Back before the Yahoo search engine, and later Google and Amazon, came along, libraries kept large wooden cases called card catalogs listing each book they owned on a small piece of paper filed alphabetically. These catalogs were good for finding books if you knew the book name. As for discovering new books on the same or related topics-well, digital search engines beat the old card catalogs hands down.
So libraries joined the search engine world and card catalogs joined buggy whips as obsolete curiosities.
But what to do with these large heavy wood cases?
Check out locally grown seeds
In Tucson, the library system decided to turn the card catalogs in three of their libraries into “seed catalogs”, of a sort. But no need to open your wallet to purchase the seeds–it’s like checking out a book. Library patrons can check out seeds–mostly vegetable and herb seeds–for free. Most of the seeds appeared to be “home-gathered” and packed by hand which means they came from plants that had actually been grown in a hot, dry garden. That, in turn, means the plants grown from the seeds are more likely to survive our harsh conditions.
Look through here to see a few of the seeds available:
When I asked the librarian about checking out seeds she told me that there was no requirement to “return” or replace the seeds, although they would appreciate it.
I think this is a brilliant idea and one that should be copied by every library in the country. After all, every one of them probably has a big card catalog if they haven’t already disposed of it. And I’m sure the idea would be supported by garden clubs and gardening enthusiasts across the nation.
Coming soon: frugal gardening
There are, of course, other ways to obtain seeds and starter plants for free or very little. I will be writing about them in my next post because frugal gardening has turned out to be a very hot topic! Stay tuned…but meanwhile mention the card-catalog-turned-seed-catalog to your local librarian.
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