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It's three years since the American Libraries Association (ALA) first added sustainability as one of its core values. But in the face of shrinking budgets, managing digitalization, and adapting to a global pandemic, what can librarians do to support and encourage sustainability?

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The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a global plan to fight poverty, to establish equality and justice, and to achieve sustainable development for all countries. To enhance graduate's global competitiveness, the Chinese University of Hong Kong has been promoting the wide understanding of the SDGs within the university community. In 2021, the Chinese University of Hong Kong Library (CUHK Library) launched its Strategic Plan 2021--2025 to align with the University's Strategic Plan 2021--2025 in education, research and Innovation, resources, global and alumni engagement, and infrastructure. CUHK Library embraces social responsibility and sustainable development when upgrading its infrastructure to support the University developments. In this paper, the authors review the strategic implementation of SDGs in CUHK Library and conclude that academic library can contribute to the global plan for sustainable development. The findings in this paper can contribute to the discussions of SDGs in academic libraries from regional as well as international perspectives.

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Since the Executive Yuan in Taiwan established the Council for Sustainable Development in 1996, green building policies have become the focal point of domestic construction industries in pursuing sustainable development. The Architecture and Building Research Institute, Ministry of the Interior, Taiwan also began promoting the green building labeling system in 1999 and pioneered the demonstration of the concept by using public buildings to facilitate the comprehensive development of green buildings. Presently, private buildings are not strictly regulated; a mechanism for the use, management, and maintenance of public green buildings. Based on the andysis of the Taipei Public Library Beitou Branch, a mechanism for the use, management, and maintenance of public green building is proposed in this paper.

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This article discusses three questions: ``How can libraries make an effective contribution to resolving the sustainability challenges we are collectively facing?''; ``When are libraries truly sustainable?''; and ``How can library management support this shift?''. Looking across libraries and their history over the last few decades, the author discerns different stages of development leading to sustainability. In line with the work of Dyllick and Muff the author describes Sustainability Levels 0.0 to 3.0. The highest level requires a quantum leap and shifts from thinking inside out to thinking outside in. This article addresses the need that there is virtually no academic management literature on the topic of sustainability in libraries. It shows that whilst there are many examples of individual projects or activities, there is a serious lack of methodology at the senior management level.

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NYLA's Sustainability Initiative provides New York's library leaders with time and resources to articulate how libraries adapt to our changing world while, as co-creators, shape strategies that ensure libraries remain vital, rebound from disruption, and provide on-going value to the communities they serve.

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o mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day---and recognize the American Library Association adding sustainability as a core value---American Libraries returns with its ongoing sustainability series. In these posts, information professionals share their experiences with sustainability in libraries. As academic libraries evolve to contribute to institutional missions and visions, librarians are transforming out of their ``regular'' roles to collaborate with students, faculty, and staff in achieving goals such as sustainability. But how can academic libraries help with this integral commitment?

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During her 2021-2022 term, ALA President Patty Wong focused on sustainability as one of her four presidential pillars. In her inaugural speech, President Wong outlined this area of focus, saying: textquotedblTo thrive and evolve into the future, ALA must adopt the 'triple bottom line' mindset of sustainability: We must embody practices that are environmentally sound, economically feasible, and socially equitable.textquotedbl Sustainability was adopted as one of ALA's Core Values of Librarianship by ALA Council in 2019, based on the 2018 recommendations of the ALA Special Task Force on Sustainability. This introductory page of the Sustainability and Libraries resource guide highlights activities from the American Library Association that focus on sustainability as a core value of librarianship. Other pages of the guide provide resources on sustainability, including a bibliography of recent titles and online resources.

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The reuse of old buildings for new libraries has gained currency within the Library and Information Science (LIS) profession and has informed sustainability initiatives. Adaptive reuse benefits the environment by conserving natural resources and minimizing the need for new materials. This chapter provides a review of some key documents on sustainability, green libraries and the recycling and conversion of buildings as libraries. Building reuse provides an opportunity for sustainable thinking in library planning. Sustainability and going green are already evident in library architecture and design and there is a need to encourage embracing greener practices and adaptive reuse. Sustainability and going green are growth areas for the future. Adaptive reuse and repurposing buildings that have outlived their original purposes for different uses or functions while at the same time retaining their historic features are viable alternatives to new buildings. Building reuse is occurring in developed countries while some developing countries are saddled with challenges slowing adoption of the trend.

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The Conference on Information Management organized annually by the Spanish Society for Scientific Documentation and Information (SEDIC) was held in Madrid, the capital of Spain, on April 27, 28 and 29. The conference took place in the National Library of Spain and the workshops in the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid. That the program was printed on seed paper already said a lot about the theme of the conference.

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There is a commonly known expression that goes ``When an elder person passes a way, a library burns to the ground''. In many African cultures, elder people play a vital role in the community: they are the custodians of tradition, the rock of the family unit and the bearers of wisdom. The library is of similar importance. It is a public space where knowledge is housed and created, and a place where people go to learn. A core principle of a library is that it is accessible and relevant to the context in which it exists, otherwise it may not attract the people for whom it is intended. Libraries do not have to be framed as the place of deafening silence and stringent rules. They can be a meeting ground for curious minds, a space of innovation and reflection, a place of learning and growing. What form can the library take? What role can it play in its respective neighbourhood and community? What does sustainability look like in such a place and why is that even important? A project conceived and implemented between Goethe-Institut and the French Institute of South Africa with the support of the Franco-German fund sought to explore the very question: how can libraries practice sustainability?

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The work of libraries is per se sustainable within the meaning of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): by providing open and accessible public spaces to everyone, by lending out books and other media, and by engaging in literacy education -- to name just a few -- they contribute to environmental, social and economic sustainability. What is sometimes less discussed however, is that the SDGs can also be a great tool for political advocacy. The reason is the following: While the SDGs are a global joint declaration of intent, their implementation takes place at the lower political levels: at European, national/ federal, and local levels. The SDGs are therefore a theme that almost every political person will have stumbled upon at some point during his/her political career. Thus, libraries engaging with the SDGs and making it visible -- through their website or social media, but also through exchanges with local politicians -- show that they can talk the ``language'' of politics, that they play a crucial societal role and that they engage in ongoing political debate. In this paper the author will look at examples of how libraries can showcase their societal relevance through the SDGs and how they can approach politicians at every political level. It will also look at political sustainability/ education for sustainable development strategies in Germany at national, federal states (``Länderebene'') and local level and analyse to which extent libraries have been recognised as valuable partners on the political level and where this is still lacking.

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Unprecedented. Heartbreaking. Heartwarming. These three words have been most prominent in my mind as I observed and consulted with my colleagues, near and far, as they make tough decisions about how to keep their communities and staff healthy in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the reality set in as to what was going to be necessary to ``flatten the curve,'' I watched library directors go through a fast-paced version of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's ``stages of grief'': denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Library leaders were listening intently to public health officials, government officials, stakeholders, and their own intuition. First, we had to acknowledge that we all need to pull in the same direction. But close the library? People need the library, they rely on it, we have advocated so hard to help funders understand that libraries are essential in people's lives. If we close, what message are we sending?

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As a reoccurring feature on the Sustainability Roundtable blog, we will post reviews of books related to sustainability.

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There is growing concern that a variety of factors threaten the sustainability of academic libraries: developing and preserving print and digital collections, supplying and supporting rapidly changing technological and networking infrastructure, providing free services, maintaining growing costs of library buildings, and lowering libraries' ecological footprint. This paper discusses the multidimensional issues of sustainability in academic libraries and identifies needs for designing an integrated framework for sustainable strategies in academic libraries. Additionally, the paper presents a synthesis of existing literature on the increasingly popular topic of "green libraries'' and prepares a background toward developing a framework for sustainable strategies in academic libraries.

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Services, buildings, logistics, IT-equipment and much more – that is the library of today. These items are normally viewed from an economical point of view in a library’s yearly budget, but have libraries ever considered that they also have an impact on a library’s ecological sustainability? When you want to observe where and how ecological sustainability occurs in a library you should go beyond a purely economic analysis. By creating conditions for sustainable development, adding eco-efficiency as a measuring tool and generally acting in an environmentally friendly manner, library staff can assist in realizing the sustainability of the library. Dienstleistungen, Gebäude, Logistik, IT und vieles mehr – das ist die Bibliothek von heute. Normalerweise werden diese Elemente von einem ökonomischen Standpunkt im Rahmen eines Jahresbudgets betrachtet; doch wurde jemals daran gedacht, dass diese Themen auch einen ökologischen Effekt auf die Nachhaltigkeit einer Bibliothek haben können? Wenn man herausfinden möchte, wo und wie in einer Bibliothek auf ökologische Nachhaltigkeit Wert gelegt wird, muss man über die ökonomische Analyse hinausgehen. Die Einführung von Kriterien für nachhaltige Entwicklung, zusätzliche Eco-Effizienz als Messinstrument und das allgemeine umweltfreundliche Verhalten können helfen, die Nachhaltigkeit von Bibliotheken sichtbar werden zu lassen.

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Abstract: The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals1 play a growing significance in the work of public libraries in Denmark. This article highlights national and local projects, points out learnings and discusses a framework for getting started working with the SDGs, including what skills library professionals need to achieve these goals. Zusammenfassung: Die Nachhaltigkeitsziele der Vereinten Nationen spielen eine immer wichtigere Rolle bei der Arbeit Öffentlicher Bibliotheken in Dänemark. Dieser Artikel beleuchtet nationale und lokale Projekte, zeigt Erfahrungen auf und erörtert die Rahmenbedingungen für den Einstieg in die Arbeit mit den SDGs, einschließlich der Fähigkeiten, die Bibliothekare benötigen, um diese Ziele zu erreichen.

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More and more children are worried about what climate change means for their future. The media often focuses on the negative aspects and the failures to find solutions, resulting in children and young adults experiencing climate anxiety. Anxious and worried young people might succumb to their fears, and in the worst case, be paralyzed by it. If we want the younger generations to participate in finding solutions for the future we need to give them hope instead. That was one of the reasons for founding our publishing company, KRABAT, in 2019: we want to give children and young adults fiction that can contribute to creating hope for their future.

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Increasingly severe weather, food scarcity caused by droughts and lack of biodiversity, intense heat, record-setting wildfires, and sunny-day flooding are all acute indicators that climate change is here and is already a deadly and costly aspect of mod- ern life. As we seek solutions to slow the effects and manage the immediate impacts of climate change, we find the answers entwined with some of the thorniest issues of our time: economics and inequities in society. Our ability to pull together as neighbors, adapt in the face of what is already happening while lessening the severity of the impacts for future generations will require us to think differently, to adopt a new mindset, and to consider decisions -- large and small -- through the lens of sustainability. Libraries of all types are perfectly positioned to help with this work and to lead in this work. We must step up in this moment and find ways to lead by example and inspire those we serve with and for to do the same. This briefing aims to unpack the concept of sustainability, providing insights and examples for meaningful change that can provide guidance and hope for library leaders, regardless of your role at the library.

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ABSTRACT: This thesis originated from an idea to study how libraries have taken sustainability into account and how to improve libraries’ sustainability. The thesis was commissioned by Central Library of Public Libraries and it was an international part of the Finnish national project Sustainable Development in Libraries that has investigated sustainability in Finnish public libraries. The aim of this study was to answer the questions what are the differences and similarities between the Finnish and the foreign libraries according to the analysis made by the survey and which of the areas: environmental management, environmental economy, reduction of environmental burden, increase of environmental awareness or environmental communication, do arise to be the best or the worst handled in libraries? This quantitative study used a descriptive survey method supported by a questionnaire. The survey was conducted in IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Helsinki in August 2012 by a web-based questionnaire. After the congress the link to the questionnaire was shared also by e-mail. As the theoretical background of the thesis was used Finnish and foreign sources concerning sustainability in libraries and environmental management. The results showed that there are still a lot of things to consider in order to improve sustainability in libraries. Major differences were not noticed between the Finnish and the foreign libraries even if the results can be seen only tentative because of the low number of respondents in the international survey. Reduction of environmental burden seemed to be the best handled area and environmental communication the worst. As a conclusion can be stated that in order to improve sustainability in libraries an own auditing system and an environmental label for libraries would be needed. Libraries should have their own environmental indicators in order to measure the state of sustainability. The commitment to sustainability should be demanded from staff that librarians could act as green educators. IFLA World Library and Information Congress could be a green event in itself. In future more research on the field of economic and social sustainability in libraries would be needed as well as research of ecological sustainability because of the low number of publications at the moment. TIIVISTELMÄ:Tämä opinnäytetyö sai alkunsa ajatuksesta tutkia, kuinka kirjastot ovat ottaneet huomioon kestävän kehityksen ja miten sitä voisi parantaa. Opinnäytetyö toteutettiin osana kansallista hanketta Kestävä kehitys kirjastoissa ja sen toimeksiantajana toimi Yleisten kirjastojen keskuskirjasto. Hanke oli jo aiemmin tutkinut suomalaisten yleisten kirjastojen kestävää kehitystä. Opinnäytetyön tavoitteena oli saada vastaus kahteen tutkimusongelmaan: Mitä yhtäläisyyksiä ja eroja suomalaisilla ja ulkomailla kirjastoilla on kyselyistä tehtyjen analyysien mukaan ja mikä osa1alueista — ympäristöjohtaminen, ympäristötalous, ympäristökuormituksen vähentäminen, ympäristötietoisuuden lisääminen vai ympäristöviestintä, on kirjastoissa parhaiten tai huonoiten hoidettu? Tutkimusmenetelmänä käytettiin kvantitatiivista survey-metodia, jota tuki nettipohjainen kyselylomake. Kysely toteutettiin IFLA World Library and Information –konferensissa Helsingissä elokuussa 2012. Konferenssin jälkeen linkki kyselylomakkeeseen jaettiin myös sähköpostin kautta. Opinnäytetyön teoriapohjana käytettiin niin suomalaisia kuin ulkomaisiakin lähteitä kirjastojen kestävästä kehityksestä ja ympäristöjohtamisesta. Tulokset osoittivat, että kirjastojen kestävässä kehityksessä on vielä paljon parantamisen varaa. Merkittäviä eroja suomalaisten ja ulkomaisten kirjastojen välillä ei tutkimuksen mukaan ilmennyt. Tosin kansainvälisen kyselyn vähäisen vastaajamäärän takia tuloksia voidaan pitää vain suuntaa2antavina. Ympäristökuormituksen vähentäminen vaikutti olevan parhaiten hoidettu osa-alue ja ympäristöviestintä huonoin. Tutkimuksen johtopäätöksenä voidaan todeta, että kirjastot tarvitsisivat oman auditointijärjestelmän ja ympäristömerkin parantaakseen kestävää kehitystään. Kirjastoille tulisi luoda myös omat ympäristöindikaattorit, jotta niiden kestävän kehityksen tilaa voitaisiin mitata. Kirjastojen henkilökunnalta tulisi vaatia sitoutumista kestävään kehitykseen, jotta he voisivat toimia vihreiden arvojen puolestapuhujina. IFLA-konferenssia voisi myös kehittää aiempaa enemmän vihreäksi tapahtumaksi. Tulevaisuudessa tutkimusta voitaisiin ulottaa myös kirjastojen sosiaaliseen ja taloudelliseen kestävään kehitykseen. Joka tapauksessa tutkimusten määrä tältä alalta on vielä hyvin pieni.