This panel discussion features practitioners with deep experience in preparing both their libraries, and their communities, for the impacts of climate change. Our panel speaks to traditional disaster preparedness, business continuity planning, community resilience work, and preparing communities for severe weather events and the increased likelihood of food supply interruptions. While libraries are not first responders, they should be connected with the emergency management community and be positioned as part of both the short-term and long-term “first restorer” network as disruptions amplified by climate change happen with more frequency.

Presented by:

• Rebekkah Smith Aldrich (MLS, LEED AP), Executive Director, Mid-Hudson Library System (NY), Co-founder/Current President, Sustainable Libraries Initiative (SLI), and author
• Keith Adams, Executive Director, New Jersey Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster
• Michele Stricker, Deputy State Librarian,  Library Development Bureau, New Jersey State Library
• Sarah Lipuma, Resilience Coordinator, FEMA Region 2 Mitigation Division

NOTE: 90-minute session

Access recording

• View Webinar Recording (You will be prompted to login to our free Course Catalog.)

Webinar attachments

• View slides (pdf)
  
• View chat (xls)
• View captions (txt)
  
• Series Learner Guide (doc) Use alone or with others to extend your learning.

Related resources and links

• Sustainable Libraries: Resources and Webinars for Climate Action
• Watch Sustainability 101, the first webinar in the series
  
• Read Sustainability 101, the first article
  
• Watch Climate Action Planning (Part 1): An Introduction, the second webinar
• Climate Action Plan Template (doc) - shared in previous webinar
  
• WebJunction webinar with Michele Stricker (2018), From Facilities to Trauma: Disaster Planning and Community Resiliency at Your Library
• New Jersey State Library’s Disaster Preparedness & Community Resiliency Toolkit
• US Climate Resilience Toolkit and Case Studies
• National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster
• dPlan: https://www.dplan.org/
  
• FEMA Regions
• Pocket Response Template and examples
• Social Vulnerability Index
• Book recommended by Sarah Lipuma, Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein
• FEMA Makes Changes to Individual Assistance Policies to Advance Equity for Disaster Survivors
• Upcoming workshop, October 16-19: Hazard Mitigation Partners Workshop. The focus of the workshop is All Together for Climate Resilient Communities. The conversations throughout the workshop will focus on building mitigation champions, driving community resilience, providing technical assistance for grant programs, and supporting community resilience and hazard mitigation.
  
• Climate resilience hubs for libraries
  
• Reading Lists on WorldCat.org compiled by Sustainable Libraries Inititative
• Essential Reads
• Environmental Justice
• Eco-Literacy for Kids
• Books for Youth Climate Activists
• Climate Fiction Starter Pack
• OCLC's Distinguished Seminar Series with Rebekkah Smith Aldrich: Sustainability—A Call to Action for the Library Community
• Sustainability in Libraries: A Call to Action (pdf)
• Road Map to Sustainability
• eNewsletter of the Sustainable Libraries Initiative
• Sustainable Library Certification Program
• Final Presentations from the Sustainable Library Certification Program
• Resources from the Sustainability Round Table of the American Library Association
• Sustainability and Libraries: ALA and Sustainability

Join us for other webinars in the series

Register for series

Sustainability 101
Recording now available

Climate Action Planning (Part 1): An Introduction
Recording now available

Climate Justice
3 October 2023 (2:00 pm–3:30 pm EDT)

Living Our Values Out Loud: Programs that Walk the Talk
28 November 2023 (2:00 pm–3:00 pm EDT)

Stronger Together: Collective Impact and Climate Action Programming
13 December 2023 (2:00 pm–3:30 pm EDT)