link for these recordings is always http://zoom.siliconvalleyrotary.com/. You are welcome to join us! Please note the timezone listed for all recordings is US Pacific Time (San Francisco, California, USA).
If you can’t join the live recording, please send your questions for an upcoming speaker to programs@siliconvalleyrotary.com.
THE ATTENDANCE SURVEY
Thanks for reading and watching this week’s meeting. You have two last things to do before you’re done.
We have a very short attendance survey below for you to fill out to record your attendance.
Visiting Rotarians, this is how you can get an email receipt to pass along to your club’s secretary as proof that you’ve attended our meeting if you need it for makeup.
Non-Rotarian Guests, we would love to see who is dropping by our meetings! This part is optional for you. If you think you may want to join our eClub at some point in the future, we would strongly recommend you fill out the attendance form as it will improve your chances of success for your membership application.
For all members and guests — we strongly recommend and ask that you leave a comment in our comments area below. Tell us how you enjoyed the program. Ask this week’s speaker any questions you might have. Or just stop by and say hello and tell us where you’re from!
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