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libraries
Beyond Books: Libraries Are Climate-Resilient Community Infrastructure
Libraries are indispensable not only for climate and informational literacy but also as valuable hubs for creating community solutions to our planet’s most pressing problems.
Dec 20, 2025
If you’re a parent, caregiver, or family member hoping to save a few bucks this holiday season due to our country’s affordability crisis, you’re not alone.
As a lifelong educator and author who practically grew up in libraries, I can offer you a great tip: Skip the malls this season and take kids to the local library. Within their walls awaits an exciting world of lessons and self-empowerment for your child. They can borrow books or even movies for free. More than that, libraries have become ground zero for climate change education and serve as essential hubs for community resilience and civic engagement.
As a former public school teacher, a professor, and the author of two books on climate change and environmental justice education, public libraries were essential to my success. Growing up, I was that kid who was friends with the librarian. As an introverted student, the public library and school library were places of refuge where I found joy in the world of books. Memories of friendly librarians who encouraged my insatiable curiosity and quest for knowledge are among the many reasons I became an educator.
Here are three ways to get the most out of your local library:
Repair and Reuse
I always tell my students that you don’t need the newest “gadgets” to make a meaningful impact. I know that many parents, caregivers, and families are struggling with inflation and the rising costs of goods, especially as the holidays approach. One of the easiest remedies is to repair rather than replace, which is a climate change solution because it reduces waste sent to landfills.
Instead of buying more, fixing damaged or broken belongings like clothes, furniture, and electronics can teach new skills, foster self-reliance, and build connections with family or the community. For example, some meaningful childhood memories were fixing my toys with my dad and learning how to use tools, which sparked my interest in STEM education and sustainability.
Instead of asking what to buy kids, think about what new information and skills they can be taught.
Many public libraries, makerspaces, and city sustainability offices offer “Repair Cafes,” or “Fix-It Clinics,” that feature hands-on and intergenerational events where people can bring in their broken items, and repair coaches provide instructions on how to fix them. Events have occurred in Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Albuquerque, New York, and San Diego. See if any events are happening in your community. Additionally, if you’re already handy and have repair skills, libraries around the world offer tool lending programs. You can search for a library near you to borrow a kit.
Public Earth Observatories
Learners of all ages can take action on climate change and explore their backyard, community, or neighborhood. Libraries also serve as public Earth observatories. To be a neighborhood or backyard scientist, you can also visit a library.
Neighborhood science, also known as Citizen Science or Community Science, comes alive when ordinary people of any age gather scientific information locally and share it with the global scientific community. For example, with a library card, you can check out a citizen science kit that has all of the necessary tools to explore biodiversity, observe cloud patterns, and monitor air quality.
Libraries around the country have citizen science kits, including the Los Angeles Public Library, the Maricopa County Library District, the Pima County Public Library, the Morgantown Public Library System, the Edwardsville Public Library, and the Longwood Public Library. Families and caregivers can even practice their skills and gear up to participate in Audubon’s legendary Christmas Bird Count that occurs every December, and is the nation’s longest-running community science bird count. Libraries have stepped in to fill a critical gap in climate literacy and community resilience during the climate emergency. However, libraries are also being targeted by the Trump administration.
Climate Change Action
The Trump administration has a clearly established anti-information agenda. The long and expanding list includes book bans and information censorship; attacks on cultural and educational institutions that teach the truth about American history; attempts to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which provides significant funding to libraries nationwide; and firing the librarian of Congress, the nation’s top librarian. Librarians at federally operated presidential libraries have been fired, like at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.
Funding public libraries also helps finance city and county sustainability efforts. Libraries are climate resilience hubs, and libraries across the country serve as community cooling centers amid rising temperatures associated with climate change. Amid the heatwaves that have impacted Los Angeles over the past several years, I’ve visited some Los Angeles Public Library locations for a reprieve from triple-digit heat.
Libraries are also disaster recovery hubs. As a result, climate action groups, fire departments, emergency management agencies, and local businesses can also rally to demonstrate the value of public libraries to the community’s sustainability plans. Advocacy groups can also lobby state and regional representatives. Libraries are indispensable not only for climate and informational literacy but also as valuable hubs for creating community solutions to our planet’s most pressing problems.
Instead of asking what to buy kids, think about what new information and skills they can be taught: The climate crisis needs more innovative, creative, and community-driven solutions, and libraries are primed to help.
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The Librarian’s Call: Documenting Is Resistance
History is protected by those who collect, preserve, and share the facts.
Nov 02, 2025
We are living through a period of profound uncertainty and systemic challenge—where erasure of truth and history is not only possible, but actively underway.
As a librarian, I bear witness not only to the crisis but to the opportunity: History is protected by those who collect, preserve, and share the facts, and the archive becomes a battleground where every saved photograph, flyer, email, playlist, program, and story is an act of resistance.
Let this be painfully clear: The future will only remember what is preserved today, and the choice is between standing by as stories are diluted or destroyed—or fighting for the record, for the archive, and for the truth with steady, everyday work that anyone can participate in. The war over narrative is here, and ownership of legacy cannot be outsourced, because no one else will know the names, dates, slang, inside jokes, or quiet heroism that define a community’s life.
Sometimes it feels like things are coming apart, and if attention is not paid now, stories—who people are and what has been seen—might disappear for good.
If the caring comes too late, the evidence may already be gone, which is why telling stories and saving the truth matters not just for now but for those who inherit the consequences and possibilities.
The old Jay Z line, “Nobody wins when the family feuds,” lands because silence inside a community becomes absent in the archive, which later becomes absent in the official story, in classrooms, policy, and memory itself.
Are we prepared to wake up only when it is too late, when the consequences directly affect our own families, our block, our congregation, our civic clubs, our schools?
Understand this: It is already impacting daily life, and the fight for story and legacy is happening right now, whether it is acknowledged or not.
History shows that those who seek to erase, distort, or control a people’s story often target libraries, archives, teachers, records, and public forums first.
Even in times of repression, clandestine diaries, underground newsletters, and quietly kept ledgers ensured truths could be reconstructed later, and that same imperative presses upon the present: Document clearly, share responsibly, preserve redundantly, and hold the line until silence cannot take root.
If the caring comes too late, the evidence may already be gone, which is why telling stories and saving the truth matters not just for now but for those who inherit the consequences and possibilities.
Some systems are actively reshaping what counts as “official,” especially where histories of self-defense, mutual aid, organizing, and everyday cultural brilliance live, and if those are not written down, recorded, and stored safely, they can be excluded from the record that shapes future understanding and power.
This is not about one person or one group—it is about building a durable, collective record that includes the messy parts, the small details, the contradictions, and the joy.
Recordkeepers, librarians, archivists, genealogists, teachers, artists, and elders carry a heavy responsibility, but this work is also neighborly, teachable, and doable at kitchen tables, barbershops, churches, community centers, and school hallways.
If there is one takeaway, it is this: If the future matters, start saving things now, even if imperfectly. Write the story, label the photo, date the flyer, back up the voice memo, and share what is known in forms that can travel, be understood, and be retrieved later.
Start small and steady: one labeled photo, one recorded memory, one folder that makes sense to someone else tomorrow, and one backup in a safe place, repeated week after week until a living archive appears.
Because nobody wins if silence is allowed to do the writing, and the time to act is right now so that the record stands, speaks, and protects those who come next.
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Judge Strikes Down Unconstitutional Parts of Arkansas Law Targeting Librarians
"The court has safeguarded the right of every Arkansan to access ideas and information without fear of censorship or prosecution," said the ACLU of Arkansas legal director.
Dec 24, 2024
In a blow to right-wing efforts to ban books and criminalize librarians, a federal judge on Monday struck down key provisions of an Arkansas law as unconstitutional—though the fight is far from over, with the Republican state attorney general planning to appeal.
Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed Act 372 in March 2023. A few months later, U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks temporarily blocked implementation of Sections 1 and 5 of the law—and on Monday, he ruled against them in a 37-page order.
Section 1 threatened Arkansas librarians and booksellers with up to a year in jail for providing minors with access to "harmful" materials. Brooks wrote that "if the General Assembly's purpose in passing Section 1 was to protect younger minors from accessing inappropriate sexual content in libraries and bookstores, the law will only achieve that end at the expense of everyone else's First Amendment rights."
"The law deputizes librarians and booksellers as the agents of censorship; when motivated by the fear of jail time, it is likely they will shelve only books fit for young children and segregate or discard the rest. For these reasons, Section 1 is unconstitutionally overbroad," added the judge, who also found the provision "unconstitutionally vague."
Section 5 created a process for challenging books in public libraries that critics called burdensome. Brooks found the provision unconstitutional because it is problematically vague and "unnecessarily imposes content-based restrictions on protected speech."
The state's Republican leaders plan to keep pushing for the law. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said in a statement to The Associated Press that "I respect the court's ruling and will appeal," and Huckabee Sanders vowed to work with him on that effort.
"This victory over totalitarianism is a testament to the courage of librarians, booksellers, and readers who refused to bow to intimidation."
Meanwhile, the broad coalition that took on Act 372—including booksellers, librarians, patrons, and professional associations—celebrated their latest legal victory, which comes as right-wing policymakers in other states work to force through similar policies.
"This was an attempt to 'thought police,' and this victory over totalitarianism is a testament to the courage of librarians, booksellers, and readers who refused to bow to intimidation," ACLU of Arkansas executive director Holly Dickson said in a statement. "Arkansans deserve a state where intellectual freedom thrives, and this ruling ensures that libraries remain sanctuaries for learning and exchange of ideas and information."
John Williams, the group's legal director, declared that "this ruling reaffirms what we have said all along—Act 372 is a dangerous and unconstitutional attack on free expression."
"Our libraries and bookstores are critical spaces for learning, exploration, and connection," Williams added. "By striking down these provisions, the court has safeguarded the right of every Arkansan to access ideas and information without fear of censorship or prosecution."
Democracy Forward also represented some members of the coalition battling the law, including the Arkansas Library Association.
"Laws like Arkansas' that seek to threaten librarians and booksellers with jail simply for doing their job are dangerous for people, communities, and our democracy," said Democracy Forward president and CEO Skye Perryman in a statement. "Our team is honored to represent librarians in Arkansas to stop this attempt to impede the freedom to read and we will meet further attempts in Arkansas and elsewhere with legal challenge."
Leaders of the American Booksellers Association, Association of American Publishers, Authors Guild, Freedom to Read Foundation, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, WordsWorth Books, Pearl's Books, and WordsWorth Books said in a joint statement that "together with librarians, authors, publishers, booksellers, and readers everywhere, we applaud the court's carefully crafted decision upholding the constitutional right to access books."
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