Library Environment Sustainability Progress Index (LESPI): Benchmarking Libraries’ Progress Towards Sustainable Development
Loading...
Date
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
IFLA’s demands to be co-custodian of the UN Agenda for Sustainable Development provides tremendous opportunity for libraries’ transformation into the future, but it comes with a huge obligation. The 2030 UN Agenda includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 specific targets addressing the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. There is no doubt that we are in the phase where transformative change is necessary for libraries regarding sustainable development. However, most libraries have insufficient data to assess whether they are on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, this paper presents a “Library Environment Sustainability Progress Index” (LESPI) which can be used as a benchmarking tool for any library to assess their compliance with the goals. In order to compile the Index, the 169 concrete targets were carefully examined and 46 of them selected for inclusion in the LESPI. The proposed measure has been pilot tested with a college library in New York. This measure should be tested with another library, perhaps with a public library, to monitor the feasibility of the Index. Moreover, creating a “composite score” for three major components of the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) equation as well as for the Index in general would be beneficial to make more informative comparisons in the future with other libraries.
Description
Keywords
Citation
American Libraries Association. 2015. “Resolution on the importance of sustainable libraries.” http://www.ala.org/aboutala/sites/ala.org.aboutala/files/content/governance/council/council_documents/2015_annual_council_documents/cd_36_substainable_libraries_resol_final.pdf
Antonelli, Monika. 2008. "The Green Library Movement: An Overview of Green Library Literature and Actions from 1979 to the Future of Green Libraries." Electronic Green Journal (27) (Fall): 2-12. http://0-search.proquest.com.liucat.lib.liu.edu/docview/197590520?accountid=12142.
Aulisio, George J. 2013. "Green Libraries are More than just Buildings." Electronic Green Journal (35): 1-10. http://0-search.proquest.com.liucat.lib.liu.edu/docview/1355713497?accountid=12142.
Aytac, Selenay. 2001. “Quality assurance systems: implementing ISO 9000 into a Turkish
university library”, Master’s thesis, Isik University, Istanbul Turkey.
Beth, Filar Williams, Madeleine Charney, and Bonnie Smith. 2015. "Growing our Vision Together: Forming a Sustainability Community within the American Library Association." Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy 11 (2) (Winter). doi:http://0-dx.doi.org.liucat.lib.liu.edu/10.1080/15487733.2015.11908147. http://0-search.proquest.com.liucat.lib.liu.edu/docview/1819113849?accountid=12142.
Dresner, Simon 2008. The Principles of Sustainability. 2nd. edition. London: Earthscan.
Edwards, Brian W. 2011. "Sustainability as a Driving Force in Contemporary Library Design." Library Trends 60 (1) (Summer): 190-214. doi:http://0-dx.doi.org.liucat.lib.liu.edu/10.1353/lib.2011.0030. http://0-search.proquest.com.liucat.lib.liu.edu/docview/903206243?accountid=12142.
Elkington, John. 1994. “Towards the Sustainable Corporation: Win-Win-Win Business Strategies for Sustainable Development.” California Management Review 36, no. 2 (January 1994): 90–100. doi:10.2307/41165746.
Espey, Jessica, Guillaume Lafortune, and Guido Schmidt-Traub. 2018. Delivering the Sustainable Development Goals for all: Policy Priorities for Leaving no One Behind. Paris: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). http://0-search.proquest.com.liucat.lib.liu.edu/docview/2161598195?accountid=12142.
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. N.d.a https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/hq/topics/libraries-development/documents/sdg_data_brief.pdf
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. N.d.b https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/hq/topics/libraries-development/documents/access-and-opportunity-for-all.pdf
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. 2018. “Access and opportunity for all: How libraries contribute to the United Nations 2030 Agenda.” https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/hq/topics/libraries-development/documents/access-and-opportunity-for-all.pdf
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. N.d.c “Data and sustainable development goals: An IFLA briefing. https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/hq/topics/libraries-development/documents/sdg_data_brief.pdf
Mc Donnell, Ida and Rahul Malhotra. 2018. Overview: Development Co-Operation for 2030 – Renewing and Reforming to Deliver on Leaving no One Behind. Paris: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). http://0-search.proquest.com.liucat.lib.liu.edu/docview/2161597440?accountid=12142.
Miller, Rebecca T. 2018. "Sustainability, Squared." Library Journal 143 (8) (May 01): 8. http://0-search.proquest.com.liucat.lib.liu.edu/docview/2027595974?accountid=12142.
Mojapelo, Samuel Maredi. 2018. "Transcending Existing Frontiers to Achieve Selected Sustainable Development Goals: The Role of Community Libraries in South Africa." Library Philosophy and Practice (05): 1. http://0-search.proquest.com.liucat.lib.liu.edu/docview/2166025820?accountid=12142.
New York Library Association. 2019. “Building sustainable communities. “https://www.nyla.org/max/4DCGI/cms/review.html?Action=CMS_Document&DocID=2759&MenuKey=nomenucms
Oyelude, Adetoun A. 2018. "Placemaking and Technology as Tools for Greening Libraries." Library Hi Tech News 35 (10): 9-11. doi:http://0-dx.doi.org.liucat.lib.liu.edu/10.1108/LHTN-09-2018-0061. http://0-search.proquest.com.liucat.lib.liu.edu/docview/2130277433?accountid=12142.
Rockström, J., & Sukhdev, P. 2016. How food connects all the SDGs: A new way of viewing the Sustainable Development Goals and how they are all linked to food. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/research-news/2016-06-14-how-food-connects-all-the-sdgs.html.
Shaffer, Gary L. 2018. Creating sustainable public library. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries. Unlimited.
Scheeder, Donna. 2019. "Development and Access to Information: Libraries and the Sustainable Development Goals." Online Searcher 43 (1) (Jan): 46-47. http://0-search.proquest.com.liucat.lib.liu.edu/docview/2167239618?accountid=12142.
Stoss, Frederick W. 2003. "Sustainable Communities and the Roles Libraries and Librarians Play." Reference & User Services Quarterly 42 (3) (Spring): 206-210. http://0-search.proquest.com.liucat.lib.liu.edu/docview/217870897?accountid=12142.
Taylor, Robert W. (ed.) 2012. Introduction. Taking Sides: Clashing Issues in Sustainability. New York: McGraw-Hill.
United Nations. 2019. About the Sustainable Development Goals, https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/envision2030.html
Vygotsky, Lev S. 1962. Thoughts and Language, Cambridge: MIT Press.
Weiner, James and Lynn Boyden. 2001. "Creating Sustainable Libraries." Library Journal (12): 8-10. http://0-search.proquest.com.liucat.lib.liu.edu/docview/196782933?accountid=12142.