About
MAPLEWOOD LIBRARY SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability Policy
Mission:
We connect people to information, ideas, culture—and each other. We are open to all.
Strategic Initiative:
Create a transformative, smart and sustainable space for our community.
Maplewood Memorial Library is the center of its resilient and sustainable community. In 2023, the Library joined the Sustainable Libraries Initiative (SLI) through the New Jersey Library Association. The SLI provides libraries with a step-by-step process to implement sustainable decisions that are guided by the Triple Bottom Line philosophy for sustainability: they are environmentally sound, socially equitable, and economically feasible.
Employee knowledge and involvement are essential to the implementation of this policy. The Library Board of Trustees and Administration encourage staff to be proactive and apply sustainable thinking in all areas of work, both inside and outside its buildings. All employees will receive a copy of this policy and any training necessary to participate in the Library’s sustainability efforts. By participating in this program, the Library demonstrates its commitment to sustainability through its policies, practices and partnerships. We aim to create partnerships, policies and procedures which make our community resilient and strong.
Our Practices:
Lending and sharing books is the backbone of both Library service and sustainable practice. Our collection development librarians curate our collections to meet the needs of our community. We are mindful in our purchasing, and actively build and maintain a collection of books and resources focused on the environment and sustainability. We are committed to purchasing and distributing sustainable prizes and rewards for our reading programs across departments.
Maplewood Memorial Library will be the first LEED Gold Certified building in Maplewood and the first LEED Gold Library in New Jersey. LEED Gold is one of the highest levels of energy efficiency awarded to buildings. As such, the new Library will be all electric and have a solar array on the roof that supplies 59% of the Library’s energy needs. The Hilton Branch Library shares in the Library’s sustainability practices. In 2012 the Township completed the Hilton Rain Garden adjacent to the Hilton Branch Library. Each year, 200,000 gallons of stormwater runoff from the library’s roof and parking lot into the rain garden. The garden is planted with native plants. Both library buildings have electric charging stations and bike racks, and are walkable to public transportation. These features offer opportunities for sustainability education, and mark our first steps in sustainable practices.
Our Partnerships:
The Library seeks to partner with presenters, performers and agencies that support us in our effort to inform, educate and contribute to sustainable practices, and we have the full support of Maplewood Township in joining the Sustainable Libraries Initiative.
The Township of Maplewood, or Sustainable Maplewood, received silver certification from Sustainable Jersey, the highest certification attainable. Maplewood is committed to sustainability and has infused its principles, practices and initiatives throughout its policies, ordinances and programs for over a decade. The Library will partner with Sustainable Maplewood, which coordinates the planning and execution of community-based, municipal and intergovernmental sustainability projects.
Approved October 17, 2024, by the Library Board of Trustees.