The Library as a Campus Sustainability Hub: A Case Study in Increasing Community Engagement & Collaboration in Sustainability through Academic Libraries

As the topic of sustainability becomes more relevant to all types of libraries, two academic science librarians share a case study on identifying and filling gaps in sustainability-related engagement, education, and collaboration at a mid-sized R1 research university. Seeking to transform their academic library into a Campus Sustainability Hub, the two authors began working towards this ambitious goal by establishing strong partnerships with sustainability-minded organizations and individuals both on and off campus, as well as by prioritizing the creation of community-centered programming that would engage audiences in sustainability content, research, and activism. After more than a year of building collaborations and fostering community engagement, they were successful in accomplishing their goal of establishing their academic library as a Campus Sustainability Hub. This case study provides more details on how the librarians reached this goal, including why they initially decided to undertake such a large task, how they chose to define a “Sustainability Hub,” what benchmarks they needed to meet in order to obtain this status, how they reached these benchmarks, and how they plan on continuing to grow this initiative