Introduction

In One Way or Another, Everyone Is Connected
as Part of a Living System

This Web site introduces sustainable community development as a process for making choices about the future, identifies three basic dynamics of community, and suggests activities to guide communities and libraries toward becoming sustainable. Possible roles of the library in this dynamic model are introduced to guide future work and discussion, along with some practical suggestions for getting started in sustainable community work.

Look around your library’s community. Try to imagine what life in that community will be like in the year 2100. Many things are possible between now and then. What do you foresee?

More importantly, what could you do today to ensure that your community will be worth working and living in by 2100?

People and Communities: Making Choices

We are who we are today partly because of choices we have made. Some of those choices were made with full knowledge of their consequences. Others had unintended results. Sometimes, by making no choice, the choice was made for us.

Often in communities, choices are made by many different people. Sometimes people are in agreement and sometimes they are at odds. Sometimes people make choices on purpose and sometimes they act without realizing a choice is being made. Sometimes people consider community impact, other times they do not. Important community choices are often made by a few people.

Healthy and prosperous communities do not just happen. The quality and nature of a community are determined by the choices people make over several generations. Just as our grandparents’ choices helped to shape the communities we live in today, our choices will shape the communities where our grandchildren will live.

American Libraries insert

The American Libraries insert is available in PDF format in both English and Spanish. The Spanish-language version also is available as text-only Word file.

PDF files require Adobe Acrobat Reader to be read. Click on the icon to the left to download if necessary.