Look What's Growing on the Second Floor - A Seed Library at ICPL!

Seed libraries are a fun way to make gardening more accessible by providing free seeds to the public and encouraging visitors to learn about seed saving and sharing. We’ve set up a Seed Library on the second floor to help our community get growing! It’s ready for you to explore in a repurposed file cabinet located between the Info Desk and The Book End used bookstore. Hopefully it will inspire more gardening and engagement around local sustainability efforts. 

To use the Seed Library, visitors don’t need to use a library card or stop at a service desk. Visitors may take up to five seed packets each month per household. There is a binder for checking out seeds on top of the Seed Library. If you don’t use the entire packet in your garden, we encourage you to return unused seeds to the Seed Library next time you visit to keep the cycle going.  

Seed donations are accepted but are not required for use of the Seed Library. Empty envelopes and a donation box are available on top of the Seed Library. Seeds harvested from gardens and commercial packets unopened or partially used are all welcome. Seeds donated from your garden should be clean, dry, unexposed to pesticides, and open-pollinated. Heirloom and Native seed varieties are especially sought after.   

A big thank you to generous donations from our partners: Grow Johnson County, Seed Savers Exchange, Nine Square Feet Des Moines, Wild Ones Cedar Rapids & Iowa City, and Earl May. Without contributions and encouragement from these partners, this Seed Library would not be possible. 

ICPL has many great books and resources available for those who want to learn more about gardening, sustainable landscapes, seed saving, and more. Just ask a Librarian. Handouts on popular topics, like planting tips and container gardening, are available at the Seed Library. We’d love to hear about your experiences with the Seed Library and wish our patrons a delightful growing season.