Read More

Sustainability projects at the Emory Libraries, Emory Center for Digital Scholarship, & Michael C. Carlos Museum are in full bloom this summer.

A native Georgia plant species pollinator garden in front of the Robert W. Woodruff Library, established by the Emory Libraries & Museum Environmental Sustainability Committee (ELMESC) in 2024 with support from Emory’s Office of Sustainability Initiatives, is in peak season—perfect for a break or lunch outside. Watch for our pollinator visitors including butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. We are currently improving our plant identification markers and are excited to introduce a virtual tour of the garden with more information about each species including links to the Emory Herbarium.

Bees enjoying Joe-Pye Weed, a native pollinator plant.

Bumble bee feeding on Butterfly Milkweed.

A second library pollinator-friendly garden is located outside of the Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center Library. From the library entrance, head right around the side of the building, toward service vehicle parking. You can even enjoy this garden through the window on a rainy or particularly hot day by booking the Wellness Room at the library service desk. Learn more about the WHSC Library pollinator garden here.

For Earth Month, the committee held its April meeting outside in the garden, politely pestering passers-by to share news of the garden and hand out packets of wildflower seeds for people to plant their own gardens.

Offering a wildflower seed packet to visitors on Earth Day.

For the Rose Library Sustainability Committee, 2025 marked a seminal moment for archivists to reflect on their role in advancing climate justice and environmental sustainability through archival practices. Eira Tansey, a distinguished archivist and researcher specializing in climate change impacts on archives and cultural heritage, led a series of watershed-themed sessions, “Watersheds: Critical Moments for Archives and the Environment,” including a keynote, reading group, and documentation strategies workshop. Learn more about this committee and watch the keynote here.

Emory’s Office of Sustainability Initiatives has been working to increase composting and recycling on campus and divert waste from landfills. Teaching new students how to sort waste correctly into the multicolored bins provided in various buildings around campus has been one of the ongoing components and challenges of implementing this goal. ELEMSC hopes to provide engaging ways for students to learn how to sort their trash and recycling into the appropriate bins. We’re planting the seeds of a new and entertaining option.

During the 2027 spring semester, we will be partnering with the Kennesaw State University Department of Software Engineering and Game Development. Kennesaw State computer game design and development students will work with us over the course of the spring semester to develop a free educational game in which the player gains points through correctly sorting trash, compostable items, and recycling into the correct bins.  We hope that winning the game will be fun and also a win for sustainability.

ELMESC members include: Laura Akerman, Ruth Martin Allen, Joanna Mundy, Sara Nazarian, Julie Newton, Ryan Nock, and James Steffen.

—by James Steffen, subject librarian for Film and Media Studies, Theater, and Interdisciplinary Studies