Membership forms are a way to keep connected with borrowers and collect information that can help you better serve your community. Determine what format and information best suits your needs.
Questions to Consider 🤔
Paper Membership
A binder or some way of keeping membership check-outs on paper is by far the easiest system to set up.
a. Check Out Procedures Overview: Have a paper in the beginning of the binder and perhaps elsewhere in your library to orient people on how to check out seeds. Here is a sample document of a membership and borrowing procedure (français, español).
b. Membership Forms: Get a binder. A simple method is to buy A-Z tab dividers and organize membership forms by last name. This could be done as a self-serve form or in a more formal check out procedure. However, you may want to have the form out on the desk but keep completed ones in behind the reference desk. Here is a standard paper membership form (français, español).
c. Keeping Track of Members & Communicating
It's helpful to make a Google spreadsheet with members' information, such as name, email and volunteer interests. Put a check at the top corner of the membership form once a member has been entered into your database. The advantage of making your list as a Google spreadsheet is that multiple folks can update the membership list. So more than one person can do it and if you are volunteer-based it's good to have more than one person with the access information. It is not worthwhile for most seed libraries to manually enter all seeds borrowed and returned. If you are interested in that, then you may want to use a computer-based membership process.
Questions to Consider 🤔
- Are you planning to reach out to your members? If so, what contact information do you need?
- What details would you like to track, such as seed saving levels or affiliation to other local groups?
- Are you interested in finding out if members are available to volunteer for the seed library? If so, what specific skills are you looking for?
- Do you want to include a "Safe Seed Pledge" reminding members not to share GMO seeds?
- Does the form need to be available in more than one language?
- Do you have the staffing or volunteer time to manually enter data from paper forms into a computer?
Paper Membership
A binder or some way of keeping membership check-outs on paper is by far the easiest system to set up.
a. Check Out Procedures Overview: Have a paper in the beginning of the binder and perhaps elsewhere in your library to orient people on how to check out seeds. Here is a sample document of a membership and borrowing procedure (français, español).
b. Membership Forms: Get a binder. A simple method is to buy A-Z tab dividers and organize membership forms by last name. This could be done as a self-serve form or in a more formal check out procedure. However, you may want to have the form out on the desk but keep completed ones in behind the reference desk. Here is a standard paper membership form (français, español).
c. Keeping Track of Members & Communicating
It's helpful to make a Google spreadsheet with members' information, such as name, email and volunteer interests. Put a check at the top corner of the membership form once a member has been entered into your database. The advantage of making your list as a Google spreadsheet is that multiple folks can update the membership list. So more than one person can do it and if you are volunteer-based it's good to have more than one person with the access information. It is not worthwhile for most seed libraries to manually enter all seeds borrowed and returned. If you are interested in that, then you may want to use a computer-based membership process.
QR Codes & Online Forms
Having a QR Code or a URL available at the seed library is a helpful way for people to become members as it ensures that emails are added properly and saves you volunteer time since you don’t have to manually add in names - some of which may be illegible. Here is a sample of a bilingual English-Spanish Google Form (anglais-français).
Having a QR Code or a URL available at the seed library is a helpful way for people to become members as it ensures that emails are added properly and saves you volunteer time since you don’t have to manually add in names - some of which may be illegible. Here is a sample of a bilingual English-Spanish Google Form (anglais-français).
Richmond Grows Seed Lending Library, Richmond, CA, USA uses a bilingual (English-Spanish) Google Form that is accessed by a QR code.
Community Created Resources
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Click on the "Community Tips & Resources" Airtable form to see Membership Forms from other seed libraries and read tips about getting started.
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Do you have Borrowing Procedures or Membership Forms that you would like to share with the community? Click on the Airtable form below to share your resources or any tips you have?
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