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Julie Edwards: So funny because Rebecca and I were having Oh, she wasn't I was having problems with zoom this morning.
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Julie Edwards: Welcome welcome and we're only one minute behind hey Thank you, thank you to our colleague Lynn.
Julie Edwards: So welcome we're going to go ahead and get started this is such an important conversation today so it's noon here in the mountains i'm joining you from missoula.
Julie Edwards: Welcome to this webinar on sustainable thinking for the future of libraries i'm Julie edwards a librarian and instructional designer with nish academy i'm.
Julie Edwards: moderating the webinar today and i'm so happy that you've joined us that we can all chat with each other in the chat box.
Julie Edwards: I am recording this i'll make the recording available in a few days will process it and we'll add it to Rebecca slides and send it out directly to you via email so keep an eye out for those.
Julie Edwards: zoom doesn't automatically generate a certificate of completion, but if you need one of those I will drop in the chat the way to.
Julie Edwards: To get a certificate after the webinar we don't offer CU credits, but if you need a certificate for your own professional development will do that for you, you can turn closed captioning on.
Julie Edwards: At the bottom of your screen by clicking the live transcript button, so, if you prefer to use closed captioning feel free to do that.
Julie Edwards: I will monitor that chat box i'll go through it as soon as i'm done the the intro if you have any questions for me feel free to drop them in the chat box.
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Julie Edwards: So let me really quickly introduce each Academy.
Julie Edwards: Here at nish Academy, we believe that whatever problems you're facing your people are the answer.
Julie Edwards: So our training packages help public library staff, develop and refine your skills in core areas of librarianship like customer service soft skills and dei we make it easy for you to develop customized internal training to meet the needs of your library, including your staff.
Julie Edwards: If you're an academic library and joining us we help your staff, including your essential student employees provide excellent customer service in person and online.
Julie Edwards: We provide subject Librarians with information literacy tutorials that can be customized and scaffolding, so that you can make a direct and measurable.
Julie Edwards: contribution to student success and whatever kind of library are in we help you train your patrons from your Community members to your first year students to your season researchers on how to use the resources with justin time tutorials.
Julie Edwards: So if you want to see how we do it here, where you, colleague say or get a quote for your library, you can visit us at nish academy COM.
Julie Edwards: This webinar series is part of our commitment to staff training in the library world I am so happy that you've joined us today, and you can see our upcoming webinars at nish academy.com slash blog.
Julie Edwards: So our presenter today is Rebecca Smith aldridge and I am so thrilled to have her with us this one has been a long time in making.
Julie Edwards: Rebecca is currently the Executive Director of the mid Hudson library system in New York, she is the Co founder of the sustainable libraries initiative and the co creator of the award winning sustainable library certification Program.
Julie Edwards: She currently serves as the Chair of the La Council committee on sustainability and is the sustainability columnist for library journal.
Julie Edwards: she's the author of sustainable thinking, ensuring your libraries feature and an uncertain world resilience part of the La future series and libraries and sustainability programs and practices for Community impact.
Julie Edwards: Rebecca focuses her professional attention on helping libraries and library workers be successful in the face of disruption and uncertainty which we have all lived with in these past few years, I am absolutely thrilled to have her with us today, and I will turn the webinar over to her.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Thank you so much Julie i'm really pleased to be here today and I can't thank nish academy and Julia enough for inviting me.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): To talk about sustainability and climate change, with a lot of my friends here in the library community, so thank you for being here today.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Julie and I were just chatting about how the headlines of this week.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): kind of set the stage for today's presentation i'm sure many of you are under heat advisories right now, or perhaps standing yourself, given the he throughout the world.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So I think it's a very acute issue that we're talking about today, which is climate change and how libraries are positioning themselves.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): To be leaders on the topic of helping our communities through these difficult times, and the challenges that lay ahead for us as well, so.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): My plan here today is to start very broadly talking about some general concepts that I hope, help frame some of your thinking about climate change and the need for adjust transition to a new way of thinking and operating our world today.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And then we're going to look at some very specific, practical examples of how libraries are already doing this work.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So hopefully some of that looks familiar and maybe you'll start talking about what you're doing a little differently or adopting some new thinking and action based on what you hear here today.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And then we'll connect you with some information about the sustainable libraries initiative which Julie mentioned i'm very involved with.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): In here in New York, which is now a national project So anyone who is here, most likely is eligible to start participating in that program which is pretty cool so.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): i'm going to jump right in because I brought a lot of stuff here today and I want to make sure we also have time for questions at the end which Julie is kind enough to be curating.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Through the question and answer feature here in zoom today, so I told you, we were going to start broad and you don't get much broader than Planet Earth.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So I think the past two and a half years have been a good reminder that we're part of a global community, I think coven really brought home in a really harsh way.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): that the actions of some have an impact on the life of others.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And we certainly learned over the past two and a half years what our strengths and weaknesses were working together as a global community to protect.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Usually the most vulnerable people in our communities and some of the findings through that effort were miraculous right we saw people come together to help solve problems and.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): bridge the digital divide, and some communities and address food security issues that were just laid bare.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): At the beginning of code, but we also saw several weaknesses that were probably evident too many of us that were there and they just became more egregious.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): As the pandemic went on, so, as we saw the vulnerable folks in our communities, a central workers right we're very exposed and a lot of decisions got made that didn't really help them in their early days of the pandemic.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): We saw certainly unfortunate decisions being made, where people were ignoring science and facts that would have really slowed down the spread of the pandemic much quicker than it did.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So we saw both the best and worst of humanity through coven which really I think was an acute like a very intense experience for all of us all, been impacted in some way by coven.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And so, when I think about well, what can we learn from that situation, what i'm hoping.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Is that we can apply some of that same thinking to addressing climate change and the impact that it's having on our world.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): we've certainly been hearing about climate change, for a long time, but we haven't really seen action.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): At the pace that's called for to head off what's now happening, like the record setting heat wave that we're all sitting through.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So when we think about what's going to happen next, there needs to be urgency behind it and that's part of why we're pushing so hard, the sustainable libraries initiative.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): To help libraries both position themselves well to be leaders in the Community on these topics, but also to be helping communities come together.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): and think differently about how to live in the future because what's doing what we're doing right now is not quite working well for the majority of people on the planet.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So when you think about the headlines over the past two and a half years of course coven and in the US, at least a political climate has really dominated.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Our headlines but mixed in with all of those other kind of headlines that were very unnerving and often scary.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Were record setting headlines are a lot of records were set over the past two and a half years we're setting records, right now, where the he index that we're dealing with in many areas of the world.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So in 2020 and 2021 we saw record setting wildfires and the western part of the US, we saw.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): in the eastern part of the US, the most named storms, we saw that both in 2020 and then we broke that record again in 2021 and we're on pace to break it again in 2022.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): records setting he in the southwest amazing wind storms which are pretty intimidating and the middle of our country here.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So when we think about what climate scientists are saying today, I think this really brings it home that we're what we're experiencing right now literally right now with the heat, this is literally the best it's going to be for at least the next 30 years.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Right that's amazing to think about the fact that climate change, we can no longer turn it back at a pace that would protect us from seeing more records being broken at this point.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So we're now faced with this really big challenge of not just trying to turn climate change around and reduce greenhouse gases so climate change doesn't get worse.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): We now also have to deal on a parallel track with helping humans adapt in the face of what's happening to protect life to actually help people thrive in the face of what's going on today.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So when we look to the experts who have been trying to guide us for many, many years 34 years, in fact, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change at the United Nations, I was just looking it up.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): they've been around since 1988 which I mean, I think that means they're older than some folks on the call here today 34 years old.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Trying to help us understand and trying to help policymakers understand climate change is real.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): it's impacting our life today and it's going to continue to get worse and now it's going to continue to get worse, even if we do exactly what they tell us to do.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So the latest report issued by this organization came out last year, and you can see, the Secretary General, the United Nations, Mr Gutierrez.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): could not be more clear it's a code red for humanity What else do you want him to say to get your attention and ask us to act with urgency.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Right they've done everything in their power to educate policymakers and the general public they've.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Even shifted the way they talk about climate change, back in 2014 we saw a very meaningful change in the way they talk about climate change, when I say they, these are the climate climate scientists that are part of the IPCC.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And 2014 they went from talking about how we save the earth and reverse climate change their whole tone change because they realized, it was too late.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): We were really going to have to start adapting in the face of this and really think about how to help humanity, how to save people in the face of what's going on here today.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So it really could not be more dire this has been called the greatest health global health threat to our Earth.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): that's bigger than coven you're talking about it being the grandest challenge of our generation, yet when you look at our headlines that are policymakers and some of the decisions being made at very high levels of government.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): We don't quite see people acting in the way they need to.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And as we listen to younger generations that are coming up, and who are really slapped in the face with the reality of what we are going to be dealing with for for decades, at this point.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): you're seeing the younger generation become very articulate and quite the activists on this topic, thankfully, trying to hold those of us in positions of authority and power and influence accountable in this moment.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): i'm hoping there's a cheer going across the globe, right now, for those of you on the webinar when you see the face of this young woman Greg I tandberg.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Who is probably one of the best climate activists, we have trying to drive home the importance of action in this moment.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): That there's been enough talk there's enough education we know what needs to get done now let's do it so as library professionals, when we think about the legacy we leave during our careers.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Are we going to be authentic and what we have done in the next few years, the next few decades, through the positions of authority, we have wherever we sit in our organizations.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Can we look at someone like read a 10 years from now, and said I heard you and we did what we could from where we had influence, and I think that's the gist of what I want to talk about today.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): is how we confront the reality of this and how we pick a path forward in the face of what feels very overwhelming almost overwhelming, to the point of paralysis, for many people.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So Julie mentioned that we have a new book out it's called libraries and sustainability and the last chapter of that book is devoted to the idea of the donut economy.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And so i'm just going to briefly give you an intro to this to kind of set the stage for the rest of our afternoon here together.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Hopefully, most people on the call have had the pleasure of eating a donut you know what it looks like you know there's a usually a crust on a traditional style donuts.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): With a hole in the middle and then the idea of the donut economy, and this is from the economist, Kate Roberts over in the UK.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): She talks about obviously the need to shift our thinking and a very big way because the thinking that got us to today is not what we need going forward.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And we start thinking about all the things that have to change, most importantly, our mindset.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): you realize it's connected to everything else, this is a very systemic issue so it's not just like you know, using a checklist to go green at your library.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): we're talking about not only the ecological ceiling or the natural resource limits that we are confronted with.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But the realities of the social foundation and how broken, that is, particularly in the US when we're faced with issues such as.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): systemic racism and equity in the workplace and why women are not paid as much as men, these are things that have just been really weakening the foundation of our society, for decades, if not a generation or more.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So, and she talks about a shift in thinking about our economy she's talking about actually thinking about it holistically not just about money.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Not just about the environment, not just about social equity, but what if we thought start looking at it like a dashboard and understanding the need for balance so when you think about.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): The dashboard as I like to call it it's really out of whack like.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): we've got over use of natural resources, abuse of many aspects of our natural world and we're certainly not doing as well as we could in the social justice runs either there's a lot of work to be done.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And when you start thinking about all the work there is to be done it's easy to throw up your hands and give up or feel discouraged like you can never make progress in this area.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But if we all do, that we're never going to make things better, and I don't know about you, but I got into the library profession because I like to help people.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And so, when I think about my opportunities to help people through the work that I do in the mid Hudson library system in the Hudson valley of New York.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): I want to make sure i'm being really strategic.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Can I use the resources, I have in my library or the the colleagues I work with in my Member libraries and my peers around the country to make a difference in this area to be a leader.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): we've got libraries in almost every single town on every campus and every school well not in every school but almost we wish there was more or less school Librarians for sure.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But when we think about the power if we all started working together in the same direction, that is a strategic advantage for us as institutions and for those that we serve.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So what we're looking for is a strategic commitment to deliberately make decisions in a different way, keeping in mind the idea of sustainability.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And really own the idea that every job is a climate job and that's a statement from projects drawdown if you're not familiar with them write that one down quick and go look them up because they're awesome.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): They have a book that has the 100 best solutions to combat and climate change, based on expert opinion.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): I don't know seems like a good thing to follow if we were actually trying to do something differently and make a difference in the world.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But I love this idea of all of us thinking about our job, being a climate job because that's the kind of commitment and energy it's going to take to shift.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): The economic thinking, the social injustices, the environmental damage that's been done to create a livable future that's not just survivable for people, but actually a place where people can thrive.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So when we start talking about pulling in the same direction, how wonderful is it to see leadership from our association with the American library association adopting sustainability as a core value in 2019.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So if you're not familiar with this i'm here to help you get familiar with it it's a word that is overused right we use sustainability, to talk about funding we use it to talk about the environment, we use it to talk about staff capacity it gets used a lot.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But a la was a very specific and how they talked about it, they adopted what's called the triple bottom line definition of sustainability.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And are urging library professionals and library workers to think about balance when you're making decisions, large and small, in your workplace can you find balance, as well as possible, and this is about progress not perfection.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Using these three ideas and bringing them together we're trying to purchase items build buildings, how we build communities.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Using this model or framework as a lens through which to make better decisions as we move forward so we're looking for a balance of social equity, environmental sustainability and economic feasibility.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And this can come to bear in very small decisions you make about office supplies, could you buy paper that actually came from a forest that actually is being.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): thought of with stewardship in mind, rather than just clear cutting areas of our country could you make decisions about.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): buildings that you might influence in terms of how they're cleaned or how they're built or expanded using this model to make better decisions that respects the environment.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): respects workers and respects the money respects where money comes from who's giving you that money and making sure it's spent to the best advantage of the Community or constituency that you serve.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So this is the structural model that we find a scalable it works, no matter what kind of library you're in what kind of job or work you're doing in a library.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And it's something you can apply to almost every decision that's getting made to your institution.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But it definitely requires a mindset shift to do so, and you have to practice right, you have to exercise that muscle to make better and better decisions as you move forward.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But we think it's a really simple model again scalable model for a massive issue that we're all trying to figure out a new way forward on.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): The other really big thing I wanted to focus on today is the idea of climate action and taking climate action now, so, as you can tell, I speak a lot.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): On this topic, I do this is my third presentation on this topic in two weeks.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): When I talk about climate action, people often ask me what are the most important things to focus on where do I start.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And so i've got four key things here right identify the vulnerabilities of the geography that you're sitting in.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): What are the things most likely to happen to your local community or constituency and is your institution prepared to bounce back in the face of that or to provide.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): A tighter social and fabric that will protect people in the face of these things coming or to help them recover when these things happen.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): that's the very acute thinking that needs to happen so that you're prepared when that disruptive thing happens, which is kind of hard to predict.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): In the middle there you see what's very traditional the talk about when it comes to sustainability and.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Climate stewardship, which is the issue of climate mitigation and that's the idea of reducing greenhouse gases, which was the number one driver of climate change.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And so, if we had all done a better job of this several decades ago I would not be here talking to you as such urgency, but we have not so let's talk about how we do better moving forward.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): the built environment, the buildings are all sitting in right now, they contribute to 40% to the greenhouse gas emissions.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So if we could build buildings or run buildings better so reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and emissions that are really damaging to the ozone layer.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): That would actually make a difference, you can see a measurable difference if we could work in that area, this can spread into transportation choices.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): A carbon offset options for travel and other decisions that you're making this week, I saw ups now has an option, you can carbon offset the stuff you're mailing so people are starting to understand.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): More of the marketplaces interested in doing good work in this area so very traditional but still very necessary, is the issue of climate mitigation.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And then unfortunately where massive amounts of work needs to be done is in the area of climate adaptation, some people like to call that climate justice and for good cause.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Because climate change is not affecting all equally, this is not the great equalizer this is definitely hurting poor people more it's hurting folks that are.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): In areas that are compromised for systemic racism reasons, when you take a look at how neighborhoods were designed in urban areas.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Who ends up living in low lying areas that are likely to be submerged by rising sea levels and flood waters, you can very clearly see the ties.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): To geography and systemic racism so as we think about some of the issues that are tied to climate justice, I really appreciate this list from the N double a CP.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Because very targeted and very easy to design services and attention and programs around these areas, so we think about food justice access to actually clean and affordable food.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Natural fruits and vegetables that don't have harmful chemicals in them and that's actually harder to get than it should be in a very developed country.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): That advocating for transportation equity upholding civil and human rights in emergency management, when we talk about hurricanes hitting the coastal areas of some parts of our country's.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): You recognize it will isn't that Nice, if you have a car, and you can afford a hotel and you can see, the area, some people are stuck sheltering in place.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Because of economic issues or family situations, so we need to make sure everyone is considered an emergency management planning.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And then facilitate participatory democracy let's make sure all voices are heard and we're electing folks that represent the values of our communities, whatever that might be where you live.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So, making sure all can be heard, whether it through the platform of local libraries and intellectual freedom and collection development and program design also making sure folks are registered.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): To vote and understand voter rights moving forward, these are all incredibly important issues to make sure we have a collective wisdom participating and designing the future of our world.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): The fourth thing I want to talk about is almost the most critical thing we focus on which is social cohesion.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): If folks in our communities don't have respect empathy and understanding for one another we're not going to get anywhere, and we can see, and feel that almost every day in the United States.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): When you don't have respect for your neighbors you don't understand where people are coming from when you don't have empathy for folks whose lives are different than yours.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): you're less likely to advocate for them to become neighbors with them to be a good neighbor to other people.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And so, libraries as a catalyst for social cohesion, which is that idea that we do work together as a community we problem solve together as a Community, that is, the scale at which we need to work.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): To address the disruption, which is honestly, by definition, unpredictable that's why we need stronger Community units that can come together share wisdom and make good decisions for the maximum number of people in our communities.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So there's obviously some work to be done here so positioning libraries as sustainability leaders in my personal opinion, and a growing opinion I think of many in the profession.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): is going to be key not only to the catalyst necessary in our communities and on our campuses to be effective.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And, be seen as relevant and responsive in the future, but also necessary to help communities find like minded people who want to do good work.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And really do the work of climate change mitigation and adaptation in a way that's respectful to the communities that we live in.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): This is big big work we can't do it by ourselves, but we need to identify and own our role as leaders on it and then look for others who want to do the same work, wherever we're sitting.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): I hope you're familiar with the Center for the future of libraries to the American library association Miguel figure era who's no longer there, but an excellent Executive Director of the Center for many years.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): worked a lot to identify trends that impact the work that we do.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): When he talked about collective impact I just thought it was just such a perfect overlay to what we talk about when it comes to climate change.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): that we all have very good intentions, we want to do good work in this area, we want to leverage our goals of the library to do good work.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But we often do so in isolation, or we don't focus on the things that could have the biggest impact.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So this idea of organizing from every single level from your your thinking to the thinking of those that you work within your institution to.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): You know, a wider sphere of influence of your Community or our profession.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And what if we all start pulling together in the same direction, we could really make a difference, people underestimate how large the library community is how much money the library Community spends.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And so, if we're making better decisions we're holding vendors accountable to do work that actually reflects the values we have.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Where we want to spend our money, we can actually make a difference, we can move the dial on some of these issues if we're smart about it.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But it's got to start locally you've got to think about your own situation your institution situation and how your community is thinking about these issues to be effective.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So i'm not here to tell you that read my article in library Journal and you'll have all the answers it's not a one size fits all kind of problem.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): You have to have the mindset, to be able to think through the issues, so you can deal with the local grassroots issues that are confronting you where you live.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): With your community is dealing with what your political landscape is driving which can be different very different depending on where you live.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So if you're interested in taking a deeper dive one new resources available to you from the American library association i've got it on the screen here, sustainability and libraries, a call to action.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): If you're looking to help other people understand the triple bottom line look at examples explain why this is equity diversity and inclusion work.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): The Council committee on sustainability, of which I know at least one Member is on the call here with us today is here.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): This is our major deliverable of our first year in existence, so we hope you'll check that out and share it with others you'll definitely get the link to this after today's webinar as well.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): In it, you will see mention of the organization Julie mentioned i'm a part of which is the sustainable libraries initiative and I just want to say up front, I draw no money from this initiative i'm.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): A volunteer and i've been working on it for about eight years now, with another group of very dedicated colleagues also who are not.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): being paid to do this work, but we realized that we had to come together that we had to get organized and we had to just figure something out maybe we didn't have the exact right answers.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Of what this looks like but we started to recognize patterns that libraries need to do work in this area to be authentic in their work in this area.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And that we couldn't wait anymore for someone else to tell us what to do so, we just started to figure it out and look for patterns ourselves.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And so i'm going to share with you some examples from the folks we're working with and also share with you how you can learn more about the work we're doing.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But at the end of the day, the idea of a sustainable library.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): is one that is strong and authentic that you are doing work that lives your values out loud, as an institution that reflect our professional values.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): That you are deliberately doing work in the areas of climate mitigation and climate adaptation and that you do own your role to build social cohesion and communities.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So, as we start to orient ourselves to the work yes it's overwhelming yes there's a lot to do.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But I think using the triple bottom line as a lens through which to make decisions to think about these four categories of effort, I think you'll be able to find your way to designing goals program services that start to really.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Speak to the issues of our day when it comes to climate change and social cohesion and all the stuff we're talking about today.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So I don't want you to be intimidated by the work, what I want you to see is that it's doable but you got to start you got to do something.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And what that looks like in your space might be different than another library down the road or in another State or another country.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But if we're all thinking about this and trying and finding like minded people hopefully we can be effective, at least in bringing people together to think about this work and to do Problem Solving in this area.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So I want to keep my eye on the clock, so we still have time for questions at the end so i'm going to share some examples with you.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Of what this is looking like and all the examples love to share with you, I have like this backstage pass to.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): More than 60 libraries in the country right now doing work in this area, thanks to our sustainable library certification Program.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So i'm sharing examples from you of libraries that have made that a strategic decision to devote time and energy and resources to doing work using the triple bottom line.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): To run their institution to design services and programs and outreach initiatives so you're going to see some ideas, hopefully they at least one of them is useful to you here this afternoon.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So strategic planning right we've got to embed this thinking from the bottom up, and the top down so part of that is making sure strategically our governing bodies, our staff.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Every member of the staff understands the importance of thinking and doing work in this area to awesome examples here from two of our Members, the San Diego county library.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): They have sustainability initiatives built into their facilities plan, as well as their strategic plan.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So they are one of the leading libraries in the country doing work to build buildings that are net zero energy they're actually not taking.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): From the electrical grid and natural resources they're using renewable resources and actually putting.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Electricity back into the grid so they're actually not just being sustainable or resilient they're being regenerative they're putting back into the system.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): On the right you see the concord library Massachusetts who has I think if i'm not mistaken, the first sustainability plan a standalone sustainability plan.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Talking about the effects of climate change and the work they are doing to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and more.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Through this plan so everyone in the organization understands why everyone in the organization understands how and then we're all working together to describe and design the what we're going to do to achieve these goals, and our strategic plans.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): The hendra cousin free library in westchester county New York was the first library certified under the sustainable library certification Program.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So got to highlight them Jill Davis shout out to Jill she's amazing, and the reason I think one of the major reasons, this whole project exists today.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But she was really dedicated to the idea of doing this work from the inside out.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): that we need to treat our library workers well to show our care for our neighbors if you're not treating your library workers well, what does it look like when you're out in the Community.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): fighting for equal pay and living wages for others if you're not doing that in your own house so she.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): instigated an entire project to analyze salaries and benefits in their organization which was hat part of how she became sustainably certified.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Through our projects, you can see an analysis of their benefits, making sure we're treating part time workers well, making sure we're paying equitable and living wages, not just minimum wages, but living wages.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): For people in our communities that that work in our libraries.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): from the inside out involves how we operate our buildings, how we clean them, are we exposing people unnecessarily to toxic chemicals and over using natural resources.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): This is a long word library and some of the work they did to think differently about cleaning their building and making sure they were living their values out loud and how they did everything from recycle and clean surfaces and clean bathrooms.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): here's the patchogue medford library I love this story because.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): They were confronted with a reality that they wanted to recycle but there was no infrastructure to recycle in the village they lived in so they created their own system.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And it's a super small example of the kind of thinking we're talking about here today.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Just because you don't see a path forward or someone else isn't doing this for you doesn't mean it can't be done.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So they created their own recycling program their own transportation solution, and they inspired another library, in the same county that they're in to do the same.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Except for the different outcome i'm going to talk about this library in a minute.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But it's the Linden hearse library, who had the same problem, no recycling program in their village, but they talk to their village about it and the village said oh.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): we'll solve that for you and started picking up the recycling, along with the village governments recycling, so the library was able to piggyback.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): On an existing service so finding like minded partners or creating your own system that sometimes it's called for to find the solutions to the work that needs to be done.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So a super quick introduction I don't know if you saw in my bio i'm a leadership and energy and environmental design accredited professional, so I really love buildings and thinking about buildings and how they work.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But resilient library facilities are going to be absolutely necessary moving forward and what I mean about that.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Is that when we see that severe weather coming we need buildings in our communities that can be refuge for people that people can come to help restore their lives and the aftermath of very severe weather.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So, as we think about the resilient library features we're looking for right we mentioned net zero in the San Diego county library system.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But also designing buildings that don't rely on mechanicals or don't rely on on fossil fuels to run so you're seeing examples here of the passive house design structures.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): The phoenicia library here in my system, the first public library in the country to use passive house design to minimize their reliance on mechanical H back systems.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): upper right there you see the kings daughters haverstraw library there's solar panels which most of us are familiar seeing anymore.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): and lower right is one of our libraries and one of our good friends at the sustainable library initiative, the South Huntington public library.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Their generators, to make sure when there's extended power outages in their community, the library has electricity to help people continue on whatever that looks like.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): we've got stories of folks getting ready for job interviews and you know, trying to blow dry their hair and library bathrooms or charging devices that are essential to our lives today.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): One of my libraries ended up being a source for someone who has an electric wheelchair and had to charge that wheelchair, as it runs their oxygen tanks.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): It doesn't get any more serious than that, when he started thinking about the impact.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): of severe weather and extended power outages in our future which are predicted to get worse, and I think we can all understand why, as we are watching rolling blackouts and towns that can't handle the load for air conditioning during the heat waves that we're experiencing right now.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): is a great example from another of our libraries, the second library in the country to be certified the saratoga springs library.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And the partnerships that they created through their Community read.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): They specifically picked books that speak to the triple bottom line and then created a network of partners to help produce the Community read event which is just like a who's who in the Community from higher education to local government.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Local businesses just a really fabulous list of folks all reading the same book and having very important conversations.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Thanks to the library so using literature as the entry point to some of these bigger conversations is exactly what many of us dream big about right when we got into the field of librarianship so awesome example here from saratoga springs.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): The next example I brought you as one of my own here at the MID Hudson library system is called the library of local and we have this amazing Community partner.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): The Community partners for change, climate change and Hudson valley and they've sponsored 15 of my libraries to be what we call Community resilience hubs.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): or standing up in our communities and saying libraries are a place to come and learn.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): A place to come and borrow a place to come and gather, so these libraries all have special kiosks there's two different sizes, you see the big one in here on the slide.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): They have a tool lending library seed lending and special collections related to food security and.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Climate Action and climate solutions this year as well, and they produce programs on these topics which help like minded people come together.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): and start talking and doing projects together so we're in the second year of this program and I couldn't be happier with it.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): We just went to the climate carnival in Columbia county on Saturday, and it was awesome to see the library is there are seed library almost got cleaned out.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): People were so excited to see that libraries lend the things besides books, they were shocked that libraries lent tools and backpacks and birdwatching kits.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And it was really awesome to see kids get excited about what libraries were doing and borrowing books people from outside of our area we're taking pictures of the books, we had to bring back to recommend to their hometown Librarians.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So I think finding like minded people that's a big theme throughout this work.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): We also hosted the Hudson valley repair CAFE through many of our libraries in this region, I hope, you're familiar with the repair CAFE movement, you might call it the fix it clinic there's lots of.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): iterations of this type of work but it's one of the best programs to exemplify the triple bottom line.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): The repair CAFE invites experts in your community who know how to repair things to pair up with people in your community who need things repaired.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And so we're learning together as a community we're keeping stuff out of the waste stream we're breaking the addiction to the consumer cycle of just always buying something new and it breaks.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): it's just such a good model of what a community can do when it pulls together and i've got to give a shout out to the book repair revolution by one of our friends here in the Hudson valley john wachman.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And he passed away early last year, which was such a shame, because this was just starting to take off.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But in this book, you will find a chapter giving a shout out to libraries and why libraries are the place people should come together and do this kind of work and fight for the right to repair our stuff so very cool stuff in that book I highly recommend it.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So disaster preparedness, obviously we talked about the need for climate adaptation, much of which speaks to disaster preparedness two great examples from two of our libraries in the Program.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So South Huntington public library shout out to Janet I know genet plan to be here today.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): The preparedness program and first responder appreciation thanking those folks that are out there, whether they're volunteers are paid.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But who are out there, putting themselves in danger to keep us all, safe and to help us manage really dangerous situations that arise in our communities.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And the right hand side is one of my libraries, the Desmond kish library.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Who did a first responder picnic to help bring together different segments of the Community that normally would not socialize to all thank people who put their life on the lines to keep our Community safe.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): It was a game changer in that community to help folks that has led to the Community, a long time mixed with some newcomers to the Community who had moved up to this area from New York City.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So just the pictures are so heartwarming you can see how much it means to the folks who volunteer their time to help and increasingly are called upon to help and flooding situations and fires.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And really thank them for the work that they do and recognize the important contribution they make in our communities.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): If you're looking for an easy entry point I think it's easy at least to start doing work in the area of climate resilience work and climate preparedness work.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): i've got to give a shout out to the communities responding to extreme weather i've got the URL there on the slide for you, your library could be.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Actually categorized as a climate resilience hub and doing some very easy things.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Promoting Community preparedness in the face of severe weather and offering one program a year to help people get ready for this kind of thing that's all it takes to be deemed a climate resilience hub and help brand your library, as an institution that's doing good work in this area.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So two more examples and then i'll talk about the sli and then we'll move on to questions, but we talked about social cohesion and what does that look like, how do we do that.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Luckily, it actually is a lot of the work we're already doing so if you're not already talking about what you're doing in this way, I encourage you to.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But i'm giving a shout out here to Claudia decade and her team at have a strong kings daughters public library.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): because some of the things they're doing and they categorize under social cohesion, I think, really illustrate what we're talking about.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): This is not some really complicated methodology to increase social cohesion we're talking about finding universal themes.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Things people can relate to, regardless of their political spectrum, regardless of their socio economic background.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Who well I shouldn't say who doesn't because i'm sure there's some people out there, but really respect for moms.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Respect for veterans we can all get behind that for the most part, these are things that are universal and could bring some people together that wouldn't otherwise think to hang out together.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): When you take a look at the prom dress sale or dog therapy for developmentally disabled adults, helping different people interact in our communities in ways that might not have been found acceptable in the past.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): They were just looking for a place to be in our communities and libraries are for everyone, as the famous graphic says from half foodie right.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So just finding opportunities or maybe excuses to bring people together and just being neighbors just be humans together and see each other as such that's all we're talking about.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So it's my last example before I go into our final leg here.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): I mentioned, I was going to talk about the Linden hearse memorial library and i'll say that Lisa crop, the director, there is one of our colleagues on the sustainable libraries initiative board.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But about eight years ago when we were designing the sustainable libraries initiative.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): We were asked to the Co founders myself and Matthew bollman well, what does it look like if we're successful right one of those very important planning questions so you can reverse engineer to what your goal is.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And Matthew said well when government officials start calling library sustainability leaders will know we did something.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And so on Earth Day this year we saw a press conference held in the parking lot of the Linden hearse memorial library.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And we saw Lisa speak at this event, we saw the county executive speak at this event, and we heard the county executive Mr balloon say.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): They chose the library, as the location for their press conference to announce a $12 million dollar investment in electric vehicle charging stations, because the library was a leader on the topic of sustainability.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): This is a library that has invested in solar panels in the Community garden and talking about the triple bottom line as a framework for making decisions.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And they raised their stature in the Community, they raise their profile they found new partners and have attracted new monies into their library and actually into libraries across the county thanks to some of the work they've done.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So just a good example that if there's a lot going into it, but there's also stuff coming to you.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): In the form of goodwill in your Community new partnerships, you might be hoping for already, as well as the potential for new financial resources to be coming to the library.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Which i'm sure there's not many libraries out there, they couldn't use a few extra bucks here and there.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So if you're interested in joining a Community that's talking and thinking like this, the sustainable libraries initiative might be a good match for you, you can join up, you can.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): You know, get our newsletter download the mobile APP i'm going to talk about here in a second for free there's no financial commitment.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): If you wanted to go further and become certified you certainly can, but I think just finding like minded people and learning from them is one of the first things I would recommend to you.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): As a way to get more in depth in this work and be more impactful in the work that you're doing.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But I mentioned the mobile APP that's the item on the left here on this slide the roadmap to sustainability, this is a something to use as an individual as a personal, professional development tool.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): As you go to webinars like this one, and others that you choose throughout your year it's a way to start gathering your thinking about the triple bottom line.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): about what you're already doing that you might want to think about or talk about in a different way, who like minded partners might be what some of the low hanging fruit is that you can do.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): If you are beyond that you've already mastered that kind of stuff and your whole organization is like we're ready let's go.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): The sustainable library certification program might be a good fit for you.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): it's a methodology to go through a lot of aspects of running a library designing services programs and partnerships in a way that uses the triple bottom line.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So I know we've got a mix of folks on the line here today, but just to give you kind of a taste of it.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): You know from we're talking about, not a checklist per se we're talking about shifting organizational culture.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): To a new way of thinking so from organizational commitment, which means policy writing and education for staff and trustees too literal practical tips, of how you are actually operating your building.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): To what services programs collections you're building what partnerships you're seeking out.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): For school library and your life is a lot different you're not controlling facilities that you work in So you can see that program looks a little different, but it still creates a framework and a methodology to move forward.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Now if you're not ready to go all in on that i'm excited to tell you we've got a nice partnership with the American library association coming up.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): As an individual, you can take a four week course on sustainability and learn more about that and get a certificate for that work you're doing.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And a really cool opportunity coming out from the American library association is public programs office and they're offering a little grant program for 100 people throughout the country.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): you'll get a free copy of libraries and sustainability and you'll come to three events where the authors of chapters in that book are talking about things like the donor economy and the pathways to become more sustainable and disaster preparedness.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So Julie i'm about to turn things over to you, but I just want to again say thank you to Julie and nish Academy, as well as the folks that are on the webinar here today.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): For your time and attention, I hope at least one thing caught your eye you wrote down at least one thing that you're going to try or think differently about as you move forward.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): As you can tell them fairly energized on this topic so if you want to connect I love that I love to hear what libraries are doing always looking for new examples to exemplify and hold up.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): In venues like this, so thank you so much for your time and attention i'm happy to answer any questions that might have come up so far in the.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): In the event.
Julie Edwards: Thank you so much Rebecca I don't know if you can see the chat, but a lot of people are saying I wrote down many things.
Julie Edwards: about great.
Julie Edwards: We do have questions coming in, if you have more questions for Rebecca please put them in the Q amp a box, so I can get through, as many as possible we'll just dive right in.
Julie Edwards: someone's asking Is it better to begin the sli certificate before doing something like the California green business certificate which is broader do you have any thoughts on that.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Well, I think that whatever you do i'm happy you're doing something i'll just say that, at the outset, I think the sustainable libraries initiative it's specific to libraries.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): We pick the same path as as you're talking about in California, where we were using a business model at first, that a program that already existed.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And we did find a lot of libraries found it to be somewhat of a barrier, because the language didn't match it didn't speak to all aspects of library, you know.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): operations or the realities of what we're producing as an entity versus what a business produces so.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Of course i'm partial to the sustainable libraries initiative, but if you've already done, the California business.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Section and you still want to jump into this sli certification program we might be able to help you hop over some of the benchmarks and accelerate your completion of the entire program usually the business.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): one's really focused on the environmental aspects where we've built categories that speak to the environment, social equity, as well as the economic feasibility of running institutions that are powered by private and public investment.
Julie Edwards: awesome Thank you.
Julie Edwards: someone's asking, and this will be great for you Rebecca was telling me before you all got on that her her system is huge so here's, the question is.
Julie Edwards: Our our libraries are spread over a very wide region, and as such we do weekly deliveries of library materials to each branch we have very little infrastructure or support for electric vehicles are there any other ways that you can think about sustainably delivering library materials.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): I love this question so i'm thinking about it myself, we only mentioned Lisa and Janet down in Suffolk county New York their library system has invested in an electric vehicle a van.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): To do some of their deliveries but they're in a very concentrated geographic area.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And when I looked at the range on those bands, like my system is 3000 square miles so we're pretty spread out and I realized my vans I couldn't even do one route.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): i'm using that that bad so we're actually looking at carbon offsets for our delivery van so think about how much it would cost to invest in carbon offsets that would.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Reduce you know, perhaps not in our local area but it to use an ethical company that uses carbon offsets to invest in carbon sequestration projects elsewhere, or perhaps closer to home.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): We thought that might be an alternative way since the realities and the limitations of electric vehicles don't quite work for our geography right now.
Julie Edwards: awesome Thank you.
Julie Edwards: So how do we reach our trustees with this information and to get some movement on this.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So I love this question, because this is kind of what was the genesis for me and doing a lot of this work, so in my library system, I work in a public library system we have 600.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): volunteer library trustees working throughout our 66 libraries are wonderful people who want to do good work in their community.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And one of the biggest things that are concerned about is making sure they're a good investment of tax dollars.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): That you're producing a high return on investment that if they have to ask for more money in the future that people would think it's reasonable and that it's relevant.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So when we talk about positioning the library, to be a responsive and relevant public institution that is worthy of investment in the future, you have to work in meaningful ways.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So I think it would be if you're in an area where the phrase, climate change or global warming is sensitive to reposition the conversation.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): about the future about what matters to generations that are coming up how we're authentic in terms of building a brighter future for our children.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And really working on things that result in Community impact work.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So I think sometimes we have to change, perhaps you know slightly how we talk about things in certain geographies of our country, but I do think that most trustees want to do good work.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): They also want to be very respectful of taxpayers and that's why the triple bottom line methodology works so well in the public library setting.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Because it acknowledges the economic feasibility of the work alongside of environmental feasibility and social equity issues we're looking for balance.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And I think when most trustees are given the space and time to think about making better choices we're not talking about making the best the ultimate the most expensive choice.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): we're talking about a better choice than you might have made had you not think about that, so in my experience, I had gotten started and.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): managing our state's construction aid program and I was.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): You know, talking to the library boards about why aren't you building more sustainable buildings like why wouldn't you invest in renewable energy.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And the mythology at the time was that it costs so much more.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And in my head i'm like oh Is that true, and so I like double down on I that's why I actually got certified as a leadership and energy and environmental design professional.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Because I wanted to know for sure if that was true.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And it's not true actually the the United States Government uses this methodology and build sustainable buildings using lead design principles.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And they don't pay any more than you would for traditional construction, but you have to be educated, you have to find experts who can help guide you.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So once trustees heard that they were much more open to building sustainable buildings it wasn't that they were against environmentalism or comment and climate change is there they're greatly concerned with how they use the public's money and retaining the public's trust.
Julie Edwards: that's fantastic answer Thank you someone's asking what are some examples of academic libraries as sustainable leaders, many of the examples are from public libraries, which makes sense, but can those in academics what what can those an academic libraries do.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): i'm so glad you asked the briefing that I mentioned, from the American library association has examples from all types public academic and school libraries.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And the academic setting what we're seeing and I just did a whole presentation for academic libraries, I should have brought more of those examples with me last week.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So what we saw there were a green teams being formed in the libraries usually with student organization representation, which I found very exciting.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): A students in the academic setting are often very motivated on this topic and looking for opportunities to do good work on campus.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): alignment with the sustainability office of your campus and if you don't have a sustainability office on campus being the champion on campus to do some of this work.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): there's also a whole program for certification for public for academic libraries through on the fly that's being piloted right now.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But you'll also want to take a look at what commitments your institution has already made has your university or college President signed a climate commitment.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Are you participating in the ashy stars program and learning what's already going on at campus and aligning the libraries work activities and partnerships with that work that's going on.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): there's also an awesome article and I started remember what month, it was, but it was from American libraries it's written by mandy good set I know i'm in a room full library and you'll be able to find it.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Talking about a sustainability series of programs, so these were programs she put on that matched up faculty.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): With Community members doing work in the faculties area of study, usually related to environmentalism or Community preparedness or social equity issues and the library hosted these along with the campus sustainability office.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So I think a lot of the ideas might be transferable but there's some excellent work being done.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Through this sustainable Roundtable of the American library association, you can find stories there and American libraries through the new briefing and a la lots of awesome people doing great work out there.
Julie Edwards: Thank you so much, and I just want to let you all know, don't worry i'm going to save the chat and include it in the blog there is a ton of great information.
Julie Edwards: Good ton of resources, going back and forth.
Julie Edwards: So that will be in the blog so you don't have to worry about that.
Julie Edwards: Okay.
Julie Edwards: Do you ever include indigenous peoples within climate advocacy and social justice presentations or what are your partnerships with tribal nations are tribal libraries tribal governments like.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Such an important question, I have to say I don't have any good examples of crossing those boundaries between tribal libraries and perhaps more the.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Non non indigenous libraries, I guess that outside of those reservation areas.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): What we have done, I would say, is to start the path forward to, I think, learn more about how to connect in those situations.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Here in New York there's like these weird boundaries around the tribal libraries I don't understand, to some degree, where we don't all talk as a Community, so I think there's work to be done to connect.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): The public library world the tribal library world and making sure we're all talking the same language.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But we've also actually just written a grant application to mls to create a national climate action strategy.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): For libraries of all types and included tribal and the Digital libraries, specifically because we don't see them being invited as part of this conversation and, obviously, that is a huge part of our collective wisdom.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): That needs to be respected, they have traditions that are really informative in terms of how to treat the earth with respect and to live in a world is not rely on mechanical.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): H back and to understand that the earth should be an equal partner in the decision making.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): That we're doing in the future, so I think there's definitely work to be done to forge partnerships and invite different people to the table to have conversations in our profession on this topic and that's an important component of it.
Julie Edwards: Thank you so several people are asking.
Julie Edwards: What do you do to convince your libraries upper management if they're not receptacles to sustainability so let's say you were not interested in this topic, but one of your staff members came to you and really was.
Julie Edwards: How What would you want to hear how, how can we convince our directors and or.
Julie Edwards: Our management teams that this is something we should put our efforts in.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So i'm going to do a riff.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): On what I was saying about trustees which is, you have to figure out the motivation of your audience right when you're speaking with them what are what are their goals, where are their pressure points where are they being pushed to perform or produce.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And can you set that conversation in that framework, so they can connect to their goals with what you're also talking about.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So if i'm actually hard pressed to think of a library administrator or manager, who does not want to create a library, that is meaningful responsive and relevant to the Community.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): That inspires investment and partnerships with local government and nonprofits so how we talk about what we're doing here really matters.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So, using the language of your institution studying your library strategic plan understanding action plans or annual plans the library management might have been challenged by by their governance body.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Recognizing the the fiscal landscape that you're operating in that's actually how I got my foothold here in my own organization before I was the executive director, I was that person who was like hey, why are we doing anything on this topic.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And I could not get my executive directors attention until I pointed out how much money we would save by several of the decisions that I thought were a good idea.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And so, when he finally let me prove what I was talking about and we started educating people in our institution, about how to buy office products what to look for.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): We were making more environmentally conscientious decisions and spending less which was not what he anticipated we did return on investment studies for things like whether or not to have.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): reusable hospitality items like dishes and utensils versus disposable and we actually proved it would take less money to have a dishwasher.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And reusable items, and it would to continue down the path we were throwing out all this stuff we were buying and half of it we never used.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So the financial aspect of the work might be important, but I also think he is inspirational aspect.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Of what we're talking about here that ultimately we want to be meaningful and do work that matters.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And so, not coming at someone aggressively but helping them see the promise of working in this manner of talking about things in this way and connecting with members of our Community.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Using the triple bottom line is really what everyone's looking for and it's a library can be a catalyst for that how great would that be for the library administration to show how effective and efficient, they are.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So it's really about framing it for your audience but understanding, where they're coming from and what their what their constrictions are and what they're working in and being realistic about that is absolutely important.
Julie Edwards: that's fantastic Thank you that covered actually a lot of a lot of questions someone's asking for our international Librarians on the call does the certification program apply outside the US.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So far, we haven't had any folks from outside the US asked but asked him we'll figure it out, we can find out if that would work or not i'm certainly interested in entertaining that and finding out where you're coming from and what your situation is.
Julie Edwards: that's awesome Thank you.
Julie Edwards: So someone's asking I love this actually and maybe you can talk to us in the last minute here a little bit about how you stay motivated and positive when it often feels like we're doomed.
Right.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): yeah I was doing a presentation several years ago with youth services librarian so shout out to the youth services folks on the call today.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And I was at a conference, where I had been for four days I had done a presentation, every day, and I was very tired and when I get tired I swear so watch out Julie.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But I remember the energy in the room, people are like I want to do something, how do we do something right my administration won't let me do something I have no money, this is hopeless.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And this phrase came out of my mouth, I said we're going to library science, the shit out of this.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): Like I didn't get into this profession to not make a difference and honestly that's what makes me motivated I don't want to waste my time.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): I don't want to sit someplace and be ineffective, I want to do work that matters and find other people that want to do that work that matters.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): And so you know I absolutely am discouraged by our national governments inability to pass a bill that would address many of the issues we're talking to here today.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): But it made me actually double down on the thought that libraries need to do some of this work, the local folks at the grassroots level if we don't rise up.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): and find other people thinking like we are we're never going to change any of this so that's what keeps me going is knowing there's other people out there, trying as hard as I am.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): To do good work in this area and to find ways to make it easier and easier for us to do the right thing.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So, good luck to everyone, but do take care, like you know self care is important, take a break, when you need to you're not going to solve it all by yourself.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): So take care and find others who are thinking, like you, are and connect with some of these groups that are out there, the sustainable libraries initiative, the sustainability Roundtable at a la.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): These are great people doing good work in this area that can give you the motivation, you might need when you're feeling down about things.
Julie Edwards: I love it that is such a great note to end on Rebecca Thank you so much, people are saying, this was so inspiring.
Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (she/her): God Thank you so much Julie, I really appreciate the platform.
Julie Edwards: Thank you all so much for attending our next webinar is coming up next week on the post pandemic library, so if you're interested in that I just dropped the link in the chat i'll i'll do that again because the chat is moving so fast.
Julie Edwards: I will send out rebecca's slides and the recording to this presentation in a few days you're very free to share it with whoever you want to.
Julie Edwards: You know the more that we get this the word out and the more enthusiasm we have, the more impact, we can make in our Community, so thank you all so much for joining us Thank you again Rebecca and I will see you on the next webinar have a great afternoon everybody.