While borrowing seeds from your local library may seem like a fairy tale, it is in fact, a reality. A recent article on Boing Boing led me to research further this fairly new and quite amazing phenomenon of seed lending libraries. According to the article taken from PC Sweeney's blog, "A free seed lending library can also provide people with a chance to transform their lives and communities by providing access to fresh, healthy food that may not otherwise be available" (2011). This access is provided to patrons by means of making available seeds to "check out," take home, and plant. While this article pertains specifically to the East Palo Alto Library and their partnership with Collective Roots, many other libraries across the country are participating in similar endeavors.
Alternative Partnerships: The Rise of Seed Lending Libraries
The idea for the East Palo Alto Seed Library actually stemmed from a similar program at the Richmond Public Library in California (Sweeney, 2011). According to Richmond Grows Seed Lending Library website, "[the library] is open to everyone and provides, in addition to seeds, education about growing and saving seeds and organic gardening. It is our hope that seed library patrons will return some seeds from their harvest to make the library self-sustaining" (2012). While the Richmond Grows Seed Library promotes the return of seeds, the East Palo Alto Seed Library does not.
San Francisco Public Library's Potrero branch (in partnership with Transition SF and San Francisco Permaculture Guild) also opened a seed lending library in April of last year (Landgraf, 2011). The organizations provided the seeds and seed saving programs to patrons, while the library provided the space, gardening books and reference advice on gardening (Landgraf, 2011).
Above are just three examples of libraries branching out into their communities through innovative programs such as seed lending. To find a list of seed lending libraries, how to start a seed lending program or more information about such programs, check out Richmond Grows Seed Lending Library's site.
Sources
Sweeney, P.C. (2011, April 12). I'm starting a seed library at my library. [Web log]. Retrieved from http://pcsweeney.com/2011/04/12/im-starting-a-seed-library-at-my-library/
Landgraf, G. (2011, April 6). Seed lending libraries bloom. Retrieved from http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/green-your-library/seed-lending-libraries-bloom
Richmond Grows Seed Lending Library. (2012). About us. Retrieved from http://www.richmondgrowsseeds.org/index.html
This is really impressive. The role of the library in community enrichment is really important. It shows that the library can provide knowledge and cater to the needs of its patrons instead of staying within the constructs of tradition.
I love this. I work for a non-profit and food is what I do. We have a community-wide collabortive committee that addresses the food needs of those in our county and one of the sub groups is the community gardens. This project would be a great way to more actively engage or local libraries! We just finished a food drive envolving the libraries envolving the "Hunger Games" but this would be so much more engaging to the community and the libraries--I am going to take this idea to the next meeting!
Great Post and great research! Because I feel so strongly about community wide collaboration-especially-in hard economical times like this--I love this idea!
Oh my goodness! I just love this idea. It is a truly innovative way of engaging the community and of partnering with other organizations. Our public library system is continuously seeking out new ways to conduct cooperative programming in our community. I can't wait to share this idea with others in my system. The town in which my branch is located already has a community garden so this would be a nice complement to what is already happening. I believe the more the library engages in the community through collaborations such as this, the better people will understand and support public libraries in the future.
Heather Wood-Gramza
I'm so glad this has sparked some interest! I, too, have taken this idea to the library I work at in hopes of getting something similar started! I would love to hear follow up if this works out for anyone! lindsayfishercollie@gmail.com
I am also very impressed by this program and explored the Richmond site to see if something similiar is taking place in Michigan. I was shocked to find it is happening in Traverse City, where I live, in northern Michigan. It isn't part of the public library, but I hope to see if it could be. The main branch has a community garden and it seems a natural collaboration.
Through the blogs, I have gained many inspiring ideas, for now and later in my career.
It seems that these alternative partnerships are becoming more essential for libraries to survive. Organizations such as VANNO (www.vanno.org) are able to keep costs down because they are able to gather together different organizations to bargain on health care and other such expenses. I think that it is a mistake for libraries to think that they should only ally themselves with other organizations. I think, as in this example, it is far better for a library to ask how they might share efforts with another organization or company than whether they should.
This article discusses how the Horticultural Society of New York teamed up with the library to accomplish mutually beneficial goals.
http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=llf&AN=502926623
I think that in order for these relationships to work, libraries have to be creative in their perspectives on their resources. In the article, as well as your blog example, libraries treat something as a resource which is uncommon. Whether it is space, time, or infrastructure, libraries need to learn to see everything they can offer a community if these partnerships are to occur.