Sustainable Libraries Initiative promotes resilience in Long island communities

In the community garden plot tended by the Harborfields Public Library in Greenlawn, students recently buzzed over the bee cocoons they were re-sheltering, saving them from predators.

Known as mason bees, the insects were nestled single file in straw-sized hollow reeds in a bee house at the Robert M. Kubecka Memorial Garden in Huntington, a community garden where the library grows garlic, tomatoes and other vegetables.

They hibernated in cocoons resembling shriveled, gray peas. Librarian Mary Kim told the 16 students from Oldfield Middle School and Harborfields High School not to be afraid, as these insects were the nonviolent type.

“These are not stinging bees — these are ‘hippie’ bees,” Kim told the students. “They’re pollinators. This is why we’re saving them.”

Long Island libraries like Harborfields have become stewards of the planet under the Sustainable Libraries Initiative, a nonprofit that has spread globally since its inception six years ago in Suffolk and upstate.

The initiative, based in Bellport, focuses not just on the familiar refrain of saving the environment, but on a framework for libraries to model sustainability through their purchases, water and energy use, employee accommodations and more. Out of 64 library members on the Island, 35 have completed or are undergoing a certification process that usually takes more than a year. An online “program idea bank” lets libraries borrow from each other on how to best instill a sustainability mindset among the public and also in identifying and meeting other community needs. The program reflects the evolving role of libraries as community service centers, which Newsday explores in the ongoing LI Life series “LI Libraries: Lending books, lending a hand.”

From disaster response to collecting plastic to make benches, each library writes its own road map on how to follow and spread what the nonprofit calls the “triple bottom line” — practices that are environmentally sound, economically feasible or socially equitable. Member dues and sponsorships support the nonprofit’s $125,000 budget for administrative expenses, the website and training, while the Suffolk Cooperative Library System pays the nonprofit coordinators’ salary. For now, the libraries foot the bills on their sustainability ventures.

160 Libraries

To date, more than 160 public and college libraries and several library systems have met requirements or are undergoing certification to become members of the Sustainable Libraries Initiative, including a college in Greece and two Canadian library systems, plus several elementary and high school librarians.

By banding together to work on sustainability and partner with the community, these libraries will have a more powerful impact than the sum of their parts, nonprofit officials said. For example, many libraries grow plants to feed pollinators and set up butterfly houses, becoming part what’s called the Pollinator Pathway, where insects such as the endangered monarch butterfly can feed and rest on their migratory routes.

Rebekkah Smith Aldrich, executive director of the Mid-Hudson Library System in the Hudson Valley, cofounded the nonprofit with Matthew Bollerman, now the Hauppauge Public Library director.

“When you look at what the World Economic Forum is saying are the deadly threats to humans right now, it’s AI-generated misinformation, disinformation and the effects of climate change,” she said. “If we’re not acting in the realm of reality on those topics, I really don’t see a future for libraries. We have to be partners in solutions around those topics.”

Books are still popular takeouts, librarians said, but the sustainability movement comes as these institutions rapidly evolve beyond the printed word. Librarians have parlayed their expertise as information specialists to launch a rainbow of programs — disaster response, job counseling, health exams by hospital teams, partnerships with businesses and much more.

Superstorm Sandy in October 2012 and blizzard Nemo five months later taught libraries they could serve more than their traditional roles, Smith Aldrich and other librarians said.

After Sandy, libraries served as warming and phone charging centers for those whose homes were cold and dark.

During Nemo, the Longwood Public Library in Middle Island was practically hot cocoa headquarters all day and night, as staff made drinks for people stranded by snow.

“Our staffers are always looking for ways to help our community be more resilient and help offer ways to support the community when disaster strikes,” said Longwood library director Lisa Jacobs. “I think the Sustainable Libraries Initiative was a natural outgrowth of that mindset.”

Recycling, swap stations and community

Lisa Kropp, director of Lindenhurst Memorial Library, never expected a lasting impact from looking at the library’s trash, part of the certification process.

“If you told me I was going to do a waste audit and open up bags of garbage and analyze my garbage, I would have told you you were nuts,” said Kropp, who now mentors other libraries undergoing certification. “But that was one of the most favorite things I did because it helped us see a lot of waste in paper and cardboard.”

Those materials made up about 60% of the trash, Kropp recalled. The audit was done in 2018, when only residences were required to recycle in Lindenhurst Village, and this led the library to arrange village pickup of recyclables.

In 2019, Lindenhurst became the third library in New York certified by the Sustainable Libraries Initiative.

One of Lindenhurst’s most successful enterprises is the “swap station,” where residents leave gently loved or unused items on shelves for other patrons to take home for free.

The staff often “curates” swap station events, such as a focus on yarn donations.

“I feel like having those recycling swap stations helps people build human connections in a world that is increasingly difficult to connect in because everything is texting and digital,” Kropp said. “This kind of creates community, and you find other people with the same hobbies. We’re building relationships.”

Pedaling social equity

At Comsewogue Public Library in Port Jefferson Station, a “Borrow Me” sign hangs on a bike outside its doors, one of six that can be lent out for up to two weeks. One homeless shelter resident used it to go to a job interview. Some who didn’t have cars became repeat users, while others used them because their vehicles were being repaired. One father took out one whenever his daughter visited so they could pedal on the Greenbelt Trail.

“It makes me so proud that in some way we played a small part in all of that,” said Claudia Friszell, the library’s head of circulation, which oversees the bike loans. “It makes me weepy.”

The bike repair station at the Lindenhurst library has a pump and attached tools, including a pair of pliers and a wrench, to fix chains that have come off.

Bike riding apps have tagged it, Kropp said, and when the Lindenhurst Bicycle Club learned about it, its leaders held bike safety and repair classes at the library.

“It’s kind of used 24/7 because it’s out in the open,” she said. “To us, it’s such a niche, small service, but when you need that service, it is a very valuable service. That to me is the power of the sustainable library movement.”

Community service

Sustainability is more than just protecting the environment.

It is “all about meeting the needs of the community,” noted Harborfields library director Ryan Athanas. “Sometimes there’s hesitancy to work in a bigger group. There are generations that remember us as [so silent] ‘you could hear a pin drop.’ We’re a vibrant center, and getting used to the noise is a struggle.”

The North Bellmore Public Library, the first Nassau library to complete the program’s training, partnered with Nassau County Legis. Michael Giangregorio (R-Merrick) to secure a $10,000 county grant for a children’s “Sensory Nook Pod.”

The area has a table, diner-style bench seating, a fiber-optic wall with a twinkling light effect and sound insulation — deemed to be a calming refuge for neurodiverse youngsters by the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards, which certifies professionals who serve those with autism.

Library director Jessica Tymecki said she has seen crying toddlers overstimulated by their first social exposure calm down in the nook: “It’s almost like you’re enclosed in a safe space,” she said.

Growth continues

The Sustainable Libraries Initiative stemmed partly from a resolution passed in 2014 by the New York Library Association encouraging libraries to forge a role in meeting climate change.

Membership grew slowly in the beginning as library officials wondered whether the new entity was legitimate and was going to be, well, sustainable.

“Our biggest barrier in the beginning was buy-in,” said Roger Reyes, the nonprofit’s treasurer and assistant director of the Suffolk Cooperative Library System, which also provides space for the organization.

Then, big library systems began joining. San Diego County was certified last year. University of Maryland certified this year, as did the Queens Public Library.

The nonprofit has applied for $175,000 from the Mellon Foundation, which distributes arts and humanities grants. The funds would train 40 small libraries, including 10 in New York, on how to educate the community on climate change threats and build resiliency. They expect to know next year whether they received the grant.

“We’re at the cusp of finally breaking through that barrier to legitimacy,” Reyes said.

“We’re the perfect people to do this,” he added. “Every community has a public library. Every public library has resources already and has the trust we’ve built over the years. We’re open to every audience. We’re in a unique opportunity situation to be the catalyst for this.”