_{^{West Babylon Public Library is Certified Sustainable
                             The Sustainable Libraries Initiative Recognizes West Babylon Public Library as a Leader in Sustainability}}

                  Suffolk County, NY–July 29, 2024–West Babylon Public Library located in West Babylon, NY has been designated as a Certified Sustainable Library through the Sustainable Library Certification Program (SLCP).

West Babylon Public Library began work on the SLCP in February 2022, completing their requirements in the spring of 2024. Tackling action items organized into over a dozen categories, the SLCP helped West Babylon Public Library tell its own story and reinforce itself as a formidable asset to their community.

"Working through the Sustainable Library Certification process has re-shaped our vision for the future as we will continue to strive to be environmentally sound, socially equitable and economically feasible,” said West Babylon Library Director Nancy Evans. “We are grateful to our Board of Trustees for their ongoing support, the SLI, our SLI mentor, Lisa Kropp, and all library staff and community members who helped us achieve our certification. We give special thanks to our staff Green Team, led by Azuree Agnello, for their hard work and commitment to achieving our goal and maintaining sustainable practices." 

West Babylon Public Library took full advantage of the community partnerships available to them and succeeded in extending branches to an impressive variety of local non-profit and for-profit organizations. A great example is their partnership with the Victims Information Bureau to recycle or refurbish old cell phones to be donated to victims of violence, emphasizing the value held for social equity and environmental consciousness. West Babylon also partnered with the Lion’s Club to recycle eyeglasses, a nearby bird sanctuary to reuse outdated newspapers for cage lining, EAP to offer counseling and mental health assistance for library staff, Long Island Cares to collect food pantry items, the Bethpage Federal Credit Union for patron tax assistance, among many others.

On the financial front, the library was able to install an indoor hydroponic garden and replace their building management and HVAC systems through the help of grant money: exemplifying the consideration put into satisfying all three pillars of sustainability with their work. Inside and out, it is evident West Babylon Public Library strives to surpass themselves every day – a virtue that holds the biggest impact on the West Babylon community.

With this achievement, West Babylon Public Library becomes the twenty-fourth public library to become designated as a sustainable library through the SLCP: an award-winning benchmarking system and community of practice 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.

“West Babylon Public Library's staff did a tremendous job in making sure the work they did for certification became embedded into the philosophy and culture of the library, truly transforming the library's role as a leader to the community in sustainable thinking and practices. In fact, they have already identified ‘next steps’ on their sustainability journey, continuing to build upon the important work they achieved through the certification process,” said Lindenhurst Memorial Library Director – and West Babylon’s SLCP mentor – Lisa Kropp.

West Babylon Public Library has no plans to stop moving forward and improving on their goals now that their certification is complete. With several forthcoming advancements on the horizon such as energy-efficient lighting, new waste management services, and the potential installation of a solar paneled roof, West Babylon Public Library’s valiant effort to shift into a sustainable future is making a real difference and will continue to do so for the years to come.

View West Babylon Public Library's Certification Presentation here.