Greetings,

I am hoping that listserv members can help with introductions to two to three librarians who are dealing with collection development in the emerging field of sustainability. I know it’s new because the Library of Congress was unable properly to catalog my company’s Encyclopedia of Sustainbility. In fact, they miscataloged it and we had a long and frustrating correspondence before finally getting things sorted out. (Getting the LOC to admit to having made a mistake wasn’t easy!) Sustainability is now being taught across the curriculum, in engineering, design, communications, business, as well as in environmental studies, earth and life sciences, and the social sciences. This presents new selection challenges, as does any emerging and interdisciplinary field. I’d like to find people who can tell us about the challenges they face and solutions they’ve come up with, ideally in an article and also in a panel discussion at Charleston.

I also want to find someone to address what journalists refer to as “advocacy” and what the general public generally calls “political correctness.” How does the politicizing of environmental issues, and events like the so-called Climategate http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/08/science/earth/08climate.html influence how students and researchers view scientific analysis (and publications)?

We have found librarians to help with articles on operations and facilities, and I’ve been writing a lot about the environmental impact of electronic and print publishing (UKSG Serials most recently http://uksg.metapress.com/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&backto=issue,10,22;journal,2,69;linkingpublicationresults,1:107730,1 as a follow-up to my UKSG News op-ed http://www.ringgold.com/UKSG/si_pd.cfm?Pid=10&Articleid=5018&XSection=Business&issueno=208), so I can handle that with the help of some of the Encyclopedia of Sustainability author. But I welcome your suggestion of colleagues who have special knowledge and experience related to sustainability �C we’re open to other ideas for articles.

Bill Siever (bill@berkshirepublishing.com) is the editor at Berkshire coordinating this effort, and of course we’ll both be delighted to hear from you!

Okay, back to the World Cup! I’m rooting for the Netherlands, by the way, in solidarity with my Beijing pal Matthias Wahl, formerly of Brill, whom I met when we were asked to do a panel together at the Fiesole Retreat in Hong Kong in 2007.

Cheers, Karen.

Karen CHRISTENSEN, CEO
+1 413 528 0206 | Fax +1 413 541 0076 | Skype: karen_christensen
karen@berkshirepublishing.com
Blog: www.berkshirepublishing.com/blog
Twitter: www.twitter.com/karenchristenze
--
This Is China: The first 5,000 years 瞧这是中国 http://www.berkshirepublishing.com/brw/product.asp?projID=2010 is a 120-page paperback distilled from the Berkshire Encyclopedia of China, which, in 2,754 pages and 5 lavishly illustrated volumes, provides a complete education about China past, present, and future. Read Jeffrey Wasserstrom's review at Forbes.com: http://blogs.forbes.com/china/2010/05/24/this-is-china-the-first-5000-years/.
--
Please consider the environmental impact of printing, forwarding, & storing emails. Going paperless isn’t necessarily green! Look to Berkshire’s Encyclopedia of Sustainability for current, authoritative information on business innovations, natural resources, ecosystem management, and global cooperation: http://www.berkshirepublishing.com/brw/Product.asp?projID=62.