February 2023
“Libraries model sustainability”: The results of an OCLC survey on library contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals
by Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Brooke Doyle, Christopher Cyr, Peggy Gallagher, Joanne Cantrell
A survey of more than 1700 library staff worldwide identifies how libraries contribute to five of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The similarities between academic and public libraries’ adoption, contribution, and use of the Sustainable Development Goals are reported. The results indicate that library staff do substantial work around all five of the selected Sustainable Development Goals. Sometimes the activities are a result of integrating the Sustainable Development Goals into strategic planning, but at other times the activities are a result of programming that library staff undertake as part of their mission. The majority of the respondents have not incorporated the Sustainable Development Goals into their strategic planning. However, the libraries’ support of the Sustainable Development Goals is demonstrated by the activities the library staff are engaged in and the respondents’ comments. The activities identified here can be used to inform library strategic planning and to help library staff maximize their library’s impact on sustainable development.
This postprint is published in IFLA Journal, an international journal publishing peer-reviewed articles on library and information services and the social, political, and economic issues that impact access ot information through libraries.
Quick Links
Connaway, Lynn Silipigni, Brooke Doyle, Christopher Cyr, Peggy Gallagher, and Joanne Cantrell. 2023. “'Libraries Model Sustainability': The Results of an OCLC survey on Library Contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals." IFLA Journal. 0(0) https://doi.org/10.1177/03400352221141467.