Meet our 2019 candidates:
Coordinator Elect
Casey Conlin
Libraries and librarians in communities, schools, colleges, universities, offices, hospitals, and anywhere else you might find them, stand poised to help the people they serve move toward a more sustainable future. Our work in SustainRT pulls these librarians together so that we can figure out how.
For the past 4 years, I’ve been working with the Sustainability Initiative of the New York Library Association to define what sustainability looks like in libraries, and to create the Sustainable Library Certification Program, a set of tools to help librarians make their organizations and their communities not only sustainable, but resilient places where people can thrive. Our work uses the triple bottom line (socially equitable, economically feasible, and environmentally sound) to measure and increase the sustainability of library services and programs, and to help libraries and librarians take the role of leading sustainable practices in their communities. The Sustainable Library Certification is the product of many people in the NYLA Sustainability Initiative pulling together to contribute their skills to create something bigger than they could make on their own, and I’m proud to say we now have libraries completing the program.
As Coordinator for SustainRT, I want to bring the people in our group together to tap into the extraordinary capabilities of focused librarians to create resources and opportunities for libraries to help the people and organizations they serve create a sustainable future.
Councilor
Matthew Bollerman
I am very interested in being the SustainRT Councilor. I was an inaugural member of this Roundtable as Secretary. It was exciting to be part of something new and I believe we set some excellent groundwork for the activities that have been evolving. Sustainability is an issue that I have championed for years. Back in New York, I co-chaired the Sustainability Initiative Committee of the New York Library Association (https://www.nyla.org/sustainability/). It was a joy to watch colleagues from around the state build their capacity and embrace their role to help their communities by using the Triple Bottom Line.
I would welcome the opportunity to serve my profession as a councilor again. My first councilor experience came as the President of the Public Library Section of the New York Library Association. I enjoyed serving in this capability, particularly working to improve our association and acting as a voice for those you represent. After serving in this capacity, I was elected as President of the New York Library Association and headed their Council. During my tenure, I led the team to find a new Executive Director. This was not certainly not something I thought would happen on my watch, but it was a great process and our ED is still on the job and going strong.
My day job is being the Chief Executive Officer of the Hauppauge Public Library, a suburban library in Suffolk County, New York. We are currently enrolled in the Sustainable Library Certification Program offered by the New York Library Association.
If elected, I hope to help the roundtable have a full voice at Council and to do all in my power to increase membership and make sure our issues are heard throughout the organization especially in light of the Final Report of the ALA Special Task Force on Sustainability.
Member-at-Large
Scott Kushner
The primary concerns of sustainability – environmental, economic and social justice and equality are not just a preference but an absolute necessity for the survival of our communities, whether it’s local, nationally and/or globally. We need to find a way to effectively communicate this to all the stakeholders in our communities, starting with our library community (e.g. staff, Boards, whole systems, etc.) so that we can take a leadership role in helping to make our entire citizenry lead sustainable lives. In my personal life I have been actively involved in supporting remedying environmental and social concerns. I am an active member of the NYLA Sustainability Initiative (now a Round Table) as well as spearheading and co-chairing a local initiative modeled on NYLA’s. My motivation for the Member at Large is to become more involved at the national level. The concerns mentioned above are expanding and the urgency growing by the day. In any of these initiatives, forming partnerships is key. And after attending the Drawdown Project at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY, where Paul Hawkins, the editor and one of the prime movers of the Drawdown initiative, was the keynote speaker, I was truly inspired and convinced that this is a national and global effort. This is an effort to form those partnerships at broader level.
Arlene Hopkins
Serving on the SustainRT board as a Member-at-Large will enable me to bring 30+ years of experience as an educator, architect and library planner to comprehensive sustainability and resilience in library planning, programs, collections and facilities. Friends and I have created a Facebook page “Cultivating Urban Resilience – Next Gen Libraries.”
I would like to be a resource for librarians working to integrate sustainability and resilience into their libraries, and to develop linkages and networks across our communities. Please note my experience at https://www.linkedin.com/in/