SRRT, SustainRT, AILA, APALA welcome Bill McKibben to ALA Annual Conference

CHICAGO – Acclaimed environmentalist, activist and author Bill McKibben will be speaking at the American Library Association (ALA) 2017 Annual Meeting and Exhibits in Chicago from 1 - 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 24 in an event co-sponsored by ALA’s Social Responsibilities (SRRT) and Sustainability (SustainRT) Round Tables, the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) and the American Indian Library Association (AILA). The title of Mr. McKibben’s talk will be “Imagining a World That Works – In Time to Prevent a World that Doesn’t.”

Named by the Boston Globe as “probably America’s most important environmentalist,” Bill McKibben has written over a dozen books, including his 1989 book, The End of Nature, which is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change and has appeared in 24 languages. He is a founder of 350.org, the first planet-wide, grassroots climate change movement, which has organized 20,000 rallies around the world in every country save North Korea, spearheaded the resistance to the Keystone Pipeline and launched the fast-growing fossil fuel divestment movement.

The Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, McKibben was the 2013 winner of the Gandhi Prize and the Thomas Merton Prize and holds honorary degrees from 18 colleges and universities. Foreign Policy named him to their inaugural list of the world’s 100 most important global thinkers.

This event is free and open to all attendees of ALA Annual Conference. To learn more, please visit www.alaannual.org.

The ALA Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) is a unit within the American Library Association. It works to make ALA more democratic and to establish progressive priorities not only for the association, but also for the entire profession. Concern for human and economic rights was an important element in the founding of SRRT and remains an urgent concern today. SRRT believes that libraries and librarians must recognize and help solve social problems and inequities to carry out their mandate to work for the common good and bolster democracy. SRRT’s main website is hosted at libr.org/SRRT.

The ALA Sustainability Round Table (SustainRT) is a venue in which members exchange ideas and opportunities regarding sustainability in order to move toward a more equitable, healthy and economically viable society. The mission of the organization is to provide resources for the library community to support sustainability through curriculum development; collections; exhibits; events; advocacy, communication, library buildings and space design. SustainRT is open to all ALA members and includes both individual members and organizational members.

An affiliate of the American Library Association (ALA), the American Indian Library Association is a membership action group that addresses the library-related needs of American Indians and Alaska Natives. Members are individuals and institutions interested in the development of programs to improve Indian library, cultural, and informational services in school, public, and research libraries on reservations. AILA is also committed to disseminating information about Indian cultures, languages, values, and information needs to the library community.

The Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) is a professional library organization dedicated to cultivating Asian Pacific American leadership through mentorship and professional engagement, advancing social justice, and providing opportunities for dialogue and networking to promote the needs of APA professionals and those who serve APA communities. APALA is an affiliate of the American Library Association and maintains a separate membership base. More information about APALA can be found at www.apalaweb.org