What if instead of poring over books on how to start a small business or nonprofit, you could talk one on one with an expert on the subject for free?
That was the idea behind the establishment last summer of the small business and nonprofit workspace at the Toledo Lucas County Public Library’s downtown location. It’s proved a very popular addition to the library’s array of services.
The workspace provides a home base for assistance that has long been offered by the library. It enables people to come on a drop-in basis instead of making an appointment. People with an idea for a new venture — or who want help with their existing businesses — can speak with one of the library’s three small business and nonprofit specialists.
The idea caught on quickly and attracted an influx of users with the dawn of the new year. According to Stephanie Elton, a communications strategist with the library system, the small business and nonprofit department had a record month of 99 drop-in visits in January — 45 more than the department’s six-month average of 54 visits per month.
In 2024, the department had 343 workspace drop-ins and served nearly 4,400 customers through its public programs. The total number of drop-in and scheduled appointments for January was 72 percent higher than the prior 11-month average.
Zachary Huber, one of the specialist librarians who assists budding entrepreneurs, confirms that the department is booming.
“I assist between two and four people on an average day, and that would go similarly for my colleagues,” he said. “I think one of our busiest days so far saw 15 customers in a four-hour time period.”
Specialist librarian Linda Faye Lucas attributes some of the January statistics to people’s tendency to embark on new ventures once the calendar flips.
“We can count on not seeing many people in December, but when the new year comes, people say, ‘Oh my gosh, I have to get this idea going,’” she said. “It’s like everybody goes to a fitness center in January.”
A STEM tutoring nonprofit takes shape
Dave and Paula Schoeff are two of the many people who’ve availed themselves of the library’s services. Together with friends and acquaintances from their church, they had been organizing STEM clubs for young people in their home — and now they wanted to expand their concept. They began going to the library and working with Mr. Huber.
“After talking with Zach, we decided our idea was a good fit for a nonprofit,” Mr. Schoeff said. “We had no aspirations to make money, but we saw a big need for STEM education in the third through the eighth grades.”
Though Mr. Huber was helpful, he also cautioned the Schoeffs they would face a lot of competition.
With Mr. Huber’s assistance, the Schoeffs formed an LLC and registered it with the state of Ohio. They named their venture Kool Kat Science and procured an employer identification number from the IRS. They structured their company as a nonprofit.
“I’ve been an IT professional, and my wife has been a teacher,” Mr. Schoeff said. “We didn’t have any business experience. [The library] has training on how to use the foundation database and find grant opportunities. Zach helped us apply for our first city of Toledo grant — we got $5,000 for the school year.”
“I’m so grateful that people are finding the small business and nonprofit department,” Mrs. Schoeff said. “And the little workshops they do are not little. They’re significant. They had a guest speaker come in from the Toledo Foundation to talk about getting grants.”
After the specialist librarians suggested that the Schoeffs could use branch libraries as venues for their STEM classes, Kool Kat Science began holding sessions at the Sanger Branch Library. It currently operates at the West Toledo Branch Library on Sylvania Avenue.
The Schoeffs have also run full-school-year programs, a spring break program, a summer camp, and another library program.
“We could have researched on the internet and looked at books about forming a nonprofit, but we couldn’t have done it in such a short time without Zach’s help,” Mr. Schoeff said. “We had the corporation set up and registered with the IRS in just 30 days. Zach always encouraged us, saying you don’t need an attorney or $10,000 to get set up. All we had to pay was the $200 filing fee.”
“The Schoeffs were very cautious and rightfully so,” Mr. Huber said. “Starting a nonprofit is a big undertaking with a lot of oversight. They were asking all the right questions and originally had considered to do this as a business but knew that in order to serve the people who needed them most, a nonprofit would be best.
“And now when they need an appointment with me, it’s to discuss finding grants and forming partnerships. It’s nice to be able to see that progress.”
An artist ventures into business
When Carolina Zuazo immigrated to the United States from Argentina, she brought with her an artist’s eye and a talent for creating mosaic artwork in glass, ceramic, and stone.
The library’s Small Business and Nonprofit Department is now helping her figure out how to market her creations online.
Beginning in February, 2024, Ms. Zuazo has been something of a regular at the downtown library.
“I’ve attended 10 of their classes,” she said. “They’ve been great for me. They cover a variety of topics that are pretty useful — the basic knowledge that anyone who wants to start a business should have.”
Working one on one with Ms. Lucas and specialist librarian Lindsay Williams, she’s gotten her specific questions answered — and in the process has become what Ms. Lucas describes as a poster child for the library’s small business services.
“Carolina’s business plan was one of the most complete plans I’ve seen in a long time — and I’ve been doing this for 30 years,” Ms. Lucas said. “A lot of times, people come and take notes and handouts and plan to return, but then life gets in the way. Carolina is so driven to start this business that she came back time after time.”
“The thing that helped me the most was developing a one-year action plan,” Ms. Zuazo said. “The idea is that you write down your goals for the coming year. What is your vision? What are your core objectives for the business?”
Ms. Zuazo said that working with the specialist librarians helped her to organize herself.
“I set a goal for the first quarter of 2025 to officially start the business — registering the business as Carolina Mosaics LLC with the Ohio secretary of state, starting to work on a business plan, getting a business bank account, and setting up social media accounts on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram,” she said.
She also hopes to sell some of her mosaics at local farmers markets.
“Carolina’s taken a number of my classes,” Ms. Williams said. “She’s going about her business carefully and thoughtfully. She really does the homework. She worked with the library on her logo. Then she sent us a bulleted list of things she was working on in January. It was so affirming for her to send that to us.”
Looking to the future, Ms. Zuazo is contemplating offering classes to people who want to work with mosaics and setting up a workspace in her home where people can come and see what she’s working on.
“The library is a great resource for the community,” she said. “It’s free. Anyone can use it.”
Ms. Lucas clearly enjoys working with Ms. Zuazo and the many other people she sees.
“We become their cheerleaders,” she said. “There’s power in having someone behind you who says, ‘Keep going, keep going!’”
First Published March 14, 2025, 11:46 a.m.
