Rebecca Baxter | CIIP 2023 Blog Portfolio
Posted: July 5, 2023
Orientation Week
Overall, I really enjoyed orientation this week. This was my second year going through CIIP orientation, but even though some of the presentations were the same as what I went through last year, I still felt like I was able to get something new out of each day of orientation. I really loved getting to know everyone in my peer mentor group! We were able to have some great discussions and I feel like we really bonded and grew closer as a group. All of my mentees are amazing people and I can’t wait to see all that they accomplish this summer!
One thing that I’ve been reflecting on this week is the importance of building community and safe spaces. Given that the internship is literally called the Community Impact Internship Program, it makes sense the building community should be a central part of the program. I am grateful for the community we were able to build in my peer mentor group, throughout the whole cohort, and between all of the peer mentors. Having people and spaces where I feel that I can be vulnerable, speak my mind, and be supported is really wonderful and makes me more confident in my ability to be successful in my work. It was also really interesting being in more of a leadership role this time around, because I felt like I had more power to contribute to community building than having to wait for someone else to take initiative in creating a safe space for everyone. Instead of wishing that someone would include me in a discussion, validate what I was saying, and really listen to me, I felt like I had more agency to do that for others. It really highlighted for me how being in a position with any level of power gives you more of a chance to shape the dynamic of the community you are part of.
I am looking forward to learning new skills and connecting with the community at the Station North Tool Library this summer, and am very excited to start working this week!
Week 1
My first week working at the tool library has been great! I feel like I have learned a lot about how the library runs and what its mission is. I also had my first library shifts this week, and it was really great to talk to community members and help them with their tools. I also got to assemble a new pressure washer and fix two weedwackers, so I am feeling more confident in my skills in figuring out how a tool works.
One thing that really stuck out to me this week was how much the tool library’s operations center around trust. Like any library, when you loan something out to someone, you automatically are trusting that they will bring it back in good condition. We also have to trust members when they tell us how something broke or how something went missing. The library’s membership fees and late fees are both pay-what-you-can, meaning we are trusting that people are being honest about how much would be a reasonable amount for them to pay based on their finances. I really like how so much about the library is based on trust because I think it’s really important for building community. If you feel you can trust someone, you are more comfortable around them and are more comfortable giving help and asking for help, all of which make a community stronger. This makes me think back to the History of Baltimore presentation from orientation where we talked about how important social cohesion is to any community and trust is definitely a big part of building social cohesion.
Another really interesting thing I learned this week was about consensus decision making, which the tool library uses in many of their decisions. Essentially, instead of just doing what the majority wants, you have people rate how they feel about a decision, giving people who are extremely opposed to a decision a chance to share their opinion so the group can make a decision that no one feels strongly against. This prevents people in the minority from feeling like their voices aren’t heard and is a more equitable process than majority rule. I still have to do some research on this to fully understand it, but I thought it was a really interesting concept that I hadn’t heard of before.
Week 2
One thing I’ve really learned this week is the importance of being patient with myself. There were times during my library shifts where I realized I had forgotten to ask a member a certain question or filled out something wrong, or times when I realized I had labeled something wrong, etc. As much as I don’t want to make mistakes and don’t like making mistakes, I realized this week that I’ve only been doing this job for two weeks, so it’s okay for me to still mess up. I think this week has been a good reminder for me in terms of helping me remember to focus more on learning than being perfect.
This week, one task I did was proofread a document the library is making about how to run a fix-it fair, which is an event where community members can bring broken tools to have volunteers try to fix. One interesting thing I learned while doing this was that the right to repair your own stuff with tools/materials/services outside of those provided by the original manufacturer is something that many companies actively lobby against. Repairing things at repair cafes or fix-it fairs is sustainable and generally good for the environment, and also often saves money. I was very surprised to learn that there are corporations that actively lobby against repair culture in order to promote a consumer culture where we are constantly throwing away stuff. This really made me appreciate how the Tool Library not only increases equity in access to tools but also promotes a more sustainable culture.
Another thing I did this week was start helping my supervisor plan for a new data committee the Tool Library is starting. We have two software systems that collect a lot of data on the people who use the library, but the library hasn’t really ever done anything with the data, so this committee is going to try to start seeing what we can learn from it. One thing I’m really excited about is working with the committee to figure out ways that the library can use demographic data to track how it is reaching equity benchmarks.
Week 3
This week, I got to do and learn a lot of new things, which was really awesome! One thing I did this week was get to sit in and take notes on two interviews we did for potential new teachers at the library. In one interview, I got to learn a neat trick for sewing on buttons better, so that was really cool. I also really enjoyed getting to hear each of the teachers talk about why they have a passion for what they teach and what their career path has looked like, which was really neat. It was also cool that both of them had ideas for how they could support potential new programs for the tool library to have like youth classes or repair clinics for clothes.
Throughout the week, I also have been learning a lot of new things from my coworkers, like how to use wall anchors and how to make a cutting board out of wood. I really like the working environment in the library where my coworkers will sometimes randomly ask me throughout the day if I want to learn about some skill they are currently using for some project. It’s nice to be around people who are passionate about passing on knowledge to others and really seem to enjoy what they do.
Finally, this week I got to take a class in block printing and made some really cool art! I didn’t really know anything about this art form so it was very interesting to get to learn a new skill. It was also interesting to learn about the history of block printing and how it has often been used as a tool for resistance and social justice movements as it is an art form that can mass produce copies of the same thing pretty easily.
Week 4
This week was pretty short because of the holiday, but still very eventful. I finally finished making a wooden cutting board, which was really fun! I learned how to use some more power tools and now I have a nice cutting board that I can use. This week, we also started preparing for a tool yard sale we are having next weekend, and I’m definitely excited to be involved in a more community facing event.
I’m still really enjoying working the library shifts – it’s really nice to hear what kinds of projects the members are working on. I also really like the way that the way the library functions is so collaborative. People often come in with questions related to a tool or a project and then it usually becomes a collaborative process between the librarians on shift and the member to figure out the answer. I feel like working at the tool library has made me a lot more comfortable saying that I don’t know something, because there are literally so many different tools and projects people could be working with there is no way for anyone to know everything. It’s nice to be in an environment where I feel comfortable asking others questions and don’t feel like I will be judged.
Another thing that has stuck out to me so far about working at the tool library is how welcoming everyone is. My coworkers and the other volunteers I work with always seem genuinely excited to meet new people, ask their names, and learn about their lives. I think this is a big part of building community – making people like what they have to say and what they bring to the table matters and it’s great to be in an environment where that seems to be a priority. I definitely feel like I’m learning a lot about how to be more welcoming from many of the people I work with.
Week 5
This week, we had a yard sale at the tool library to get rid of a lot of the extra tools we had in the back of the building. We were able to raise a lot of money for the library while also cleaning out tools in a more sustainable way than just throwing them in a dumpster. I worked the check out for the entire yard sale so I got to talk to nearly everyone who showed up, which was really nice! I think overall, it was a really successful event and it was great to get some experience in event planning.
I also did my BITES presentation on mass incarceration this week. I was definitely a bit nervous since I don’t think I’ve ever had to give a talk that lasted more than 20 minutes, so this was definitely a longer presentation than I was used to giving. However, I still really enjoyed getting to talk about an issue that I am passionate about and I hope people were able to learn something from it!
One thing that I got to talk to some people about at BITES during the discussion portion has really stuck with me. We talked about things we really appreciated about our placements and I talked about how I really appreciate how the tool library values taking care of yourself and having a life outside of work. I tend to be a bit of a workaholic and people pleaser, which tends to mean that I don’t take care of myself (especially my mental health) as well as I should unless I’m super intentional about it. Having a work environment where self care and communicating about your capacity for any given task is the norm has really helped with this and I’m very grateful to be in a place that values this. I think it’s made me more conscientious about how I’m taking time for myself, made me more aware of my mental state and how to address it, and made me better at saying no.
Week 7
This week was another great week at the Tool Library. I did a woodworking project nearly all by myself where I made a table top that I’m going to add metal legs to so it can be an end table for my living room. It was really fun to make and it was a big confidence booster that I was able to apply so much of what I learned in some of the woodworking classes I have taken.
At the beginning of this week, I got to go to a meeting with the data committee that has recently formed at the library to try to get some useful information out of all the data the library collects. It was great to finally meet all the people on the committee and see how each person has their own skills and experience that they can bring to the committee to help make it successful. I did notice that the committee was nearly all white people, which is also an issue the library as a whole deals with. The Tool Library was founded by white people and is in the White L, so it makes sense the demographics of our members are not representative of the city of Baltimore as a whole. This is something that has stuck out to me throughout the summer, so I’m glad one of the goals of the data committee is to better figure out how to track member demographics so the library can continue to work on reaching people around the city who may be underrepresented in our current membership.
One thing I was thinking about this week was how the Tool Library has given me a good balance of independent work and support. Being an introvert, I generally enjoy doing work independently where I can just listen to some music and do what I need to do without having to interact with other people. However, I have had some experiences where people take the independence thing too far and create environments where I feel like I can’t ask for help. I really like that the Tool Library allows me to do stuff independently and set my own tasks for the day, but that is also balanced with frequent check-in meetings and an environment where I can always ask questions. I’ve gotten so much from this internship this summer, but one of the biggest things is that the Tool Library has really helped me be able to articulate what I want in a working environment, which I think will be really helpful for my future after college.