A seed library is an institution that lends or shares seed. It is distinguished from a seedbank in that the main purpose is not to store or hold germplasm or seeds against possible destruction, but to disseminate them to the public which preserves the shared plant varieties through propagation and further sharing of seed.

History

The first contemporary seed library was created in 1999 at the Berkeley Ecology Center. It was called the Bay Area Seed Interchange Library (BASIL). 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.

Function

Seed libraries usually maintain their collections through donations from members. but may also operate as pure charity operations intent on serving gardeners and farmers. A common attribute of many seed libraries is to preserve

agricultural biodiversity Agricultural biodiversity or agrobiodiversity is a subset of general biodiversity pertaining to agriculture. It can be defined as "the variety and variability of animals, plants and micro-organisms at the genetic, species and ecosystem levels that ...

by focusing on rare, local, and heirloom seed varieties. Seed libraries use varied methods for sharing seeds, primarily by: *

seed swaps Seed swaps are events where gardeners meet to exchange seeds. Swapping can be arranged online or by mail, especially when participants are spread out geographically. Swap meet events, where growers meet and exchange their excess seeds in person, ...

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 A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also civil servants. There are five fundamenta ...

, such as the programs of the Richmond Public Library in California (the "Richmond Grows" program is the "unofficial spiritual center of the ublic library seed librarymovement") and the