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Welcome back, Seed Library!
Stop by to browse the Seed Library, or click the links below to see what we're offering this year. While supplies last, no library card needed. Most seeds are organic and non-GMO. Seeds that were donated by local gardeners are the only exception, and are clearly designated as donations.
Seed Library Resources
Seed Sources:
Helpful Info
ASPCA Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants for Pets
About Our Teaching Garden and Teaching Prairie
Begun in 2021 as a partnership between the Library, the Barrington Breakfast Rotary Club, and the North Cook County Master Gardeners, our Teaching Garden is an outdoor classroom for hands-on, multi-generational learning, as well as a quiet place to relax and read. Located in the southeast corner of the Library’s upper parking lot, the Garden is fully accessible, and offers comfortable seating in a beautiful setting.
Beginning in mid-May, Master Gardeners hold regular Tuesday workdays from 9:30-11, where participants can learn to plant, prune, identify weeds, and much more. Browse our Events Calendar for special classes and activities, too.
Starting and Saving Milkweed Seeds
By now everyone has probably heard that a great way to support the monarch is to plant milkweed in your garden or landscape. It’s pretty easy to grow-it just needs a sunny spot and relatively well drained soil. Before you plant your milkweed, though, you’ll want to stratify it, or expose ...
Read more...Create Your Own Prairie Space
The recent news that the migrating monarch butterfly is now classified as an endangered species has spurred new interest in cultivating plants and spaces that can host and feed our pollinators. Even small spaces can make a big difference, so consider creating a small pocket pollinator garden or prairie ...
Read more...Teaching Prairie @ the Library!
This fall, our Teaching Garden area will be expanding with a Prairie. If you’ve ever walked through our Teaching Garden, you’ve probably already seen the area we’ll be using, a grassy space along the tree line between the library and the Garlands. Before we created our Teaching Garden in 2021, the ...
Read more...Putting the Garden to Bed
Big changes are coming to our Teaching Garden area over the next few weeks! Fall will be here soon, so it’s nearly time to put our garden to bed. We’ll have a last minute taste of summer this week, but you can expect that the weather is going to cool down ...
Read more...Read more from the Garden Spot blog
Local Gardening News
2023 Seed Library Suggestion Form
BALibrary Garden & Environment Webinars
The Barrington Area Library is proud to announce that it has received a coveted four star ranking in the annual Star Libraries report, published by Library Journal. We are one of only 17 libraries in Illinois to receive a star ranking this year.
For the 2019 report, Library Journal surveyed 6,333 public libraries in the United States, and 261 received star rankings. This places the Barrington Area Library in the top 4% of libraries nationwide, based on six major service measures – physical material circulation, electronic circulation, number of visits, program attendance, public computer users, and wifi sessions, all per capita - from the 2016-2017 fiscal year. As in past years, BALibrary performed exceptionally well in overall circulation (top 2% nationwide) and e-circulation (top 1% nationwide), which comes as no surprise to our staff: we are proud to serve a community of engaged and curious readers of all ages.
The top 30 libraries in each of Library Journal's nine expenditure categories receive three, four, or five star rankings. See the full Star Libraries report online. The Barrington Area Library received three star rankings in 2010, 2017, and 2018.
We are pleased to share our latest annual report, covering the 2018-2019 fiscal year.
This year's report highlights the many ways in which the Library's programs and services support our mission statement and goals.
Explore how the Library stimulates imagination, creates (young) readers, develops information fluency, and fosters lifelong learning, all in comfortable physical and virtual settings.
Discover a group of young makers changing lives around the world, then discover how great stories and screen-free time change lives right here in the Barrington area.
Learn about Library technology, like the BALibrary app, Creativebug software, and genealogy services, and learn about improvements made to the Library building and campus this past year.
Take note of the many ways in which the Library collaborates with both nonprofit and business organizations, building relationships that inspire innovation and real world problem-solving.
We share this annual report with our thanks for your ongoing support and encouragement.
Read the report online below, or download a printable PDF.
Once again, our top-notch Youth Services librarians have compiled a list of their favorite books, published in 2019, for young readers. We hope you and your family find some new favorites here, too!
Our 2019 TEDxBarringtonAreaLibrary speakers: Leslie Ferris Yerger, Andy Milne, and *Star Cunningham.
We're thrilled to bring you our 2019 TEDxBarringtonAreaLibrary videos, from three great speakers with powerful ideas to share.
Listen to and learn from:
Star* Cunningham: One Dot At A Time
Leslie Ferris Yerger: Probably Benign
Andy Milne: This Is Not Your Parents' Health Class