In the Morton-James Public Library in Nebraska City sits a wooden card catalog. Instead of index cards, its drawers are filled with packets of seeds, free for anyone to take home and plant.
The library launched its seed library this spring, making it one of the newest additions to a program that has been spreading throughout Nebraska for more than a decade.
Chelsea Foust, assistant director of the Morton-James library, said she had seen the concept implemented at other libraries.
“Multiple patrons came in and asked us if we were going to do a seed library. And then I talked to a couple patrons who said that they had seeds that they could donate,” Foust said. “So that's kind of what pushed us this year to start it.”
Foust said the process of borrowing the seeds is simple, with no library card required.
“You find the letter of whatever seed you would like, and then you’re welcome to take as much as you want, and then you’re also welcome to donate anything that you harvest out of your garden.”
The Common Soil Seed Library, the first of its kind in Nebraska, started at the Benson Branch of the Omaha Public Library system in 2013. The library hoped to increase food literacy, reduce grocery costs and help build local seed stocks that are better suited to the local climate.
In the first year of the program 1,700 seed packets were checked out. In 2025, the library distributed 143,163 seed packets.
Omaha expanded the program to all Omaha Public Library branches, with nearly 150 fruit, vegetable, herb and flower varieties available. Cardholders can check out up to 15 seed packets per month.
Since 2013, seed libraries have spread to cities across Nebraska, from the Lied Scottsbluff Public Library in the Panhandle to the Winnebago Public Library.
Since the Morton-James Library started its program, it has received donations from patrons, as well as businesses like Grimm’s Gardens and Nursery, which offered a discount on soil to help people get their plants started.
To Foust, the seed library has done more than just distribute packets of seeds, it’s given people a reason to visit the library, some of whom might not have come in otherwise.
“It’s really great to see that people are actually interacting with us through the seed library. You don’t have to have a library card,” Foust said. “Come in and see us, see all the fun things that we have here. But then, of course, get a library card and get books too.”