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Spare parts between libraries

A missing wheel doesn't have to mean a retired toy. ToyHive keeps a small register of spare pieces libraries are holding, so the library that needs one can find the library that has one.

Where spares come from

• Retiring a copy. The retire step lists everything the copy should still have, pre-ticked. Untick whatever has genuinely gone and confirm — the rest is kept as spares. This is the moment worth catching: those pieces are otherwise binned.
• Offering a piece from a toy page. Under Pieces, "Offer as spare" registers a loose piece you're happy to pass on, with a quantity and an optional note.
• Parts you bought to keep. Spare wheels ordered with the scooters, spare bungs for the water table — things that wear out and were bought against that day. The catalogue doesn't list them as pieces of the product, so you name them yourself: "Add a spare part" on the Spare parts page, or "Offer another part as spare…" at the bottom of a toy's Pieces section.

Everything you've registered lives under Spare parts in the sidebar. Bought-in parts are marked so, because they're the ones you'll be drawing down over time.

Using your own stock

A purchased spare is stock, so "Use one" on the Spare parts page drops the count by one when you fit a wheel. When the last one goes the row is marked used up and stops showing to other libraries. "Remove" is the other end of the same idea: the whole lot has gone, in one go.

Neither is a promise to anyone. Nothing on this page is ever reserved.

Who can see them

Other libraries in your country, and only as "this library has one" plus your published contact address. Nobody sees your inventory, your members or your notes about the toy. Matching is by the shared catalogue record, so it works between libraries that have never heard of each other — but an Australian library is never shown a spare sitting in New Zealand, because posting it is not worth anyone's time.

Finding a part you need

Report the piece missing as usual. On the piece you'll then see:

1. Libraries holding a spare, with a way to contact them.
2. If nobody has one, where to get a replacement — the most specific advice we have, labelled with where it came from: noted against this exact piece, on the toy's catalogue record, or from the manufacturer.
3. "Ask other libraries for a spare" — one email to every library in your country that holds the same toy and has published a contact address. Repair tickets that list parts get the same button.

Replies come straight back to your library's inbox. We are not in the middle of it.

What we deliberately do NOT do

There is no reservation, no promise, and no fulfilment tracking. A listing says "we have one of these"; the handover is a conversation and a padded envelope between two libraries. When the parts have gone, the holding library uses "Use one" or "Remove" on Spare parts and the listing stops. That's the whole workflow, on purpose — a registry that pretends to be logistics is worse than no registry.

Turning the requests off

Requests from other libraries arrive as an ordinary notification. If they're not useful to you, switch Spare parts → "Spare part wanted" off under Settings → Notifications and you won't be asked again. You can still ask others.