Sustainable Libraries Initiative Certification

The Sustainable Libraries Initiative’s Sustainable Libraries Certification Program (SLCP) provides library leaders with a tested, structured path forward to increase your library’s commitment to environmental stewardship, economic feasibility, and social equity. The Gardiner Library has begun the process of getting its' SLI Certification which requires completing required and recommended "action items" in 11 areas of sustainability.

With categories of actions focusing on each of the three pillars of triple bottom line sustainability such as Energy, Indoor Spaces, Social Cohesion, and Resilience Planning, this comprehensive process leads a library toward institutional change that shifts the rationale for every decision to consider the local and global impacts. Through this program, libraries work with their communities to listen and learn, allowing local needs to be identified and addressed. Strengthening the relationship between the library and the community they serve builds resilience through stronger connections with many organizations and increased access to information.

This certification also aligns with the American Library Association's 2019 adoption of "Sustainability" as one of the core values of librarianship. The foundation of modern librarianship rests on an essential set of core values that define, inform, and guide our professional practice. These values reflect the history and ongoing development of the profession and have been advanced, expanded, and refined by numerous policy statements of the American Library Association. Sustainability as a core value is defined as: Practices that are environmentally sound, economically feasible and socially equitable. Libraries play an important and unique role in promoting community awareness about resilience, climate change and a sustainable future. They are also leading by example by taking steps to reduce their environmental footprint.

The path to certification through the Sustainable Libraries Certification Program is designed to be flexible for libraries of different types, sizes, and budgets and guided by the communities they serve. Each library that completes the program will select the benchmarks that best fit the needs of their library and community, resulting in a uniquely sustainable organization.

For more information, see the Sustainable Libraries Initiative website.