Answering the Sustainability Question

January 25, 2020

Aldrich, executive director of the Mid-Hudson Library System in Poughkeepsie, New York, began by stressing the urgent need for libraries to address climate change, resilience, and sustainability, both in promotion and practice. “There is nothing bigger in this world today than climate change,” she said. “This will be getting worse, if we don’t change things. … Continue reading Answering the Sustainability Question


2019 Year in Review

2019 Year in Review

January 2, 2020

Macmillan Ebook Policy Draws Fire Macmillan Publishers announced a policy preventing libraries from purchasing more than one copy of a new ebook title for the first eight weeks after a book’s release. In protest, American Library Association (ALA) launched the #eBooksForAll petition, which by November 27 had garnered more than 216,000 signatures. Said ALA President … Continue reading 2019 Year in Review



The BeeChicas tend to one of two rooftop beehives at Boulder (Colo.) Public Library. (Photo: The Bee Chicas)

File under Bee

September 3, 2019

When Theresa Beck, a member of the Boulder, Colorado–based beekeeping team and advocacy group the BeeChicas, shared her idea with Kathy Lane at the Bee Boulder Festival in 2014, she didn’t think of it as more than a playful suggestion. But Lane, who is programs, events, and outreach coordinator for the Boulder Public Library (BPL), … Continue reading File under Bee


Michigan State University librarian Eric Tans with the book debinding machine

Leading the Green Revolution

November 1, 2017

“When you start talking about compost and food waste, people immediately think of fruit flies and mice and stinky garbage,” Tans says. As the school’s environmental sciences librarian, Tans participates in MSU Libraries’ robust programming around recycling, composting, and deaccessioning books. Founded in 1855, MSU is a historically agricultural school. The institution’s long tradition of … Continue reading Leading the Green Revolution


Raymond Pun

Campus Sustainability through Information Literacy

September 12, 2017

This column is one in a multipart American Libraries series that explores the library profession’s relationship to sustainability. When I first started working at Fresno State as the first-year student success librarian in 2015, a colleague referred my name to a team of science professors in this program. From there, I began attending weekly meetings and contributing … Continue reading Campus Sustainability through Information Literacy


Edgardo Civallero

Degrowth Is Coming

August 4, 2017

Generally speaking, human beings have been aware of these boundaries throughout history, if only to protect existing resources. Our lives depended on it—and still do. But societies have come to view themselves as independent of that abstract entity known as “nature” and believe that human beings can handle their environment at their convenience, using and … Continue reading Degrowth Is Coming


Arlene Hopkins and Stephen Maack

Sustainability in Public Libraries

June 23, 2017

This column is one in a multipart American Libraries series that explores the library profession’s relationship to sustainability. Sustainability does not mean continuing the public library, its facilities, and its roles as they are now.  It may mean retaining key elements of the library while changing many others. Or it may mean retaining the core values … Continue reading Sustainability in Public Libraries


Gary Shaffer

Triple Bottom Line Sustainability

June 15, 2017

This column is one in a multipart American Libraries series that explores the library profession’s relationship to sustainability. Author and entrepreneur John Elkington, often credited for introducing the concept of TBL, wrote in Cannibals with Forks: Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business (1999) that organizations must be economically prosperous, promote environmental quality, and be champions of … Continue reading Triple Bottom Line Sustainability


Kellie Sparks

Strengthening the Voice for Sustainability

May 31, 2017

This column is one in a multipart American Libraries series that explores the library profession’s relationship to sustainability. Libraries can move toward providing a fact-based voice in fighting climate change in their communities. One way to do this is by more proactively collecting and disseminating information to stakeholders involved in local sustainability efforts. A recent study … Continue reading Strengthening the Voice for Sustainability


Amy Brunvand

Sustainability on the Other Side of the Stacks

May 22, 2017

This column is one in a multipart American Libraries series that explores the library profession’s relationship to sustainability. Why not? I hadn’t previously thought of embedding myself in the Sustainability Office, but the idea seemed brilliant. Typically, academic libraries mirror the subject-based structure of academic departments; but one of the unique aspects of campus sustainability is … Continue reading Sustainability on the Other Side of the Stacks


Bonnie Smith and Beth Filar Williams

Sustainability’s Community of Practice

May 10, 2017

This column is one in a multipart American Libraries series that explores the library profession’s relationship to sustainability. This consideration of the need and role of humanity in constructing a sustainable future for all—balancing environmental, economic, and social needs while protecting vulnerable populations—is a core and urgent concern of society, and consequently of libraries. The very … Continue reading Sustainability’s Community of Practice