In Room 115 of the Halle Library, one can find two librarians, Bill Marino and Micheal Barnes, repairing appliances and games with the goal of increasing those items' longevity and usefulness. It's all part of something called the Halle Fix-It Hub.
A monthly "Learning Beyond the Classroom "credit-approved event, the Halle Fix-It Hub is held in the library’s Creative Studio, where the focus is about community repairing and educating.
Barnes, one of the managers for the event, said its goal is for people to outgrow what he describes as "throw-away culture."
“It’s a shame that ... everybody gets their stuff and then just throws it away, instead of trying to fix it,” Barnes said. “You can really work and fix things if you have the courage to do so.”
During the last week of March, Barnes was working on an electronic board game called The Dark Tower, which was released in 1982, back when he was a kid.
“I’ve had this for years and years and years, and one day I just turned it on to see if it would work, and it does not,” Barnes said. “So now I’m figuring out how I can fix it.”
Marino, who was working on a tower fan during the event, said when he sets his mind to fixing something, he puts a lot of work into making sure he takes the right steps.
“Apart from the obvious problems that you would see, you start going through troubleshooting and some critical thinking," Marino said. “But you don’t want to get too involved with anything you don’t feel too comfortable doing.”
Barnes and Marino both said the most common sight at the Fix-It Hub is people with damaged clothing, accessories, or electronics, such as tape decks and smartphones.
When students bring in an item that needs fixing, they receive support from repair coaches, who are knowledgeable about electronics, appliances, jewelry, clothing and other objects.
“It’s just random people," Barnes said. "If you want to be a coach, you just have to know how to do something, and if you think you would be able to help somebody, that’s what we want."
Through the interactions with these repair coaches, Marino and Barnes want students to leave the event having gained confidence in maintaining the things that they own instead of discarding them. Repairing items reduces waste, they said.
For more information on the Halle Fix-It Hub and how to get involved, visit the Halle Fix-It Hub website.
