At the recent ALA Annual Conference the Top Innovators were announced by the Urban Libraries Council including one noted for sustainability. The Greensboro Public Library (NC) Kathleen Clay Edward Library is stated to be the first library to be an Environmental Education Center (according to the article in Library Journal). This library branch sits on 98-acre Price Park and includes a bird and butterfly meadow, reading garden, walking trails, ponds, and wetlands and offers extensive collection of nature, gardening, and environmental resources for children and adults. Though their web site is poor the library and area are beautiful, and if you are ever in the Greensboro area, check it out or Like them on Facebook!
Reuseit June 26, 2011
Looking for purchasing reusable items for your library or personal life? Check out the Reuseit.com site is the place to go for shopping for reusable items like bamboo utensil sets, water bottles, glass straws, and many types of reusable bags to name a few. The items are filled with user reviews too. Formally know as ReusableBags.com® which initially pushed the idea of reusable shopping bags and raising the awareness of the plastic bag problem in the world, they also give 1% of our sales – more than $180,000 to date – to organizations devoted to the preservation & restoration of our natural environment. Read more about their team. Beyond shopping Reuseit offers places to learn more about our country’s over-consumption problem and how to be a better eco-citizen, with buying guides, myth busters and fact sheets. There is also a take action section with info on DIY, campaigns, getting involved and more.
Greening your birthday celebrations June 9, 2011
The Nature Conservancy offers a Green Birthday Party Kit covering:
- Green Food – such as eating local, eating vegetarian, and best grilling options.
- Green Drinks – such as buy local, beer in bottles (recyclable) from cooler not fridge, pitchers of lemonade not individual packages.
- Green Lawn& Garden – such as push mower, garden (for your veggies to eat at the party!), and native plants.
- Green Furniture – such as buying local and used (from yard sales) extra lawn furniture or try recycled/renewable material furniture.
- Green Decorations & Supplies – such as reusing decorations, try fresh flowers you grew, use only reusable/washable supplies, eco-friendly insect repellents
New Sustainable Librarians Group on LinkedIn June 8, 2011
During our research to write this book chapter Librarians as Sustainability Advocates, Educators and Entrepreneurs (part of The Entrepreneurial Librarian book to be published by McFarland & Company in late 2011 or early 2012, editors Mary Krautter, Mary Beth Lock and Mary Scanlon), we were looking for inspiring, entrepreneurial stories about green initiatives by librarians to include. We collected some fantastic stories and heard from some wonderful people, many of whom mentioned a need to better network connect with others. So we created a network on LinkedIn called Sustainability Librarians. where we hope people share stories and best practices, network and encourage others to join the movement.
Thanks for all that each of you do to support greener librarianship!
Beth Filar Williams
UNC-Greensboro Libraries
efwilli3@uncg.edu
@greenyourlib
Anne Less
Mary Davidge Associates @ Google, Inc.
aless@google.com
@alessismore
Sarah Dorsey
UNC-Greensboro Libraries
sbdorsey@uncg.edu
The Green Teacher magazine June 1, 2011
Green Teacher is a magazine who’s goal is to help youth (ages 6-18 yrs) educators enhance environmental and global education inside and outside of schools, including practical articles and resource reviews. This quarterly magazine is the primary publication of the non-profit organization based in Toronto with a small staff of hard-working people – read more about the history of the Green Teacher. The Green Teacher offers a lot of online resources and publish other worthwhile books, too but the yearly subscription (depends on your county) for the US is $32 print and $26 for digital (go digital!). The Green Teacher also offers free online webinars!
There is a current Call for Proposals for a special guest issue on Poverty and Environmental Education issue of GreenTeacher due on or before June 30, 2011 to Sheila Giesbrecht Guest Editor. Check out the writer & reviewer guidelines and they are looking for regional editors too.
