For Immediate Release

December 12, 2025

School Librarian Melissa King is Certified Sustainable
The Sustainable Libraries Initiative recognizes School Library Media Specialist Melissa King as a leader in sustainability.

Suffolk County, NY –December 12, 2025 – School Library Media Specialist Melissa King of Flower Hill Elementary School in Gaithersburg, Maryland has been designated a “Certified Sustainable School Librarian” through the Sustainable Libraries Initiative’s award-winning Sustainable Library Certification Program (SLCP).

School librarian Melissa King fosters a love of learning about the environment in her students and helps build life-long sustainability literacy skills through partnerships, immersive programming, and experiential learning.

Melissa is a certified Environmental Educator through the Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE). As the sponsor for the Flower Hill Elementary School Green Team, she took the lead on the campus becoming a certified Maryland Green School, which was achieved in May 2023. 

“The Sustainable Libraries Certification Program asks us to specifically look at how the library can help guide and positively affect the efficiency of the building and conservation efforts of the staff and students, and also how the librarian is guiding collaboration with classroom teachers and community partners,” said Melissa. “The SLCP has reminded me of the importance of collaborations, and how my efforts to connect my students with a variety of learning experiences has benefitted them, our school, and ultimately the world.” 

Melissa starts each lesson with mindfulness and positive affirmations to foster a sense of purpose and belonging in her students. Program topics have included salad science, pollinator gardens, water quality testing, campus cleanups, bluebird boxes, and a food recovery program. 

Also important are the partnerships Melissa has formed with local organizations to bring additional resources to her students of all ages on the topics of nature, agriculture, wildlife, mindfulness, sustainability, and energy conservation.

Melissa is the first school librarian in Maryland to complete the Sustainable Library Certification Program: an award-winning benchmarking system designed to provide public libraries, academic libraries, library systems, and school librarians with exclusive resources and guidelines to shift towards a cleaner, greener, and more equitable future.

“Congratulations to Melissa King on achieving Sustainable Library certification!” said Melissa’s mentor and fellow certified school librarian Anne-Marie Kalin. “Her dedication to this important work, coupled with her innovative use of Google Sites to document and showcase these efforts, exemplifies the forward-thinking leadership our profession needs. Well done, Melissa!”

For more information, please view Melissa’s sustainability website here or reach out to SLI staff by emailing sliadmin@suffolknet.org.