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Call for Nominations: SustainRT Citation for Wellness in the Workplace

Overview

In recognition of the fact that library staff are our greatest asset in building and supporting sustainable libraries and communities, the ALA Sustainability Roundtable (SustainRT) is recognizing libraries that go above and beyond in meeting the wellness needs of their staff with the SustainRT Citation for Wellness in the Workplace. All ALA members are invited to nominate any library whose efforts to meet the needs of their staff in the areas of continuing education and creating a positive work environment have advanced sustainability and encouraged wellness. This may include wellness initiatives for unions, gender equity, pay equity, and other activities designed to improve the salaries and status of library professionals. The SustainRT Citation for Wellness in the Workplace was initiated by ALA past Loida Garcia-Ferbo.

Eligibility

Libraries must be nominated by an ALA member. To nominate a library initiative/effort, nominators must complete and submit the online nomination form. Distinct efforts by a library, consortia or organization may be nominated separately in the same year.

Criteria

The following criteria will be used in the selection process:

The recipient should have designed and implemented an effort to benefit their library staff in the areas of continuing education, wellness, positive work environment, unions, salaries, gender equity, pay equity initiatives, and other activities designed to improve the salaries and status of librarians and other library workers within the last three (3) years.
The effort(s) must have greatly improved existing work conditions for library workers.
The effort(s) must demonstrate a strong likelihood of sustainability and have potential to serve as a model for other libraries.
The effort(s) must be current, that is, it must be in operation during the year that the Citation is awarded.

Deadline

March 15, 2021.

Nomination Process

ALA members may nominate libraries and organizations using the nomination from here [LINK]

Citation Awarding Process

Individuals submitting nominations along with the winning library will be notified by April 23, 2021regarding the decision of the SustainRT Awards Committee.

An invitation letter to attend the SustainRT Annual Meeting and accept the citation will be issued to the winner.

Recipients of the SustainRT Citation for Wellness do not receive funds for travel or other financial rewards.

The successful nomination will receive a plaque from the current SustainRT Coordinator during the ALA Annual Conference. The Citation will be announced through ALA and SustainRT communication channels including through an announcement on the SustainRT website and shared with ALA’s Communications and Marketing Office.

Questions

Casey Conlin

cconlin@midhudson.org

Member Monday: Dana Harper

Welcome to Member Mondays! The first Monday of each month, we’ll feature a member of SustainRT with a short profile.

We’re super excited to continue our series with this profile of Dana Harper, Adult Services Librarian at Watauga Public Library. All SustainRT members are welcomed and encouraged to follow Dana’s example and fill out our short self-nomination form in order to become featured in a future Member Monday themselves. We’re looking forward to getting to know one another a little better in hopes of strengthening our community of people committed to sustainability in our profession. Happy Member Monday!

Sustainability Book Review: The Shallows and Trick Yourself to Sleep

As a reoccurring feature on the Sustainability Roundtable blog, we will post reviews of books related to sustainability. Interested in submitting your own review to the blog? Contact August at aolundsmith@gmail.com.

The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr
and Trick Yourself to Sleep by Kim Jones

Book Reviews by Kacper Jarecki

Since it’s the holidays and everything, I thought that I would give a big treat by writing a double-book review! If you’re like me, you’ve been spending a ton of time on the computer, with meetings, workshops, webinars, and yes, more meetings, right? In fact, if you’re reading this, you’re on the computer, right now, I can tell!

So I came across this book, The Shallows, and it interested me because it talks about how computers and phones are changing not just our way of life, but our minds too! Every new technology changes us in some way, including plain old-fashioned books. When books first came out, nearly everyone was reading them out loud, and the author, Nicholas Carr, mentions that reading silently was considered a new innovation for the time. However, now “we are devoting much less time to reading words printed on paper” (p. 88).

Although we have more information available than ever, our attention is more scattered than ever before and constantly jumping from one push notification to another. Americans are spending half their time looking at screens. The author states, “the more distracted we become, the less able we are to experience the subtlest, most distinctively human forms of empathy, compassion, and other emotions” (p.221). What is missing now is time to stop and reflect and focus. However, the author notes that nature has important restorative properties, and that people even looking at “pictures of nature were able to exert substantially stronger control over their attention” (p.220).

So, talking about the internet, often I’ll stay up late looking at my phone screen and before I know it, it’s super late and I don’t even know what happened! So I read this book, Trick Yourself to Sleep for tips on how to sleep better. This book is easy to read, with 222 way to fall asleep. In fact, this author recommends setting an alarm clock for 2 hours before going to bed, to just relax and get in the mood for sleeping! And one great way to relax is… drumroll please… reading! “When the stress hormone cortisol in each individual’s blood was measured, it was discovered that the readers’ level had dropped the most – by 68%” (p.11). Reading a book before bed is one of the best ways to decompress; however, the author also mentions that listening to a bedtime story is also great! Some other tips: a lavender smell is great to have at night-time, smiling in bed to make yourself happier and less worried, and thinking of 5 ways your day went well.

The first step to sustainability is taking care of your health. So if you’re reading this, shut off your computer and go for a walk in nature instead, and then read a book! Good luck!!! Happy New Year!!!

Discussion questions:

1. Do you feel like you spend too much time online?

2. What time do you usually go to bed? Are you satisfied with your rest?

3. Do you have any resolutions for New Year?

4. What are some things you do for self-care?

5. How do you plan to stay in touch with nature in 2021?

Member Monday: Tina Chan

Welcome to Member Mondays! The first Monday of each month, we’ll feature a member of SustainRT with a short profile.

We’re super excited to continue our series with this profile of Tina Chan, Reference Services Program Manager and Social Sciences Librarian at MIT Libraries. All SustainRT members are welcomed and encouraged to follow Tina’s example and fill out our short self-nomination form in order to become featured in a future Member Monday themselves. We’re looking forward to getting to know one another a little better in hopes of strengthening our community of people committed to sustainability in our profession. Happy Member Monday!

World Sustainable Development Teach-in Day 2020

World Sustainable Development Teach-in Day 2020 is December 4^th!

This initiative has been put together by the European School of Sustainability Science and Research (ESSSR) and the Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme (IUSDRP) and led by the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (Germany) and Manchester Metropolitan University (UK). It echoes the previously held event in 2010. The event will go “live” on December 4, and will remain accessible for 24 hours, according to Central European time. To participate, just register for the learning platform at https://dl4sd.org and then enroll yourself to the World Sustainable Teach-in Day. You can browse Online Events links to find a large variety of presentations.

SustainRT’s member Irina Holden, from University at Albany, SUNY, has a presentation under Category C: Education, Communication, and Training on Sustainable Development. Her presentation addresses Sustainable Development Goals 2 (Zero hunger), SDG 11 (Sustainable cities and communities) and SDG 15 (Life on land). The title of presentation is “U.N. Sustainable Development Goals: Feeding a Growing World Population,” in which Irina addresses the importance of urban agriculture and local food production.

Congratulations to Irina on her presentation, and be sure to register to engage with this great event.

SustainRT Leaders Wanted

Business people connecting puzzle pieces

SustainRT is seeking nominees to stand for Spring 2021 election for the roles of Coordinator-Elect and Member-at-Large (see position descriptions below) of the SustainRT Steering Committee. If sustainability and libraries are important to you, a leadership position offers a remarkable way for you to contribute to SustainRT and our profession. It’s also a great resume builder! SustainRT is a dynamic organization with multiple initiatives in progress that challenge ALA, our profession, our own libraries, and ourselves operate and live in more sustainable ways. Can you picture yourself helping to shepherd these initiatives along?

Nominees must complete and submit the nomination form by December 3rd, 2020 (9:59pm Pacific/10:59pm Mountain/11:59pm Central/12:59am Eastern on December 4th).

Please contact Past-Coordinator Uta Hussong-Christian for nomination form link and details: uta.hussong-christian@oregonstate.edu

Coordinator-Elect: The Coordinator-elect will be elected for a three-year term and serves one year of that term as Coordinator-elect, one year as Coordinator, and one year as Immediate Past Coordinator. The Coordinator-elect shall appoint the chair of each standing committee and members to fill vacancies in such committees, for terms beginning with his/her year as Coordinator, except the Nominating Committee. The Coordinator-elect is expected to attend at least the ALA Annual Conference.

Additional Coordinator-Elect Duties: Serves as Liaison from the Steering Committee for a SustainRT committee, and appoints committee chairs for the next Steering Committee year. Works with ALA Liaison to update the Steering Committee listserv for the coming year and updates the org chart for the coming year. The Coordinator-elect is expected to attend at least the ALA Annual Conference.

The following year as Coordinator, the duties include: The Coordinator shall chair the Steering Committee and shall preside at meetings of the Round Table. The Coordinator shall appoint the Nominating Committee, to be chaired by the Immediate Past Coordinator, for the next election cycle. The Coordinator shall identify actions of interest to the SustainRT and recommend such actions to the Board.

Additional Coordinator duties: Schedules and chairs monthly Steering Committee meetings, works with Steering Committee members to set goals and vision for upcoming year, acts as central communicating role amongst and between Steering Committee members, recommends updates for the procedures manual as necessary, facilitates projects as necessary, assists any/all Steering Committee and standing committee members with special projects. The Coordinator is expected to attend both ALA Midwinter and Annual conferences.

Member-at-Large: This is a two-year commitment. Members at Large shall serve as a liaison between the membership and the Steering Committee, and work on special projects as assigned by the Steering Committee or the Coordinator.

Additional Member-at-Large Duties: Serves as Liaison from the Steering Committee for a SustainRT committee. Members at Large are expected to attend either the ALA Midwinter conference or the ALA Annual Conference.

Sustainability Book Review: A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety

A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety: How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming Planet by Sarah Jaquette Ray, University of California Press, 2020

Review by Beth Filar Williams

Dr. Sarah Jaquette Ray, a professor of environmental studies at Humboldt State University, wrote this book after realizing that her students could not even envision a positive livable climate-changed future from the results of collective effort of many. Not because these students / this generation are lazy or do not care – more so they DO care but feel powerless and are constantly bombarded with all that is wrong and seemingly unfixable, handed to them from the older generation. Why should they even try when it’s not possible to get a positive end game? Frozen by fear, guilt or grief, how can anyone even imagine a desired future?

She begins the book speaking to the youth of today, naming their shared characteristics (like caring about social justice and climate change, two things that are linked); the financial insecurity they have beyond what any other generation has faced; the growing disparity between the rich and everyone else and also that they are the more ethnically diverse as a generation than any other generation before them. Even conservatives in Gen Z care about climate justice, unlike older generations in general. Dr. Ray wrote this book to help us combat climate change and injustice while grappling with feelings of powerlessness and despair. Ray offers strategies for climate justice activists to avoid burnout, pulling together works of adrienne maree brown’s emergent strategy, Per Epsen Stoknes’s Five Ds, Bob Doppelt’s transformational resilience, Rebecca Solnit’s justice work, and Glenn Albrecht’s solastalgia, just to name a few.

This book can be read linearly or non-linearly by picking any chapter. Starting with happiness and how you really find it in life to mindfulness to cultivating climate wisdom helps set a tone that is not found in many climate change books. Keys in this book are to find pleasure in the work, slow down and be mindful, remember this is not a new crisis, find what you can do well and do that part, it takes a community, and you need to be able to dream of desires and envision a possible future!

Though written for Ray’s college students, this “existential toolkit for action” is also great for anyone who wants to do something about the climate crisis but struggles with anxiety when faced with the dire predictions of climate scientists. A fabulous read for a book club. Not really long, written for nonscientists, and each chapter has bullet points that would be great reflection questions or turned into discussion topics.

A few discussion questions

How do you experience or observe the role of emotions in climate justice work?
The heart, the hand, and the head are all needed for sustained engagement. What are the effective implications of the content you are daily exposed to?
Write your own manifesto. Why do you care about the planet, the suffering, and what are you skilled or passionate about that you can do? This can be an activity for reflection/writing/sharing.

Interview with author by UC Press

https://envcomm.humboldt.edu/people/sarah-ray

Member Monday: Casey Conlin

Welcome to Member Mondays! The first Monday of each month, we’ll feature a member of SustainRT with a short profile.

We’re super excited to continue our series with this profile of Casey Conlin, Library Sustainability Coordinator at the Mid-Hudson Library System. All SustainRT members are welcomed and encouraged to follow Casey’s example and fill out our short self-nomination form in order to become featured in a future Member Monday themselves. We’re looking forward to getting to know one another a little better in hopes of strengthening our community of people committed to sustainability in our profession. Happy Member Monday!

Sustainability Book Review: Our House is on Fire

Review: Our House is on Fire: Scenes of a Family and a Planet in Crisis by Greta Thunberg, Svante Ernman, Malena Ernman and Beata Ernman

Reviewed by Angele DeNeve, Children’s Librarian at Queens Library at Glen Oaks

How does a 15 year-old girl with Asperger’s Syndrome, obsessive compulsive disorder, selective mutism and a severe eating disorder become a world renowned climate activist? Our House is on Fire: Scenes of a Family and a Planet in Crisis offers a raw and honest look at Greta Thurnberg’s family and their personal struggles leading up to the now famous school strike for the climate in August 2018. Readers get a look at the whole family, which sets the scene for their impassioned outrage at the lack of positive change in our planet’s rapidly increasing carbon emissions.

Greta’s mother, famed opera singer Malena Ernman, already an activist in her own right, fought for human rights, equal rights and the humane treatment of refugees. But it wasn’t until Greta saw a film about climate change that she and her family began to change their awareness of climate issues and made the decision to fight for our climate. In their research they learned that Sweden, their home, was one of the worst offenders in carbon emissions responsible for one of the largest ecological footprints in the world. “If everyone in the world were to live like Sweden it would require 4.2 planet earths.” They began to look at their own lives to make changes like buying an electric car, becoming vegan and completely stopping all airline travel after realizing that air travel is one of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions. They quickly understood while these changes were important, they would not be enough.

In the thirty years since the world was educated about the greenhouse effect and the damage we are collectively doing to our planet, nothing has changed. Our efforts have not reversed, or even slowed down our carbon emissions. In truth, they continue to steadily rise each year. More ice is melting, more forests are disappearing, more species are becoming extinct and oceans are becoming polluted. Sweden, which partially inhabits the arctic circle, provides a concrete example of how rapidly climate change is affecting nature and our planet. After visiting northern Sweden, Greta and her father saw firsthand the impact our carbon emissions are having on nature. The crisis was evidenced by the change in temperature, the shifting geography of the boundaries of forest and ice, and the movement of wildlife to accommodate the changes in temperature and vegetation.

Greta explains to readers that nothing is changing because “we are in a crisis that has never been treated as a crisis”. But that is exactly what it is. A climate crisis. She blames politicians; politicians who say carbon emissions must be reduced but never do anything to reduce them. Greta blames the media, calling them a total failure, for neglecting to put climate issues in the headlines and making the crisis known. Our time to correct the planet’s carbon emissions is running out. Without taking drastic measures the climate crisis will soon become irreversible.

While the story centers around the climate crisis, it also highlights the rise of mental illness in young girls which has directly affected their family with both Greta and her sister Beata being diagnosed with multiple disorders. In Sweden, mental health issues in children 10-17 years old increased over 100 percent in 10 years. While the family sheds light on their personal struggles, they also draw connections between climate change and the rise of mental health issues, climate change and the disparity between wealthy and poor countries, climate change and the tragedies that extreme weather have caused. Suggesting that these connections, which the majority of the population probably don’t think about, be explored further.

After being immersed in this family’s story and their passion for change, readers will undoubtably be educated about the climate crisis and hopefully be inspired to make changes in their own lives. Personally, I learned a great deal about climate change, the science and the politics behind it, and the leaders in the field, but I was mostly impressed by Greta. Her vast knowledge on the subject, her conviction for the health of our planet, and her remarkable ability to overcome personal adversity to fight for something she cares about while rallying others to support her cause are tremendous accomplishments. Greta gives me hope.

Were you surprised, like me, to hear that in the 30 years since we learned about climate change we have not been able to reduce our carbon emissions at all?

How much did you know about Greta Thurnberg before reading this? Have you read or listened to any of her speeches? Did you know anything about her personal mental health struggles? (Find Greta’s Ted Talk on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAmmUIEsN9A )

Can you think of ways that libraries can bring awareness of this issue to the public right now (virtually) in their communities?

Member Monday: Matthew Bollerman

SustainRT Outreach Committee is excited to introduce a new monthly series of the SustainRT blog: Member Mondays! The first Monday of each month, we’ll feature a member of SustainRT with a short profile.

We’re super excited to kick off this new series with our first Member Monday profile of Matthew Bollerman, Chief Executive Officer of Hauppage Public Library. All SustainRT members are welcomed and encouraged to follow Matt’s example and fill out our short self-nomination form in order to become featured in a future Member Monday themselves. We’re looking forward to getting to know one another a little better in hopes of strengthening our community of people committed to sustainability in our profession. Happy Member Monday!