SustainRT Meeting Minutes
ALA MidWinter Meeting
Philadelphia, PA
January 27, 2014
8:30 am
Present:
Ashley Jones (SustainRT Steering Committee member)
Mary Beth Lock (Planning and Budget Assembly Representative)
Emily Sheketoff (Washington Office)
Kate Hutchens
Suzanne Lipkin
Lori Shemanski
Ashley Sowa
Meeting commenced at 8:30 am
1) Introductions
Ashley gave a brief history of the formation of SustainRT as well as the motivations and goals behind the formation of the group. Namely that SustainRT aims to build a more resilient, harmonious, and holistic community through the economic, environmental, and social aspects of sustainability, going beyond the concept of just being “green."
Emily Sheketoff from the ALA Washington office, government relations and information technology policy, offered ideas for working together: keeping SustainRT informed of relevant issues; being available to SustainRT when we need information when we need it. She also asked if it was alright for the Washington Office to come to us with certain issues they think we might have a stake in. She recommended we subscribe to district dispatch in order to keep up with news and information.
Mary Beth mentioned she had attended the Planning and Budget Assembly on SustainRT’s behalf the day before. Due to SustainRT’s early stage of becoming established, she did not have any items to report
2) Announcements about the upcoming elections and call for volunteers, as well as the Lightening Talks program at ALA Annual on Sat. 6/28 1:00--2:30
3) General Discussion about goals and priorities for SustainRT. Ashley stressed that the meeting was meant to be an informal discussion of ideas, as the leadership for the round table is not yet in place. Once leaders are identified, SustainRT will facilitate the gathering of resources, sharing of ideas, networking and learning opportunities, and bringing like-minded people together. It was discussed that sustainability in libraries could encompass many things such as curriculum development, collection development, exhibits, events, and advocacy. She mentioned the 12/11/13 open, virtual discussion and the ideas generated. A popular idead was for SustainRT to develop a toolkit of practical items such as a list of talking points, a speakers bureau, lesson plans, books, web sites.
4) Some attendees shared their experiences serving on a library green team.
5) The role of smaller working groups within SustainRT was discussed, as the way for people to focus on their own specific sustainable interests within the broader scope of the group. Attendees expressed interest in sustainable space renovation; eliminating ALA Mid-Winter meeting (already being discussed in other ALA groups and divisions); evaluating outcomes of eliminating MW from a sustainability stand point; producing a means for conference attendees to engage in sustainable behavior at professional conferences (e.g. ride-shares, local and sustainable restaurants, sustainable accommodations); collecting circulation stats on Cognotes (e.g. number of each issue printed vs. number taken by conference attendees).
6) As the meeting came to an end, the various ways to stay connected were re-iterated (website, facebook, LinkedIn, listserve, ALA connect) and instructions for how to join SustainRT.
Meeting adjourned at 9:37 am
Respectfully submitted by Ashley Jones, February 5, 2014