Certified Sustainable  |  Library Design
by Lisa Peet

NYLA’s benchmarking system helps libraries, step by step,
attain organization wide sustainability

When the New York Library Association (NYLA) Council adopted its Resolution on the Importance of Sustainable Libraries in early 2014—the American Library Association (ALA) passed its own version at the June 2015 annual conference—it stated that NYLA “enthusiastically encourages activities by its membership—and itself—to be proactive in their application of sustainable thinking in the areas of their facilities, operations, policy, technology, programming and ­partnerships.”

As of November 2017, NYLA has moved beyond enthusiastic encouragement to structured guidance with the launch of its Sustainable Libraries Certification Program (SLCP). The multipart benchmarking system developed by the NYLA Sustainability Initiative (SI) leads library administration, staff, and boards through a process to help them create and maintain sustainable organizations.

SLCP combines actionable steps, policy suggestions, and data-gathering tools; participants also receive support from technical advisors and one another through in-person and online meet-ups and webinars. The program’s 12 categories include….Read the full article here.