{"id":10818,"date":"2020-11-30T12:23:36","date_gmt":"2020-11-30T20:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bclaconnectrev.wpengine.com\/perspectives\/?p=10818"},"modified":"2025-01-22T11:25:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T19:25:30","slug":"supporting-sustainability-through-liaison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bclaconnect.ca\/perspectives\/2020\/11\/30\/supporting-sustainability-through-liaison\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporting sustainability through liaison"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was originally submitted to BCLA Perspectives in February 2020.<\/em><\/p>\n

Supporting sustainability through liaison<\/strong><\/p>\n

I recently began a new gig as an academic librarian, moving from a corporate law organization. Over the past year I\u2019ve been adjusting to working at an academic institution and focusing on getting to know my subject liaison areas and familiarizing myself with their research, programs, and values.<\/p>\n

One of my subject liaison areas at the University of Victoria is the Gustavson School of Business. Coming in, I knew that one of Gustavson\u2019s four pillars is to be socially responsible and sustainable (Gustavson School of Business, 2019a), but I didn\u2019t truly grasp how integrated that pillar was in every aspect of the school\u2019s operations until I arrived. Joining the Gustavson community has inspired me to explore what I can do differently in my practice as a subject librarian.<\/p>\n

Background <\/u><\/p>\n

Since 2018 the Gustavson School of Business has been a champion of the United Nation\u2019s Principles for Responsible Management Education<\/a> (PRME) which seek to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through responsible management education. PRME champions include a select number of institutions who have radically changed curriculum and research in this area, and serve as examples and guides to PRME signatories (PRME Secretariat, 2020). In addition to faculty research, Gustavson introduces students to social and sustainability topics into all the core courses and specialization programs. Furthermore, the existing MBA program was redesigned and relaunched September 2020 as the new MBA in Sustainable Innovation.<\/p>\n

Gustavson has been measuring its carbon footprint for the last decade and in 2017 started offsetting greenhouse gas emissions for travel and commuting. In 2018 came the launch of the Carbon Offset Pitch Competition<\/em>, in which teams of students from across the business school are given the opportunity to submit carbon offset portfolios. That year the school became one of the first carbon neutral business schools in the world (Gustavson School of Business, 2018). Other initiatives include hosting events, challenges and competitions such as the MIIISsion Impossible <\/em>challenge which has third-year students competing to create a viable business solution to a sustainability issue in an international student\u2019s country of origin (Gustavson School of Business, 2019b). To support all of these initiatives Gustavson relies on their Centre for Social and Sustainable Innovation<\/a> (CSSI).<\/p>\n

Liaison support for sustainability<\/u><\/p>\n

Many of the ways academic librarians can support sustainability initiatives like the ones at Gustavson are already part of a subject librarian\u2019s job:<\/p>\n