Resource List
Resource List
Elevator Speeches: What's So Important About Them?
Elevator speeches: what’s so important about them? (2008). Children & Libraries: The Journal of the Association for Library Service to Children, 6(2), 52–54.
Huntsville Library Plants Seeds of Education with New Resource
Brownlee, A. Huntsville library plants seeds of education with new resource. (2015, March 18). Huntsville Forester (ON).
Expanding the Capacity of the Public Library: Partnerships with Community Based Environmental Groups
Feldstein, S. (1996). Expanding the capacity of the public library: partnerships with community based environmental groups. Electronic Green Journal.
Using Research in Talking Points and Elevator Speeches
Kachel, D. (2015). Using research in talking points and elevator speeches. Teacher Librarian, 43(1), 36–40.
Flowers, Food, and the Feds: Community Gardens and the Government
Russ, K. (2013). Flowers, food, and the feds: community gardens and the government. Arkansas Libraries, 70(1), 16–17.
Community gardening and social cohesion: different designs, different motivations
Veen, E. J., Bock, B. B., Van den Berg, W., Visser, A. J., & Wiskerke, J. S. C. (2016). Community gardening and social cohesion: different designs, different motivations. Local Environment, 21(10), 1271–1287.
Libraries and Gardens: Growing Together by Carrie Scott Banks and Cindy Mediavilla
This book is the best place to start for any search related to libraries and community gardens. There are profiles of libraries with community gardens, information on planning a community garden, and tools for using the community garden as a catalyst for increasing community engagement.
Transforming the Quality of Life for People with Dementia through Contact with the Natural World: Fresh Air on My Face by Jane Gilliard
This ebook illustrates another benefit of a community garden within a library setting: Not only is it a good place for the community to learn how to grow their own food and new skills, but it’s also a rehabilitation center for those who have health problems, such as dementia. Through contact with the natural world, such as a garden, many patients explain how they have gained benefits and a better quality of life thanks to their local garden and outreach programs.
Community Gardening as Social Action by Carrie Nettle
This ebook presents a case for community gardens as a course of social action, intending to improve the community. If you are interested in starting a community garden but are still on the fence about it, this compelling case for the societal benefits may be the push you need to be certain.
The Power of Play: Designing Early Learning Spaces by Dorothy Stoltz
This book details how play spaces for very young children are being created in order to engage and educate children about the world around them in a fun and safe environment. As the book details, community gardens are one of the most ideal environments for children to supplement their education while getting in touch with nature and their local library.
Vegetable Gardening by John H. Tullock
This guide covers tips, tools, and techniques for starting and maintaining a vegetable garden. It is written for people with no background in gardening who are wanting to learn from scratch. This author has written several useful books on the subject of gardening.
This database contains articles, books, and videos on a variety of topics relating to agriculture.
This database is all about finding the right book at the right time. User can search for unique characteristics, such as children's books about gardening published in 2020.
This database displays many different topics and lessons that teachers and librarians can use in relation to their community garden.
This journal addresses topics relevant to community development. The most recent issue, from 2019, specifically discusses school gardens, community efforts to improve nutrition, and “Food and environmental justice.” This is a tremendously useful reference for anyone interested in utilizing the garden to cultivate or strengthen community partnerships. The intended audience is both academics and community members interested in literacy. This journal has been around since 2006 and developed out of previous research by the Community Literacy Center. It continues to analyze methods of strengthening communities through literacy initiatives and related programs.
Journal of Education for Library and Information Science
This journal provides LIS professionals with a wealth of information about developing educational programs, among other relevant topics. Being familiar with this resource and the information it provides will help the librarian or other program developer to utilize the garden as an educational resource to benefit the community both physically and intellectually. This journal has been published by the Association of Library and Information Science Educators since 1960.
Journal of Therapeutic Horticulture
This journal shares research on many uses of therapeutic gardening for both physical and mental health. It has been published since 2007 and is internationally recognized as a premier resource. Some of the articles may not be accessible to horticultural or medical professionals, but many cover topics which a community leader or librarian would find useful when designing programs utilizing the garden or when reaching out to potential new community partners.
This journal draws attention to the changes needed within the public library in order to better serve the community and prove how libraries are still needed within the 21st century. In one article, Food Deserts, Libraries, and Urban Communities: What is the Connection?, it focuses on the Cleveland Public Library and how they used the community garden to help aid their community in the midst of a food shortage. This journal has been published since 1979.
Community Gardens: Grow Your Own Vegetables and Herbs
This foundational text by Susan Burns Chong is written with teens in mind, but will benefit anyone starting a community garden. It contains information on deciding where to make a community garden, what to plant, when to harvest, and much more. This book covers in detail what to expect and work on each month for the first year of your community garden.
This book gives a list of plants and offers a wide range of designs that can work with any garden for any given program.
Horticultural Therapy Methods: Making Connections in Health Care, Human Service, and Community Programs
This resource provides an overview of horticultural therapy, which could easily tie into any program utilizing the community garden.
Private Paradise: Contemporary American Gardens
This monograph not only provides designs on which libraries can create community gardens, it also includes details on native plants, how to work with the climate your garden is in, and how you can best care for your garden within your environment.
Tom Stuart-Smith: Drawn From the Land
This monograph details how a gardening architect, Tom Stuart-Smith, went about creating gardens for key individuals. This book illustrates how he used his expertise to spread knowledge about plants, how to create a garden, while including detailed pictures of Stuart-Smith’s work that can be used as inspiration towards creating our own garden.
American Public Gardens Association
This association provides monthly journals and newsletters to their members in order to provide information on how to maintain public gardens, how they can be useful to their community, and learn about various topics of gardening, such as invasive species and conservation efforts. This resource will enable librarians to partner up with local museums while gaining for information on how they can reach out to the community as a whole, and teach volunteers valuable lessons about the environment as advocates and educators.
This source provides a launching point for contacting local gardening experts who may want to partner with the library. As a prime example, Oklahoma’s Master Gardener Program is a volunteer training program which encourages its participants to “engage with Oklahoma gardening enthusiasts in activities and services.” By learning about what is offered in their area, the user can easily locate people who might be willing to take part in a garden-centric partnership, help create the garden, and have the knowledge to keep it going strong. Also, by reaching out to local experts, the librarian can be confident that the expert knows what grows well in their specific area. Many online resources may provide information from an outside source, which may or may not be entirely applicable to any given situation, but this one should benefit the user regardless of where they are.
Gardening 101: How to Start a Garden
YouTube has a large gardening community. Videos like this one can help those who are new to the topic see and hear firsthand what to do, in addition to reading about it.
National Pollinator Garden Network
This network provides resources to its partners with a goal of increasing the health and proliferation of pollinators internationally. They are a great place to look for support and information. Resources include premade curricula, printables, and more.
Shareable is a nonprofit organization that seeks to provide resources that will help the environment and call attention to events that will help make the community a better place. In this particular posting, it highlights the spread of community gardens within libraries and how they have made an impact on the volunteer community.