Seed Bank Libraries February 5, 2013

A great piece on NPR recently on   How To Save A Public Library: Make It A Seed Bank where  a partnership between the Basalt Public Library (CO) and the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute have created this wonderful seed bank.

There are a few other seed bank libraries as well: A past blog post from July 2010 on Richmond (CA) seed lending library.  Rebecca has a blog  - www.richmondgrows.org -  on creating your own seed lending library and San Fran now has two branches lending seeds!

Other libraries like Fairfield Woods Branch have a seed to seed series;  Alameda Free Library also offers similar service;  and East Palo Alto Seed Library has started a seed lending library partnership with Collective Roots.

If you know of more libraries with seed lending services or banks, please comment or email me! 

 

3/5/13 Thanks alaskadragonfly for this awesome list of Seed Lending Libraries!!

A Sustainability Librarian’s Manifesto: Your “Take Action” Checklist July 23, 2012

Looking for a tool to help your institution with ideas and methods for promoting more environmentally sustainable environment? Madeleine Charney, librarian at University of Massachusetts Amherst,  created this Take Action Checklist. It has got an academic angle but could be applied for other types of libraries as well.   Use it  to reflect on your institution’s involvement in the sustainability movement and determine  else  you can do to bring the voice and resources of your library to the table. As Charney says librarians are “adept at gathering, synthesizing and disseminating information. We are born organizers!”   This document also includes resources for librarians to support this process such as through listserv, webinars,and  reading materials.

Youth Sustainability Video Contest! May 8, 2012

Calling America’s Youth – submit a video on what you doing to foster sustainable communities -  due June 1!   The Obama Administration invites video submissions from America’s youth  in the areas of economy, education, energy and environment, health, and science and technology. Winning videos will be chosen by a panel of Administration officials and featured at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. Winners also will be invited to the White House for a special event on sustainability leadership!

Libraries for Sustainability: Exploring Sustainability Practices in Libraries Webinar 4/24/12 May 1, 2012

For those who attended live or missed the session, the Libraries for Sustainability: Exploring Sustainability Practices in Libraries Webinar was recorded!

• Watch the Webinar
• Slides from Webinar

Contact facilitators & presenters:

• Madeleine Charney – mcharney@library.umass.edu
• Bonnie Smith – bonniesmith@ufl.edu
• Beth Filar Williams – greeningyourlibrary@gmail.com
• Kathryn Miller – kjmiller@argosy.edu
• Marianne Buehler – Marianne.Buehler@unlv.edu
• Laura Barnes – l-barnes@illinois.edu
• Mandy Henk – amandahenk@depauw.edu

Next Webinar: June 12, 2012, 2:00-3:00 (EST) – Preparing for ALA Annual and options for future collaboration in various organizations

Exploring Sustainability Practices in Libraries Webinar 4/24/12! April 4, 2012

Libraries for Sustainability Webinar Series 2012 presents:  Exploring Sustainability Practices in Libraries – April 24, 2012, 2:00-3:00 (EST)

Please join us for the second webinar in this four-part series.

There are different types of sustainability practices in libraries (e.g. buildings, collection development, instruction, events, collaboration) and many of us are working, educating, and practicing in these areas.   This webinar will be similar to a lightning round-up as librarians engaged in different types of sustainability efforts share their experiences and provide time for questions. Academic, public and school libraries will be represented. The session will be recorded so you can view it later.

SIGN UP NOW!   (http://bit.ly/HbV7vq)

Webinar series facilitators: Madeleine Charney (UMass Amherst Libraries), Beth Filar Williams (UNC Greenboro), and Bonnie Smith (University of Florida Libraries).

Questions? Contact Madeleine Charney at mcharney@library.umass.edu or Beth FilarWilliams at greeningyourlibrary@gmail.com

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If you missed attending the first in our Webinar series – Call to Action and Collaboration – here is the webinar recording:

https://sas.elluminate.com/site/external/launch/play.jnlp?sid=315&psid=2012-02-28.0718.M.669FDEC58C8549C611C2EC64F0EDEE.vcr

and the slides are available here: http://www.slideshare.net/filarwilliams/libraries-for-sustainability-call-to-action-and-collaboration

Student Video Contests! March 8, 2012

Two opportunities to offer to students:

1. Green Living Project  -  their biannual Student Film Project, open to any middle or high school, community college or university student, either in US or international.  Films must be 5 minutes or less in length, and tell a unique, creative, story, around important local and global sustainability issues. See rules for more info. and resources and tips for examples and help. Entries due May 25, 2012.
2. Northwest Institute for Social Change -  their 2012 Student Sustainability Film Festival, open to high school and college students across North America. Students create short films about programs, projects or “things” that their campus or community is doing to create sustainable solutions to environmental concerns. Here is how to apply. Entries due May 17, 2012

 

 

Top Environmental books for Youth February 20, 2012

Top 10 Books on the Environment for Youth: 2012.
By Ian Chipman
Published February 15, 2012 (in Booklist)

• The Camping Trip That Changed America
• The Case of the Vanishing Golden Frogs
• Chomp
• Energy Island
• How Hybrid Cars Work
• Me . . . Jane
• Oil Spill!
• Olivia’s Birds
• The Watcher
• Wild Wings

Libraries for Sustainability Webinar Series 2012 – kickoff 2/28/12 February 10, 2012

Please join us for the kick-off webinar of the Libraries for Sustainability Webinar Series 2012 :
Feb 28, 2012 – 2:00-3:00 (EST)  - Call to Action and Collaboration – Sign up now!

ALA’s Task Force On the Environment (TFOE) has been engaged in environmental issues for over 20 years and done some tremendous work but has suffered from a lack of participation and lost momentum in recent years.

Join us, and Maria A. Jankowska (UCLA Research Librarian and Editor of Electronic Green Journal), most recent TFOE chair, to understand what TFOE has accomplished, including pitfalls and successes – plus recommendations for next steps. Should this group be revitalized and/or is a change in direction indicated? What are some options for remaining engaged at the local and national levels? Where are opportunities for collaboration and action around broader sustainability issues?

Hopeful outcomes:  Informal meeting at ALA 2012 in June to work on forming a new group; planning for sustainability-related presentations at ALA 2013! – Sign up now!

Time permitting, please review Maria’s recent article, Going beyond Environmental Programs and Green Practices at the American Library Association, which provides a helpful timeline of TFOE’s history and associated activities.

Webinar series facilitators: Madeleine Charney (UMass Amherst Libraries), Beth Filar Williams (UNC Greenboro), and Bonnie Smith (University of Florida Libraries).

Stay tuned for more webinars:
April 24, 2012, 2:00-3:00 (EST) – Exploring Sustainability Practices in Libraries
June 12, 2012, 2:00-3:00 (EST)  - Preparing for ALA Annual Informal Meeting
August 28, 2012 2:00-3:00 (EST) – Action Plan Follow Up & Discussion

Questions? Contact Madeleine Charney at mcharney@library.umass.edu or Beth FilarWilliams at greeningyourlibrary@gmail.com

NBII website to be taken offline! January 12, 2012

Not such good news,  but important to let you know so you can preserve some of the links:  

Due to federal budget cuts,  the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) website at http://www.nbii.gov/portal/server.pt/community/nbii_home/236 will be removed from the Web on January 15, 2012 .  Library of Congress/Web Archiving Team  says that as part of a collaborative web archive project to archive U.S. Federal Government Websites, this site has been crawled by the Internet Archive as a part of that project (though not publicly accessible yet but hopefully it has been preserved.) 

Thanks Maria Anna Jankowska for bringing this to my attention!

Article Alert – A Whole Systems Approach: Integrated Building Design October 19, 2011

Rebekkah Smith Aldrich, a 2010 LJ Mover & Shaker, is Coordinator for Library Growth & Sustainability at the Mid-Hudson Library System, Poughkeepsie, NY  wrote  this wonderful article in Library Journal  A Whole Systems Approach: Integrated Building Design.  She tackles the concept of IBD is “a collaborative process, resulting in optimized solutions from an engaged team that is committed to the process from start to finish”  in a way most every librarian can understand.   Want to know more about this IBD concept and how it really work well buy-in and support by all when building greener sustainable libraries – well you have to read the article and follow Rebekkah on  Facebook.com/SustainableLibraries!