Blog Post By: René Tanner, Associate Professor, Head of Research Services, Science Librarian, Rollins College
In this blog post René Tanner, co-editor of Libraries and Sustainability: Programs and Practices for Community Impact, discusses the creation of ALA's latest publication on libraries and sustainability.
My interest in the natural world and an appreciation for its beauty started long before I considered a career in libraries, so I was happy to discover that these interests were compatible and even encouraged in librarianship. As I began to explore this area of interest, I met wonderful people and through our collaboration many opportunities were presented.
One of those opportunities was an invitation to co-chair the American Library Association Special Taskforce on Sustainability. This process culminated in the development of a final report with 52 recommendations for libraries and library associations to engage in sustainability.
With inspiration drawn from the work done with the Task Force, a group of colleagues and I set out to accomplish one of the recommendations of the final report, which was to develop a book about the work libraries were doing to support sustainability. The book, Libraries and Sustainability: Programs and Practices for Community Impact, is the culmination of that journey.
Through a supportive team of co-editors, insightful authors, and a dedicated production team at ALA Editions, the book went from an aspiration to a reality. The book was done, in large part, during the coronavirus pandemic, and working on the book gave me something to focus on and look forward to. The project was a touchstone of community and hope. The book includes twelve chapters contributed by 25 authors from the U.S. and Canada.
Sustainability is a mindset and a lens through which decisions big and small can be made. Packed within this relatively simple sentence is guidance for a better future. A shift in mindset is needed to transition to a new way of being. While a significant transition seems unfathomable because we don’t see the changes happening on the scale that is needed, we know on an instinctual level that the transition is inevitable. Nature is not standing by passively as we decide if we’ll act.
Libraries and sustainability go well together because they both seek to improve the well being of individuals as well as community. Librairies remind us that community is important, that we value sharing, and that we can always improve.
The book has entry points for libraries of all sizes and types to explore the role of sustainability at the community, organizational, and interpersonal level. The book starts off with a piece about the Sustainable Library Initiative and the process three library leaders began to certify their libraries. Each library saw improvements they wouldn’t have otherwise and the process helped set a mindset that welcomed future improvements toward sustainability.
Another chapter discusses the why and how of disaster recovery plans for libraries. This chapter highlights the elements of response and recovery plans with the primary goal being to resume services as soon as possible after a disaster to aid the community in their recovery. In addition to preparing your library for the next disaster, the author also discusses how to engage the community in disaster planning for the homefront. 
We also learn about the principles of behavior change and how to change staff behaviors around waste reduction through community-based social marketing in another chapter.
The book is organized into four sections: leadership, planning, programming, and transformation. Page after page and chapter after chapter, the book works its way through new ideas, programs, and practices. Each chapter unfolds a principle or idea that helps us see things from a fresh perspective.
In addition to the highlights shared above, the book also includes:
If sustainability in libraries interests you, you’ll find many great ideas in this book and a lot to be grateful for in your colleagues.
Image Credit: club125.greenbelt from Flickr
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