A Master Gardener capstone project, we surveyed public libraries of Suffolk County, NY, and created a report to share with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County (CCE) and the Master Gardener (MG) program to help CCE and MG assess need and tailor programs to better serve local residents through their libraries.

1. Gardening in Libraries
Library garden programs in Suffolk County, NY

2. Suffolk County Library Survey
Objective:
To leverage libraries as partners in promoting gardening and
sustainable practice, our project will:
● Survey Suffolk libraries and create a report to share with
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County (CCE) and
the Master Gardener (MG) program to help CCE and MG
assess need and tailor programs accordingly to better serve
local residents through their libraries.
● Create a database of garden programs in Suffolk libraries
● Create garden-related book lists for reading/book groups

3. Why libraries?
Libraries are perfect partners for teaching and spreading the
joy of gardening.
● One of the few physical places for communities to gather
for free and all are welcome
● Trusted sources of information
● Long-standing relationship with local residents
● Access to related resources, including the library’s book
collection, databases, connections to other programs

4. Meet SCLS
Founded in 1961, the Suffolk Cooperative Library System (SCLS) “exists to
help local public libraries provide the best in traditional and innovative
public library service to all the people of Suffolk County” as its mission.
SCLS is among 23 public library systems providing services to over 740
public libraries throughout New York State.

5. Survey methodology
A 13-question survey—seeking to gauge the state of garden-
related programs in regional libraries—was created in Google
Forms.
SCLS (Suffolk Cooperative Library System) shared the survey
via email to its 58 member libraries on April 27, 2023. The
survey closed May 9 with 37 responses (a 64% response rate).

6. Does your library offer garden-
related programming?

7. Garden programs offered by type

8. Program ideas
● “More programs geared toward children between grades K - 5. Both informational
and craft based.”
● “More organic gardening programs, seed starting, composting, native plants,
pollinators.”
● “Healthy eating from a home garden of any size”
● “Programs in Spanish, houseplants, native plants, small-space gardening, shade
plants vs sun plants”
● “Gardening Basics for Teens: What should you start from seed. How to build a
simple fence to keep groundhogs and bunnies out. 5 simple things to grow
outdoors for a first-time gardener.”
● “Building a Greenhouse 101, Rethink your lawn, Hydroponics 101”
● “Gardening through the year, learning how to overwinter cold weather crops, crop
rotation and plant groupings”
● “Garden design / pruning”

9. On-site gardening features in libraries

10. Opportunities

11. Toward Sustainability

12. CCE awareness

15. Conclusions
● Robust interest in gardening programming among library staff and patrons.
● Seed libraries! (31 respondents have one)
● Integration of organic, sustainable methods are good (86 %), yet room for
improvement
● Good awareness, use of CCE (70%), yet only 32% use MGs
● Fellow MGs: Reach out to your local library:
portal.suffolklibrarysystem.org
● Consider key points of need: hands-on workshops; Spanish language
programs; growing your own food; small space gardening; pruning, and
more.
We’ll share the survey results, happy to answer questions.
Thank you! —Kathy Ishizuka, Carolyn Brooks