Creating Just Change

In our era of climate crisis, libraries are harbingers of change: places where the circular economy is a case in point; where people and planet are prioritized; where shared spaces and resources are emphasized; and where doing what libraries do best is a powerful illustration of a path towards a just transition. This is a path that we can walk together as libraries and communities to find solutions that can be openly shared and built upon together. Creating Just Change: Frameworks For Human, Environmental, and Economic Cost Visibility in Libraries is a toolkit that explores frameworks beyond growth, such as social return on investment, life cycle assessment, and equity impact assessments. It contains reflection prompts, case studies, and action pathways to facilitate implementation, and opens up these concepts for storytelling, resource contribution, and tool sharing from anyone working in libraries. This toolkit is an invitation to co-create a better future together, starting with libraries.

Authors

Nicole Doro, Teaching and Learning Librarian (she/her), MA, MLIS. McMaster University, Hamilton Ontario Canada

Nicole Doro is an uninvited settler living and working on the traditional territories of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe nations. She is a Teaching and Learning Librarian at McMaster University, where she founded and chaired the McMaster Libraries’ Sustainability Committee from 2020-2025. Her research interests include climate action in academic libraries and open access. Outside of library work, Nicole volunteers with Hamilton350 to enact climate action in her local community, and loves getting her hands dirty in the garden.

Morgan Barker, Sustainability Librarian (she/her), MBA, MLIS. Cal Poly Humboldt, Arcata California USA

Morgan is an academic librarian whose work is centered in elements of sustainability – social justice, environmental care, and thoughtful economic analysis. Morgan has led outdoor education, taught college courses, and worked in global manufacturing/design, bringing over 2 decades of experience in academics and industry. Morgan’s professional practice is informed by many radical frameworks, including intersectional environmentalism, just transitions, slow librarianship and most recently social change mapping. Morgan mentors academic libraries and librarians through AASHE and the SLI Sustainable Libraries Initiative. She is also part of the Humboldt AASHE Center for Sustainability Across the Curriculum, Trillium Project. Morgan’s favorite project is being able to sit on the SHIFT (Sustainable Humboldt Innovative Futures Trust) committee – a place where student fees are distributed by students to fund campus sustainability projects. Morgan loves cold water swims in the crisp waters of the pacific ocean.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Cost Assessment for a Just Transition

Chapter 2: True Cost Assessment

Chapter 3: Life Cycle Assessment

Chapter 4: Carbon Audits, Energy Modeling

Chapter 5: Faculty/Staff and User Surveys

Chapter 6: Cost/Benefit Analysis

Chapter 7: Social Return on Investment

Chapter 8: Equity Impact Assessments

Chapter 9: Case Studies, Pilot Programs

Chapter 10: Time-Driven and Activity-Based Costing