Seed library

The first contemporary seed library was created in 1999 at the Berkeley Ecology Center. It was called the Bay Area Seed Interchange Library (BASIL).{{Cite journal|last=Peekhaus|first=Wilhelm|title=Seed Libraries: Sowing the Seeds for Community and Public Library Resilience|journal=Library Quarterly|year=2018|volume=88|issue=3|pages=271–285|doi=10.1086/697706}} The first seed library to be established in a public library was at the Gardiner Public Library in Gardiner, New York and was developed by Ken Greene in 2004. Since then, the number of seed libraries has grown to over 450 across the globe, with most being established in the United States.

Seed libraries can maintain their collections through donations from members,{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/home/la-xpm-2011-jun-18-la-hm-seed-library-20110618-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |last=MacVean |first=Mary |title=Seeds of hope and change |date=June 18, 2011 }} but may also operate as pure charity operations intent on serving gardeners and farmers.{{cite web |url=http://boingboing.net/2012/04/02/seed-libraries-crop-up.html |title=Seed Libraries Crop Up |work=BoingBoing |date=April 2, 2012 |first=PC |last=Sweeney}} A common attribute of many seed libraries is to preserve agricultural biodiversity by focusing on rare, local, and heirloom seed varieties.{{cite news |title=Nurturing plant legacies: Two groups lend seeds and plants to gardeners |last=Hageman |first=William |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/home/ct-sun-garden-0325-seed-lenders-20120323,0,589451.story |date=March 23, 2012 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune }}

Seed libraries can also receive donations from companies, either monetarily or through actual donations of seeds. For example, [http://Scottsdale%20Public%20Library Scottsdale Public Library] is partnered with Blue Zones Project Scottsdale to provide seeds to patrons.

Seed libraries use varied methods for sharing seeds, primarily by:

• seed swaps otherwise known as seed exchanges, in which library members or the public meet and exchange seeds
• seed "lending," in which people check out seed from the library's collection, grow them, save the seed, and return seed from the propagated plants to the library

Seed libraries may function as programs of public libraries, such as the programs of the Richmond Public Library in California (the "Richmond Grows" program is the "unofficial spiritual center of the [public library seed library] movement"{{cite news |first=Kevin |last=Hartnett |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/03/09/seed-libraries-try-save-world-plants/XnM6HJ8GCfPoo6JWtU6DQL/story.html |title='Seed Libraries' Try to Save the World's Plants |work=Boston Globe |date=March 9, 2014}}) and the New Port Richey Public Library (Florida).{{cite news |url=http://suncoastnews.com/npr-launches-seed-exchange-community-gardens-20130823/ |newspaper=The Suncoast News |last=Orth |first=Carl |title=NPR launches seed exchange, community gardens |date=August 23, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150415191703/http://suncoastnews.com/npr-launches-seed-exchange-community-gardens-20130823/ |archive-date=2015-04-15 }} Seed library initiatives in public libraries garner patron participation as a novelty supplement to book check-outs. Seed packets are usually located next to everyday circulated items like books, audiobooks, CDs, and DVDs. Seed libraries in public libraries have been successful because they catch patron hobby curiosities.{{cite episode |last=Runyon |first=Luke |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/02/02/170846948/how-to-save-a-public-library-make-it-a-seed-bank|title=How To Save A Public Library: Make It A Seed Bank |series=Weekend Edition Saturday |type=Radio broadcast |network=NPR |date=February 2, 2013 |access-date=2017-03-12|language=en}} Public libraries are an appropriate space for seed libraries because they make seeds and plants available to everyone.

They are also located in college libraries, such as Hampshire College's seed library; museums, such as the Hull-House Heirloom Seed Library, a program of the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum.{{cite web |url=http://www.uic.edu/jaddams/hull/_programsevents/_kitchen/_seedlibrary/seedlibrary.html |title=Hull-House Seed Library |publisher=Jane Addams Hull-House Museum |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503000000/http://www.uic.edu:80/jaddams/hull/_programsevents/_kitchen/_seedlibrary/seedlibrary.html |archive-date=2015-05-03}} or as membership based online programs like the Hudson Valley Seed Library. Some have developed as programs of botanical gardens, such as that of the VanDusen Botanical Garden, or from gardening associations and research institutes, such as the Heritage Seed Library of Garden Organic. Other seed libraries have evolved from community sustainability or resilience efforts, such as the Bay Area Seed Interchange Library (BASIL) (the United States' oldest seed library, which developed from the Berkeley, California Ecology Center); and still others from the Slow Food movement, such as Grow Gainesville's seed program.{{cite web |url=http://growgainesville.wordpress.com/seed-library/ |title=Southern Heritage Seed Collective |work=Grow Gainesville |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170313131748/https://growgainesville.wordpress.com/seed-library/ |archive-date=2017-03-13}}

While "lending" is straightforward, "returning" or re-depositing seeds presents a challenge, since the new seeds are not necessarily well-described, and may be inadvertent hybrids. Some libraries, like the Live Oak Public Library in Savannah, Georgia, do not accept returns or unsolicited donations to ensure quality control.{{cite web|title=Welcome to the Seed Library|url=https://liveoakpl.org/seedlibrary|website=liveoakpl.org|publisher=Live Oak Public Library|access-date=28 October 2022}} Other libraries, like the Live Oak Public Library in, Live Oak, Florida, ask that borrowers return seeds if possible but there is no penalty for not doing so, and they will not accept hybrid or GMO seeds.{{cite web|title=Seed Lending Library|url=https://srrlib.org/client/en_US/default/?rm=SEED+LIBRARY0%7C%7C%7C1%7C%7C%7C3%7C%7C%7Ctrue|website=srrlib.org|publisher=Suwannee River Regional Library System|access-date=28 October 2022}}

Seed libraries complement the preservationist activities of seedbanks, by collecting local and heirloom varieties that might otherwise be lost, and by collecting new local varieties. In theory, lending and returning seed libraries will also promote local agriculture over time, by growing collections of seeds locally adapted to the region.

• Heirloom plant
• Kokopelli Seed Foundation
• Library
• Navdanya
• Seed saving

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/garden/07seed.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 A Seed Library Thrives, New York Times]
• [http://www.seedlibrary.org/blog/the-seed-library-movement-from-roots-to-bloom/ The Seed Library Movement from Roots to Bloom]
• [http://realitysandwich.com/137428/sowing_revolution/ Sowing Revolution: Seed Libraries Offer Hope for Freedom of Food]
• {{citation |work=Boston Globe |date=July 10, 2013 |title=Seed lending library sprouts in West Concord |location=Massachusetts |url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2013/07/10/seed-lending-library-sprouts-west-concord-borrow-plant-grow-return-borrow-plant-grow-return/4LBfHoLtPmSKj5uI2X8WfO/story.html }}

{{commons category|Seed libraries}}

• [http://seedlibraries.weebly.com/seed-library-network.html Seed Library Network]
• [http://basilseedlibrary.com/ Bay Area Seed Interchange Library], Berkeley, California
• [https://slola.blogspot.com/ Seed Library of Los Angeles], Los Angeles, California
• [http://www.richmondgrowsseeds.org/ Richmond Seed Library], Richmond, California
• [http://www.bfplseedlibrary.org/ BFPL Seed Library], Vermont
• [http://www.library.pima.gov/seed-library/ Seed Library of Pima County Public Library], Tucson, AZ
• {{cite web |url=http://seedlibrarian.com |title=Seed Library Locator Map |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180805125544/http://seedlibrarian.com/ |archive-date=2018-08-05}}
• {{cite web |url=http://vpaaz.org:80/Seeds |title=Valley Permaculture Alliance Seed Library |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160810092537/http://vpaaz.org:80/Seeds |archive-date=2016-08-10}}

Category:Seed associations

Category:Biorepositories

Category:Types of library

Category:Plant conservation

Category:Libraries by subject