EDITOR'S NOTES
Take a Ride on the Green Side
by Dick Kaser
You asked for it, and you got it. Attendees at the Editor’s Forum at the Computers in Libraries conference last March jumped on the topic that columnist and archivist Jan Zastrow put on the table: What about the sustainability of libraries and digital archives? I promised the audience a special issue on the subject, so here it is.
Jan herself devotes her column this month to fleshing out the topic, which she very carefully defines as “environmental sustainability” in libraries and “climate action” by libraries. The dual roles of being a good global citizen by adopting best practices for sustainability in your facility and promoting sustainability in your community are echoed throughout the other features and columns in this issue.
Brian Pichman, best known for his advocacy of makerspaces, ups the ante by proposing that libraries should turn their makerspaces into solverspaces in order to take on the United Nations’ imperative, but challenging, Sustainable Development Goals.
Librarians Valerie Bell and Rhiannon Eades (Athens Regional Library) describe how, by installing solar panels at their facility in Georgia, they conserved a bit of energy. This act, as importantly, made a big public statement about encouraging solar power uptake in their community.
Marshall Breeding and Jessamyn West drive the point home in their columns by suggesting some things you can do to conserve energy and help your patrons adopt more sustainable lifestyles.
And I cannot rave enough about the fantastic work NOAA has done in developing apps that teach kids of all ages (including adults) about what’s going on with planet Earth. You can read all about it in the EDTECH section.
P.S. See you at next year’s Editor’s Forum at CIL 2020; we’ll be celebrating the magazine’s 40th year of publication and accepting your ideas for future topics.
Dick Kaser, Executive Editor
kaser@infotoday.com
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