For Immediate Release
May 23, 2025

Sustainable Libraries Initiative Partners with the Vermont Library Association
 The Sustainable Libraries Initiative partners with the Vermont Library Association to cultivate library leadership for community resilience.

           New York–May 23, 2024 - A new partnership between the Sustainable Libraries Initiative (SLI) and the Vermont Library Association (VLA) aims to equip VLA members with tools and resources to address the challenges and mitigate the impact of climate change in their communities.

“We are very excited to work more closely with the Vermont Library Association and enable all of their members to accelerate their adoption of sustainable thinking,” said Rebekkah Smith Aldrich, Board President of the Sustainable Libraries Initiative, “Positioning the Vermont library community as leaders in the conversation about climate change mitigation and adaptation is a strong move to ensure libraries contribute to their community’s resilience and remain relevant and responsive institutions.”

Through this partnership, VLA members will join a nationwide community of practice who are using SLI-curated tools to uncover ways that their libraries and communities can understand, adapt to, and help lessen the effects of climate change. These tools include a vendor list, a sustainability webinar archive, policy and programming examples, and a custom CO2 calculator to help members estimate their current institutional greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and measure longitudinal progress in efforts to reduce their emissions and energy costs.

“The VLA welcomes the opportunity to be part of the Sustainable Library community by joining with the Sustainable Libraries Initiative. Since 2015, when the VLA signed a Sustainability Resolution, libraries in Vermont have embraced the idea of the environmentally sound, economically feasible, and socially equitable building blocks of community resilience. We look forward to leadership and guidance from SLI to put the ideas into practice," said Margaret Woodruff, spokesperson for VLA and SLI Advisory Board member. 

The Sustainable Libraries Initiative’s Sustainable Library Certification Program (SLCP) — available to public libraries, academic libraries, library systems, and school librarians — provides libraries with a reliable course of action to enhance library leadership and demonstrate commitment to environmental stewardship, economic feasibility, and social equity. The certification program guides participants to evaluate their decision-making philosophies, build stronger connections within their community, and consider the lasting impacts of their action for their service area. 

Several Vermont libraries are already involved with the Sustainable Libraries Initiative, including Norman Williams Public Library: the first to complete the certification program in the state earlier this year. View their final presentation here. 

Members of the Vermont Library Association who opt-in via the SLI website will receive one free year of annual membership to the Sustainable Libraries Initiative and a 20% discount on the award-winning Sustainable Library Certification Program. Cohorts of five or more libraries will receive a 25% discount on certification, supporting the principle that there is power in collective action.

Sustainable Libraries Initiative
The Sustainable Libraries Initiative is a member-driven organization that empowers library professionals to be leaders using triple-bottom-line sustainability (environmental stewardship, social equity, and economic feasibility) throughout their organizations and in their communities. The Sustainable Library Certification Program is now enrolling public and academic libraries, library systems, and school librarians nationwide.

Vermont Library Association
The Vermont Library Association (VLA), organized in 1893, is an educational organization working to develop, promote, and improve library and information services and librarianship in the state of Vermont.