sustainability in libraries Archives | Page 4 of 5

Sustainability in Libraries: Mandi Goodsett

Hosting a Sustainability Speaker Series

By Mandi Goodsett | April 24, 2020

To mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day—and recognize the American Library Association adding sustainability as a core value—American Libraries returns with its ongoing sustainability series. In these posts, information professionals share their experiences with sustainability in libraries. Two years ago, the Sustainability Interest Group of Cleveland State University’s (CSU) Michael Schwartz Library decided that … Continue reading Hosting a Sustainability Speaker Series →

Sustainability in Libraries: Sally Romero

Sustainability and Academic Libraries

By Sally Romero | April 22, 2020

To mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day—and recognize the American Library Association adding sustainability as a core value—American Libraries returns with its ongoing sustainability series. In these posts, information professionals share their experiences with sustainability in libraries. Librarians and library workers can implement sustainable ideas in their library and integrate learning-by-doing into the educational … Continue reading Sustainability and Academic Libraries →

Solar panels on the roof of McMillan Memorial Library in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. Photo: McMillan Memorial Library in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin

By the Numbers: Libraries and Sustainability

By Alison Marcotte | March 2, 2020

Earth Day will be observed April 22. 1 Year ago the American Library Association (ALA) added sustainability as a core value of librarianship. At the 2019 Midwinter Meeting in Seattle, ALA Council committed to the triple bottom-line framework for sustainability: practices that are environmentally sound, economically feasible, and socially equitable. 50 Number of years Earth … Continue reading By the Numbers: Libraries and Sustainability →

Waste Not, Want Not

By Larissa Clotildes | March 2, 2020

I am not denying the educational value of crafts. They stimulate creativity, develop fine motor skills, and engage multiple senses in a learning experience. But I challenge myself to find activities that do not produce single-use waste, without sacrificing everything that makes crafts so great. I use the five Rs as my baseline: Refuse. Reject … Continue reading Waste Not, Want Not →

What Does Green Mean?

By Kayla Kuni | March 2, 2020

Sustainability initiatives often focus primarily on environmentalism, that is, the importance of reducing the footprint we leave on our physical spaces and habitats in order to preserve them over time. Social and financial measures are just as important to the longevity of our work, and by incorporating these principles into our programming, we can help … Continue reading What Does Green Mean? →

Answering the Sustainability Question

By Phil Morehart | 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

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 →

Climate Change and Sustainability

By Phil Rockrohr | October 9, 2019

To help area residents identify next steps, Hammes helped organize a panel on climate change in February 2018. Held in conjunction with the local Coulee Region Sierra Club Group and the La Crosse Citizens’ Climate Lobby, the panel brought together five area farmers and entrepreneurs to discuss their personal experiences with changing weather patterns. Topics … Continue reading Climate Change and Sustainability →

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

File under Bee

By Rachel Chance | 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

By Liz Granger | 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 →

Campus Sustainability through Information Literacy

By Raymond Pun | 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 →

Degrowth Is Coming

By Edgardo Civallero | 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 →

Latest Library Links

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Seung Min Kim writes: “President Donald Trump’s abrupt firing of top officials at the Library of Congress has morphed into an enormous fight over the separation of powers. Republican leaders have delivered rare pushback against the president, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and other Republicans have been talking with the White House about a potential path to détente.” The Associated Press reported that it is unclear whether Trump’s nominee for acting librarian of Congress, Todd Blanche, is currently in that role or if Principal Deputy Librarian Robert Newlen is in charge. The Authors Guild has created a petition demanding the reinstatement of fired Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter, and library colleagues from around the world have expressed their support for American librarians in facing federal and other challenges.

Associated Press, May 16, May 15; Authors Guild, May 13; ALA International Relations Office, May 20
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Cali Lichter writes: “For five years, Lowell (Mich.) Area Schools (LAS) Library Media Director Christine Beachler says she has been the target of untruthful, personal social media attacks. After a video of Beachler during a library tour in February, posted by self-described parental rights advocate Stefanie Boone, went viral, she says it pushed it over the edge. On May 13, Beachler filed a civil lawsuit in 17th Circuit Court, asking for damages and for Boone to take down all her posts referencing Beachler.” A GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $25,000 to support Beachler’s legal fees.

WZZM-TV (Grand Rapids, Mich.), May 13, 14
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Ginny Monk writes: “Ebook contracts for libraries often come with terms that mean the library has to repurchase the book after it’s been borrowed 26 times or every couple of years, whichever comes first. Connecticut Senate Bill 1234 wouldn’t allow simultaneous restrictions on the loan period and the number of times people can borrow the book.” The Connecticut legislature gave final approval to the bill May 15, sending it to Gov. Ned Lamont for his signature. If he does sign it, the bill will only take effect if one or more other states with a total population of 7 million pass similar legislation. Connecticut library associations celebrated the bill’s passage.

Connecticut Mirror, May 15; Connecticut Library Consortium, May 15
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While ALA welcomed the preliminary injunction ordering the administration not to implement President Trump’s executive order to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services, it raised alarm over the administration’s cancellation of the $2.75 billion Digital Equity Act grant program as of May 9. The congressionally authorized program was designed to close the digital divide by establishing grants to support broadband access and digital skills training for underserved communities. ALA is collecting information regarding Digital Equity Act grant cancellations to identify the impact of this loss of funding for libraries, and urges library workers who have received grant termination notifications to report their program cancellation and share the impact this loss of funding will have on their library.

ALA Public Policy and Advocacy Office, May 15
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Rachel Rosenberg writes: “All public library staffers must work with children and teens at some point. But for those who are newer to the profession, it can feel daunting, because youth services aren’t required courses in library school. These six books touch on the vital aspects of working with young people, including building community engagement, creating learning environments, and planning storytimes and easy crafts. They also offer examples of how to support children in challenging situations.”

American Libraries column, May
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Brea McQueen writes: “At this point in the year, almost everyone on campus seems to be thinking about the end of the term. But this span of time doesn’t necessarily look or feel the same to everyone. Some of us who have disabilities move through time a little differently, experiencing it as particularly nebulous and abstract. The phrase crip time, coined by scholar and author Alison Kafer, acknowledges that folks with disabilities may experience spans of time in nonlinear ways that don’t align with the normative, societal understanding of time.”

American Libraries column, May
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Carrie Smith writes: “In July 1925, the US was transfixed by State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes, also known as the Scopes Monkey Trial. Held in Dayton, Tennessee, the proceedings examined whether high school teacher John T. Scopes violated the law by teaching evolution in a state-funded school. Then, as now, the trial served as a prism for societal debate around education and intellectual freedom. The Scopes trial archive at the Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives at University of Tennessee, Knoxville includes transcripts, photos, and ephemera from locals and attorneys involved in the case.”

American Libraries feature, May

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