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Ten Years Later

Claudia Depkin

SENYCon 2025 │ April 4, 2025

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2014 NYLA Resolution on the Importance of Sustainable Libraries

Whereas, libraries are essential to the communities they serve; and

Whereas, library leaders have a mandate to ensure future access to economical library services; and

Whereas, libraries that demonstrate good stewardship of the resources entrusted to them can build their base of support in their communities which leads to sustainable funding; and

Whereas, the scientific community has clearly communicated that current trends in climate change are of great concern to all; and

Whereas, the people who work in our libraries and access services in our facilities deserve a healthy environment in which to do so; and

Whereas, libraries who demonstrate leadership in making sustainable decisions that help to positively address climate change, respect natural resources and create healthy indoor and outdoor environments will stabilize and reduce their long-term energy costs, increase the support for the library in their community; and reveal new sources of funding; therefore be it

Resolved, that the New York Library Association, on behalf of its members, recognizes the important role libraries can play in larger community conversations about resiliency, climate change, and a sustainable future; and be it further

Resolved, that the New York Library Association enthusiastically encourages activities by its membership – and itself - to be proactive in their application of sustainable thinking in the areas of their facilities, operations, policy, technology, programming and partnerships.

…to be proactive in the application of sustainable thinking in the areas of facilities, operations, policy, technology, programming and partnerships.

Cast your mind back to 2014, even before SENYCon #1, when the Council of the New York Library Association passed a resolution on the Importance of Sustainable Libraries. This resolution was absolutely the brainchild of Rebekkah Smith Aldrich and Matthew Bollerman, and the culmination of years of thinking about how libraries can and should move forward to help their communities mitigate the impact of climate change. The resolution addresses the critical role libraries play in their communities and how we’re ideally positioned to promote sustainable thinking.

I won’t read it in its entirety, but it encourages NYLA members and NYLA itself as a business, to be proactive in the application of sustainable thinking in the areas of facilities, operations, policy, technology, programming and partnerships.

This really laid out the path the Sustainability Initiative would explore.

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2015

In 2015 the UN published The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Goals recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.

Each goal has any number of targets highlighting different strategies. Goal #16 is “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.”

One of the many stakeholders in building the 2030 Agenda was the International Federation of Library Associations & Institutions. IFLA was instrumental in the wording of Target #16.10 which is to “Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements.” There’s our call to action for libraries.

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2015 cont. Organizing for Impact

Resolution on the Importance of

Sustainable Libraries

First Retreat for Co-Creators

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Sustainable thinking aligns a library's core values and resources with the local and global community's right to endure, bounce back from disruption and to thrive by bringing new and energetic life to fruition through choices made in all areas of library operations and outreach.

2016 Laying the Foundation

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2016 cont. Spread the Word

At the first SENYCon Casey Conlin and I introduced the NYLA Sustainability Initiative. We talked about the 4 streams of work that were happening:

Creating marketing resources to help library leaders inform and influence their partners, with a glossary of terms to promote a shared vocabulary and elevator speeches to prepare folks for talking to stakeholders.
Incorporating the definition of sustainability with benchmarking tools to measure success.
Creating this delightful Road Map to Sustainability, which sets libraries on the path to taking their first concrete steps forward. The Road Map was created both in print and as a mobile app to help library leaders capture their new thoughts.
And developing a training course to educate library staff on how to become sustainability leaders in their communities by working closely with a single partner on a local project.

We had a mini-site on the NYLA webpage, an active Facebook group, and sent monthly e-newsletters.

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2017 Green Business Partnership

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2018 Public Library Certification Program Launch

Collective Impact
Social Cohesion
Resilience Planning
Financial Stability
Collections

Organizational Commitment
Energy
Waste & Recycling
Green Purchasing
Water & Land Use
Transportation
GHG Monitoring

2018 was the official launch of the Sustainable Library Certification Program, the SLCP. We started with public libraries, because the majority of co-creators involved at that time were public folks. Certified public libraries have met sustainability goals in these areas.
The list on the left side were part of the Green Business Partnership and completed on their dashboard. Any kind of business would find these applicable. The list on the right were called the Custom Library Benchmarks, as they really dove into the unique perspective of a library workplace.
The first step is to build a sustainability team. Get your administration and board behind you. Talk to colleagues and employees in the organization. Set or modify policies to incorporate the triple bottom line of sustainability into the fabric of the library from purchasing to job descriptions, from collection development to facilities and partnerships.
None of this is done in isolation. Each action item in these categories includes resources to borrow from. There’s mentors and a community of practice to lean on.

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2018 cont.

And so we began looking around for partners. ALA’s Special Task Force on Sustainability released their final report in 2018, recommending that ALA partner with the Sustainability Initiative to bring the Certification Program to a national audience.
National Voter Registration Day is in September and has been incorporated into the certification program as an action item.
In New York State we joined up with The Great Give Back, whose mission is to provide opportunities for a day of service every October for the patrons of public libraries. Activities and experiences can range from pet adoption, litter pick up, tree planting, food drives, clothing drives, or whatever other idea libraries develop.
We also partnered with Project Drawdown to promote climate action at the local level. We hosted a virtual book club to read the publication Drawdown, edited by Paul Hawken. That book outlines the practices and technologies that can begin to reverse the buildup of atmospheric carbon.
We’ve since added participation in the Drawdown Ecochallenge as a team is one of the certification action items.

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2019 Core Values of Librarianship

Access
Confidentiality/Privacy
Democracy
Diversity
Education & Lifelong Learning
Intellectual Freedom

The Public Good
Preservation
Professionalism
Service
Social Responsibility
Sustainability

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2019 cont. IFLA Green Library Award

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Hendrick Hudson Free Library

Lindenhurst Memorial Library

Saratoga Springs Public Library

2019 cont. First Public Libraries Certified

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2019 cont. SENYCon

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2019 cont. START

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2020

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2021 A New Home

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2021 cont.

Public

Libraries

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2021 cont.

Academic

Libraries

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2021 cont.

School

Librarians

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2022

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2023 Major Education Opportunities

https://bit.ly/4iu8xHw

2023 was a major breakthrough year for the SLI. Rebekkah was invited to participate in the OCLC Distinguished Seminar Series. “Sustainability—A Call to Action for the Library Community” explored the challenges and opportunities for libraries in the face of climate change and shared how many in our field are already answering the call for leadership on sustainability.

The SLI partnered with WebJunction on an entire mini-site called “Sustainable Libraries: Resources and Webinars for Climate Action and a More Sustainable Future.” This Bitly link will take you there. The mini-site includes 6 webinars in the series, a Learners Guide, resource links, presentation slides and the recordings. It’s an incredible, FREE resource jackpot to help you understand what sustainability is, how it impacts our libraries and our communities, and you how can take action.

We partnered with ALA to offer an eCourse called “Sustainable Librarianship: Core Competencies and Practices,” which is an asynchronous series to help librarians develop their own sustainable thinking and become leaders in climate-smart practices. There is a current cohort going through that program right now, and we expect it to be offered again this year.

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2024 Sponsor for CTLE Credits

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2024 cont. SLI Conference Presence

Other events:

AMICAL Consortium (international)
Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) Green Libraries Conference (UK)
Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) Climate Resiliency Workshop Series
Maryland Library Association’s Future of Libraries Interest Group
New Jersey Cultural Alliance for Response
New Jersey State Library Trustee Institute
Trustee Handbook Book Club, New York State
South Central Regional Library Council Annual Meeting

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https://bit.ly/4hdgMYq

2024 cont. Partnerships

In partnership with the Executive Board of the American Library Association, the Sustainable Libraries Initiative Advisory Board undertook an ambitious project to create a National Climate Action Strategy for Libraries (NCAS) and Implementation Guide. The strategy itself is only 1 page and lists 3 categories of effort and specific actions to prioritize at your library. The implementation guide is now available at that Bitly link and helps unpack each area of the strategy. It clearly and succinctly introduces you to core concepts, provides you with simple steps to get started, and is chock-full of resources and examples to help you accelerate your work in this area.

Members of the SLI Advisory Board also worked to present the two-day Climate Action Symposium in September last year. 39 thought leaders from a range of sectors including public libraries, climate science communication, public health, STEM education and informal learning were invited. The goal was to catalyze action around the roles that libraries and community-based organizations can play in responding together to environmental and health-related concerns due to climate change.

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2024 cont. Associations

https://www.nyla.org/sustainable-libraries-initiative-partnership

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2024 cont. New Corporate Sponsorship

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2025 Where We Are

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2025 cont. Who We Are

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www.sustainablelibrariesinitiative.org

2025 cont. Where to Find Us

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Thank You

Claudia Depkin

Library Director

Haverstraw King’s Daughters Public Library

(845) 786-3800

Director@HaverstrawLibrary.org

https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/103RFJ