Gerald R. Beasley, the Carl A. Kroch University librarian at Cornell University, has taken a keen interest in exploring and advocating for approaches that academic libraries can take to advance the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and has written particularly about the intersection of the UN’s goals and those of the open access movement. In Part 1 of a two-part conversation, Timon Oefelein (Senior Manager, Strategic Partnerships and Outreach, Springer Nature), asks Gerald what libraries can do to help advance those goals. (In Part 2, the tables will be turned and Gerald will ask Timon what publishers can do.)
Timon Oefelein: What can libraries do to communicate and advocate the SDGs?
Gerald Beasley: Universities are great places for encountering new ideas, and the best place on campus to do that is the library. Every student, as well as every faculty and staff member, should have the opportunity to learn more about the United Nations and its 17 SDGs through the academic library. We can do this by using our websites and public spaces to bring attention to them. The United Nations makes some great graphics available on its website for such purposes.
Additionally, a good way to add more voices in support of the SDGs is to explicitly and publicly advocate for their inclusion in whatever strategy is adopted by your library and its network partners. The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) has made “the power of libraries in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals” an initiative in its 2019-24 Strategic Plan.
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