For Immediate Release
October 28, 2023                         

                                                                            Mamakating Library is Certified Sustainable
                                        The Sustainable Libraries Initiative recognizes Mamakating Library as a leader in sustainability.

         
                 Mamakating Library located in Wurtsboro, New York has been designated a “Certified Sustainable Library” through the Sustainable Libraries Initiative’s award-winning Sustainable Libraries Certification Program.

Initial discussions regarding undertaking the Sustainable Library Certification Program(SLCP) began in 2021. The Library’s Administration decided that the best place to start was by developing and/or modifying a number of  policies to better reflect their commitment to the Triple Bottom Line principle of sustainability. Adopting policies such as an Environmental Impact & Sustainability Policy, Emergency & Disaster Policy, and a Sustainable Purchasing Policy played an integral part in establishing Mamakating’s Mission going forward. 

Mamakating Library’s Mentor, Claudia Depkin, Library Director of the Haverstraw King's Daughters Public Library shared the following statement about Mamakating’s journey towards certification:

"Mamakating Library is the embodiment of a sustainable, thriving library! Their deep, foundational relationships with volunteers and local partners celebrating the arts, education, the environment, neighborhoods and the municipality have been strengthened through their work with the Sustainable Libraries Certification Program. The trustees, director, and staff have successfully integrated the Triple Bottom Line definition of sustainability into their policies, programs, collections, human resources, fiscal planning and facility. Town of Mamakating residents are fortunate to have a public library that proves its value to the community in so many ways."

Getting community buy-in and standing beside them in their efforts was a big motivator. Staff, trustees, and community members volunteered to work on their sustainability committee, giving  everyone a role to play in ensuring the library’s sustainability efforts would be fulfilled. Mamakating Library Director Cheryl Jones shared the following:

“Our community has been very supportive of this effort all along the way. Very early in the process, interested committee members were identified and the committee evolved over time as one person's expertise was exhausted, and another new committee member was identified. This helped us bring so many voices from the community into the process. Also, our monthly Sustainability Corner column in our newsletter has been regularly cited by patrons as a catalyst for small changes they have made in their own households and that is one of the things we are most proud of—not only that our library is certified sustainable, but that our patrons are inspired to be more mindful about their own actions and choices as well.”

Director Cheryl Jones also added the following describing how going through the Sustainable Library Certification Program(SLCP) helped her and her staff by giving them small achievable goals that brought awareness of where they were currently and helped define a clear path to carry out their mission.

“I truly think that going through the SLI process as a new director has helped me to understand so many aspects of my job as it relates to my staff, my building, my community, and the relations among all of those things. I came into this job at a library that hadn't had a director for a few months; I had to figure a lot out as I went along. Working through the SLI process with our committee gave me small, manageable goals and allowed me to explore so many areas that I didn't have previous experience with. From community outreach and building partnerships with for profit & non-profit agencies, to fiscal tasks like evaluating the community’s ROI or making pay scale changes for the benefit of our staff, to creating policies to reinforce our commitment to the pillars of sustainability, it has all helped me have a greater understanding of my role. I highly recommend this process, even to brand new directors because of that. The learning curve is steep for us, but this truly helped scaffold those first months of learning into manageable chunks and I feel like I have a much deeper understanding of the day to day functioning as well as where we are headed in the future due to working through this process.”

Mamakating Library is among a growing number of libraries in North America that are participating in the Sustainable Libraries Certification Program, the first of its kind in the world. They are the twenty-sixth Sustainable Libraries Initiative member to be Certified Sustainable. This benchmarking program was developed to assist libraries of all kinds – public and academic libraries, library systems, and individual school librarians - to create opportunities to make better choices on behalf of the local and global community.

To view their Certification Presentation, click here.