Libraries can and do provide learning and programming opportunities for people who are at-risk from the effects of climate change. Information technology affords new opportunities for the experiences of communities on the frontline of climate change to be heard. However, they must have access to the means of creating content and the training to make effective use of them.
Pedagogy has embraced new modes of learning, such as creating videos, web sites, conducting interviews, and creating physical objects. More specialized services such as data visualization and geographical information systems (GIS) are also increasingly available (Lippincott, 2015). These latter services are particularly useful to documenting the local effects of climate change and other natural hazards (McNutt & Goldkind, 2015, p. 6413). Better funded public libraries may have training for these available. Academic libraries often make these available to the wider public as well.
Other opportunities for teaching and learning abound. For communities monitoring local air and water quality with “cheap sensors paired with cellphones,” libraries could be the ones to provide and host training to build and integrate these devices into local practice (Guldi, 2021, p. 10). They could also create spaces to store and present this data both physically and virtually. Libraries are a key environment for pedagogy, and environment is one of four key factors for learning according to Booth (2011). It includes the physical comforts of an educational space, but also attention to, “cultural elements such as language accessibility and inclusiveness” (p. 45).
However, there are impediments to providing more innovative library programming. Stephens warns of “bureaucratic barriers,” noting that libraries require “inspired and insightful management” to be successful (2014). Leadership—deans, directors, and trustees—must be willing to investigate the needs of their patrons and experiment with innovative learning and programming for them. This requires the vision to adopt new modes of teaching, inclusivity for those who are already typically marginalized, and the daring and willingness to fail.
References
Booth, C. (2011). Reflective teaching, effective learning: Instructional literacy for library educators. American Library Association.
Guldi, J. (2021). What kind of information does the era of climate change require? Climatic Change, 169(1–2), 3. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03243-5
Lippincott, J. (2015). The future for teaching and learning. American Libraries, 46, 3–4. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2015/02/26/the-future-for-teaching-and-learning/
McNutt, J. G., & Goldkind, L. (2015). E-activism. In M. Khosrow-Pour, D.B.A. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology (3rd ed., pp. 6411–6418). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-5888-2.ch629
Stephens, M. (2014). Library as classroom. _Library Journal, (139)_9. https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/library-as-classroom-office-hours