Top 10 Books on Sustainability for 2013 February 22, 2013

Donna Seaman has produced a list of  titles and summaries that focus in some way on sustainability – well work checking out!

• The Conundrum: How Scientific Innovation, Increased Efficiency, and Good Intentions Can Make Our Energy and Climate Problems Worse. By David Owen. Riverhead, paper, $14 (9781594485619). Owen, brisk, funny, and forthright, dispels environmental misperceptions to enable us to proceed toward sustainability on firmer ground.
• Empire of Shadows: The Epic Story of Yellowstone. By George Black. St. Martin’s, $35 (9780312383190). Black’s account of the ordeals and discoveries of nineteenth-century explorers in Yellowstone, and how the region became America’s first national park, is both hair-raising and elucidating.
• Facing the Wave: A Journey in the Wake of the Tsunami. By Gretel Ehrlich. Pantheon, $25 (9780307907318). Ehrlich’s sensitive chronicle of her time in Japan after the devastating March 2011 earthquake and tsunami subtly raises questions about culture, nature, global warming, and nuclear power.
• Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats. By Kristen Iversen. Crown, $25 (9780307955630). Iversen grew up in Colorado near Rocky Flats, a criminally mismanaged federal nuclear-weapon factory, and tells the full story of how it poisoned the land and its people.
•  Global Weirdness: Severe Storms, Deadly Heat Waves, Relentless Drought, Rising Seas, and the Weather of the Future. By Climate Central. Pantheon, $22.95 (9780307907301). Climate Central, a nonpartisan collective of ecological experts, does a masterful job of clarifying all aspects of climate change, separating indisputable scientific evidence from myth and denial.
• The Land Grabbers: The New Fight over Who Owns the Earth. By Fred Pearce. Beacon, $27.95 (9780807003244). Pearce exposes enormous land grabs by foreigners in Africa, Asia, Indonesia, the Ukraine, and South America, stealthy acquisitions that involve crimes against humanity and environmental destruction.
• On a Farther Shore: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson. By William Souder. Crown, $30 (9780307462206). Souder brings a fresh and delving perspective to scientist, writer, and environmentalist Carson’s trailblazing achievements, hard-won artistry, and heroic sacrifices.
• “A Rich Spot of Earth”: Thomas Jefferson’s Revolutionary Garden at Monticello. By Peter J. Hatch. Yale, $35 (9780300171143). Hatch’s elegantly illustrated homage to Jefferson’s horticultural genius establishes the great statesman as the forefather of modern organic and sustainable garden movements.
• Visit Sunny Chernobyl and Other Adventures in the World’s Most Polluted Places. By Andrew Blackwell. Rodale, $25.99 (9781605294452). Blackwell chronicles his visits to “the world’s most polluted places” in this witty yet alarming work of adventurous global environmental investigation.
• When Women Were Birds: Fifty-Four Variations on Voice. By Terry Tempest Williams. Farrar/Sarah Crichton, $24 (9780374288976). Williams reflects on her family’s suffering and revelations as atomic-bomb-test “downwinders” in a transcendent tribute to wilderness and women’s lives, nature and culture, place and sense of self.

Petition to start a new Sustainability Round Table through ALA! January 11, 2013

Petition to start a new Sustainability Round Table through ALA!  Membership must be active to sign. Please forward to other ALA members who support the advancement of sustainability in libraries.

if you are going … Join us at ALA Seattle On Saturday Jan 26 at 4pm for a Sustainability Round Table planning and discussion meet up at the Networking Uncommons!

The mission of the Sustainability Round Table (SRT) is to provide:

1) A professional forum for librarians to exchange ideas and concerns regarding sustainability in order to move toward a more equitable, healthy and economically viable society.

2) Resources for the library community to support sustainability through curriculum development; collections; exhibits; events; advocacy, communication and library buildings and space design.

**Sign the e-petition!**

Sign up now!! online course for academic librarians on forming library action plan for sustainable engagement December 14, 2012

Sign up now!  For the Library Juice Academy  online two week workshop focusing on the role of the academic librarian in the sustainability movement:   The Sustainability Movement on Campus: Forming a Library Action Plan for Engagement.  This workshops ( for .75 credits/$90 )  will guide you  through a practical process for becoming actively engaged in sustainable activities on your campus with reading assignments, exercises, and participation in a forum to connect and inspire. Topics  include: “Temperature Check” of Your Institution, Finding Your Allies, Library as Common Space, and Bridge Building Tools.   The wonderful  instructor Madeleine Charney is the  Sustainability Studies Librarian at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who has presented at the   Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education Conference – “Getting Closer: The Librarian, the Curriculum and the Office of Sustainability; ”  and this  past year she co-facilitated  (with me!) a 4-part webinar series  “Libraries for Sustainability.”

Call for Papers! November 28, 2012

TITLE: Focus on Educating for Sustainability: Toolkit for Academic Libraries

EDITOR: Maria A. Jankowska

PUBLISHER: Library Juice Press

BOOK ABSTRACT: In the last ten years literature on greening libraries has expanded considerably. Furthermore, by signing the Presidents’ Climate Commitment, university presidents and chancellors committed their institutions to finding new solutions to environmental, economic, and social issues through their teaching, research, and service operations. Since 2007, higher education has observed exponential growth of programs integrating sustainability literacy into teaching and research. Academic libraries must respond to this increasing focus on educating for sustainability and go beyond greening libraries to become active partners in advancing education and research for sustainability.

OBJECTIVE OF THE BOOK: This edited collection strives to capture the current status and future direction of libraries’ commitment to advance the focus of educating for sustainability. It will serve as a toolkit offering a wide range of best practices, case studies, and activities ready for implementation within academic libraries.

POSSIBLE TOPICS: With this call, the editor invites articles, essays, and case studies that describe specific activities undertaken by academic libraries or visions for future activities that support university sustainability research and teaching. Such activities may include, but are not limited to, the following:

· Integrating sustainability literacy into bibliographic instruction and university courses

· Selecting materials in support of sustainability-related curriculum

· Creating effective research guides on sustainability topics related to social equity, economic practicality, and the environment

· Promoting open access content resources related to sustainability

· Partnering on university sustainability curriculum design and collaborative teaching

· Participating in university efforts to educate for sustainability across disciplines

· Supporting the university’s sustainability research, teaching, and outreach

TARGET AUDIENCES: The editor believes this book will be of interest to a large variety of audiences including the following:

· Librarians seeking inspiration for ways to combine their expertise with their passion for sustainability

· Library managers interested in leveraging and highlighting library services that support their institution’s focus on sustainability

· Teaching faculty collaborating with libraries on projects related to sustainability

· University administrators interested in the strategic role of libraries in educating for sustainability

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: Authors are invited to submit abstracts and proposals of 300-500 words to educatingforsustain@gmail.com by January 15, 2013. Notifications will be sent by February 26, 2013. A first draft ranging from 1,500-7,000 words will be due by April 2, and a final manuscript will be due by June 25, 2013.

Submitted manuscripts must not have been published previously or simultaneously submitted elsewhere. Following review, articles will be returned via e-mail for revision before final acceptance. All materials are edited as necessary for clarity. Submissions should include an abstract of no more than 150 words (highlighting the scope, methodology, and conclusions of the paper) at the beginning of each manuscript. Authors should follow the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed. Examples are available here. (Research and Documentation Online by Diane Hacker).

Submission of proposals should include:

• Name of author
• Title
• Affiliation
• Contact information
• 300-500 word abstract

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Abstract submission: January 15, 2013
• Notification of abstract acceptance: February 26, 2013
• Full chapter submission: April 2, 2013
• Communication of review results to authors: May 2, 2013
• Final chapter submission: June25, 2013
• Estimated publication date: 2013

Online Workshop – The Sustainability Movement on Campus: Forming a Library Action Plan for Engagement November 5, 2012

Library Juice Academy offers a number of online professional development workshops for library staff. In January there is an online two week workshop focusing on the role of the academic librarian in the sustainability movement for .75 credits/$90  The Sustainability Movement on Campus: Forming a Library Action Plan for Engagement.  This workshops will guide you  through a practical process for becoming actively engaged in sustainable activities on your campus with reading assignments, exercises, and participation in a forum to connect and inspire. Topics  include: “Temperature Check” of Your Institution, Finding Your Allies, Library as Common Space, and Bridge Building Tools.

The wonderful  instructor Madeleine Charney is the  Sustainability Studies Librarian at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who has presented at the   Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education Conference – “Getting Closer: The Librarian, the Curriculum and the Office of Sustainability; ”  and this  past year she co-facilitated  (with me!) a 4-part webinar series  “Libraries for Sustainability.”

Library as Partner in Creating Curriculum for Sustainability survey April 13, 2012

Passing along  – please consider taking time to do this important survey!!

Please accept this invitation to participate in the Library as Partner in Creating Curriculum for Sustainability survey.
This survey explores the level of engagement of academic libraries and information studies schools in the emerging focus of educating for sustainability on university and college campuses across North America. The expected benefits associated with your involvement include creating a better understanding of the role of libraries in educating for sustainability and may also reveal some opportunities for further research.  We are committed to analyzing the results and sharing key findings of this survey. We anticipate the survey will take 10-20 minutes to complete. There are no foreseeable risks associated with this survey. The confidentiality of your responses will be protected.

Please share this survey with colleagues in academic libraries and LIS schools. Those who complete the survey may be entered in a random drawing at the close of the survey for the following prizes: One of ten Better World Books gift certificates valued at $20 each and one of ten Starbucks gift certificates valued at $10 each. If you wish to participate in the drawing, please provide your email address at the end of the survey. The survey closes on May 2, 2012.
Please click here to take the survey: https://academictrial.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_8Ds9A1yindrZLlG
With much appreciation,
Bonnie J. Smith – bonniesmith@ufl.edu
University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries
Maria A. Jankowska – majankowska@library.ucla.edu
UCLA, Charles E. Young Research Library
Marianne A. Buehler – marianne.buehler@unlv.edu
University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries

Second Nature – a higher education resource organization March 27, 2012

Second Nature, a non-profit organization has been working for over 12 years to bring Education for Sustainability (EFS) concepts nationwide in higher education. Their mission is “to create a sustainable society by transforming higher education by supporting senior college and university leaders in making healthy, just, and sustainable living a foundation of all learning and practice in higher education.”  They have many well-known partners including AASHE. They support or offer many programs, including Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium, Advancing Green Building in Higher Education, and the Higher Education Sustainability Federal Policy Advocacy. They link to  some good resources including articles, fact sheets, reports and speeches that were produced (in whole or part) by members of the Second Nature team.  You can also follow their blog for updated and useful information!

Librarians as Sustainability Advocates, Educators, and Entrepreneurs February 27, 2012

The book chapter I co-wrote with the amazing Anne Less and Sarah Dorsey called “Librarians as Sustainability Advocates, Educators, and Entrepreneurs” was just published in the book The Entrepreneurial Librarian: Essays on the Infusion of Private-Business Dynamism into Professional Service Edited by Mary Krautter, Mary Beth Lock and Mary G. Scanlon, McFarland Press.  There are lots of inspiring stories in there I hope you will enjoy of sustainability advocates, educators and entrepreneurs: Rebekkah Aldrich, Fred Stoss, Monika Antoelli, Marianne Buehler, Kristen Bullard, Andrea Cherney, Cindy Davis, Emily Ellis, Besty Herzog, Maria Anna Jankowska, Julie Mielish, Rebecca Newburn, Irene Reti, Sarah Volpe, and Kris Thompson, Laurie Sabol & Tufts University librarians. Thanks to them all for sharing their stories of sustainable entrepreneurialism!

Embedding your Green Message article January 26, 2012

Self promoting  I know, but I do  hope readers find both this article and this peer-reviewed, open access scholarly journal useful! My article Embedding your Green Message Through Asynchronous Learning was recently published in the Electronic Green Journal.   This article summarizes a presentation I gave for the Amigos Library Services Going Green 2 online conference in November 2010.  It discusses the idea of embedding green messages within your work, tasks, programs, tools, and teaching will passively or subtly inform others without being forceful. I discuss the large ten module research tutorial  (Path) a team of us here at UNCG created covering concepts from forming a topic to citing sources, in which we embedded the theme of recycling, hoping  users would become more environmentally literate while learning researching skills. The Electronic Green Journal has been published since 1994, semiannually by UCLA Library – think about submitting something to this journal yourself and share your knowledge and work!

Reviewers Needed January 23, 2012

A message worth passing along - textbook reviewers needed in all disciplines for education for sustainability!

Are you helping to educate for a more sustainable future? Help impact hundreds of thousands of students by infusing sustainability into textbooks from major publishers and get paid for your efforts.

Textbook publishers have seen the demand from educators and students for sustainability related materials in all disciplines. We have been asked by major textbook publishers, Cengage and McGraw-Hill, to gather names of potential reviewers who are interested in  receiving remuneration for suggesting ideas about how to educate for a sustainable future.  These ideas will be used as examples and themes in their textbook revisions.  If you know of anyone in any academic discipline involved in educating for a sustainable future, please forward their names and contact info to EducationForASustainableFuture@gmail.com (include their discipline(s) in the subject line) and we will follow up with them about these exciting possibilities.

Thank you.

Debra Rowe, Ph.D.
President
U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development
www.uspartnership.org
Advisor
Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium
www.aashe.org/heasc
Founder and Facilitator
Disciplinary Associations Network for Sustainability
www.aashe.org/dans