19 - Growing a Seed Library

Background: A health sciences library partnered with a campus garden and a student food pantry to build a seed library. The seed library is aimed at increasing access to locally grown food, providing food for those with food insecurity, facilitating local plant resilience to disease, and promoting community well-being for health sciences students, staff, and faculty. Borrowers “check out” seeds and plant them in their own gardens. After a successful season, they then harvest seeds to return to the library.

Description: Funding was obtained from the institution’s wellness office to purchase seeds, gardening books and tools to enhance the utility of the seed library and promote successful gardening for all borrowers. An intern was hired to help manage the collection of seeds. In addition to providing seeds, the library also provided seedlings of tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants in early spring and indoor plants in the fall. Workshops and webinars about garden keeping and well-being were given by the campus garden and the library has a robust collection of books and resources available. The student food pantry also has a collection of seeds so that they can continue to meet their mission to “minimize hunger among students, their families, and faculty and staff, by providing free, accessible, and nutritious food.” This resource was especially utilized during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conclusion: Several patrons commented on how thankful they were for the seed library. In addition to bringing joy to many, it has engaged students, staff, and faculty with the library and promoted learning more about gardening and nutrition. Our first purchase of seeds was diminished in late summer and new seeds will be purchased to begin spring preparation. There are also funds available for future speaker engagements or artist installations that promote sustainable food growth.