Academic librarians and library staff are a bridge between the vast world of knowledge and the needs of students, faculty, and researchers. “Librarian Luminaries” is a new column which will feature a different librarian each month who has had a recent notable achievement, implemented a new idea or approach in their library, who is a trail blazer, or who is an overall exemplary model of service, scholarship and innovation . If you would like to nominate a librarian or library staff to be featured in this column, please reach out to us at info@charleston-hub.com.

By Caroline Goldsmith (Associate Director, Charleston Hub)

We’re happy to feature this interview with Sarah Tribelhorn, Sciences and Sustainability Librarian, San Diego State University, as this month’s Librarian Luminaries column!

ATG: Hi, Sarah! Can you share a little bit with us about your background and education?

ST: I come from a research background, with a Master of Science in Ichthyology and Fisheries Science. For the first 15 years of my career, I worked as an information specialist for National Inquiry Services Center (NISC SA) in South Africa (that was, at the time, headquartered in Fort Collins, CO). NISC specialized in publishing African journals, databases, and books. I worked specifically as an indexer, and created metadata for the database Fish, Fisheries, and Aquatic Biodiversity Worldwide (FFAB). I then transitioned to freelance scientific editing, specifically enhancing manuscripts of non-English speaking clients to help them publish their research in mainstream English-language journals. 

ATG: What made you decide to go to library school or drew you towards librarianship? 

ST: I was searching for something that I could do with the skills I have accumulated through my different experiences, and have always been passionate about information and science literacy, and so library school on an academic librarian track seemed a really good fit. It was also a full circle moment for me, as I worked in grad school in the South African Institute of Aquatic Sciences library, and worked closely with the librarian, who then transitioned into the Director for NISC SA, and offered me a job after graduation, effectively starting my career as an information professional!

ATG: Can you tell us more about your role as a sciences and sustainability librarian at San Diego State University and what your day to day work entails?  

ST: As the Sciences and Sustainability Librarian, my daily activities are a dynamic mix of academic support, resource management, and environmental advocacy. A significant portion of my day involves instruction and research assistance for students and faculty in my liaison subjects: Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Physics, and Sustainability, ensuring they have the information literacy skills needed for success. I’m also responsible for the development and management of print and digital collections in these science fields, with a strong focus on open access resources. I often find myself leading the Library Green Team, strategizing with campus partners on new sustainability initiatives, and collaborating within the library to implement sustainable practices within the library's operations and programming. Beyond the campus, I’m engaged with community partners to deliver sustainability and climate information literacy, and participatory science programs.

ATG: Does your background in Ichthyology and Fisheries Science and your knowledge of delicate ecosystems help bring about or influence your work to drive towards greater sustainability in your library (reducing waste and energy conservation)?  

ST: Absolutely! Sustainability goes deeper than the environmental aspects; and also includes social equity and economic feasibility as being fundamental to sustainability. On reflection, my research was focused on environmental justice (which I did not realize at the time). My research goal was to provide guidelines, based on extensive fisheries surveys of the river and floodplain lakes, to restore a natural flood regime to the Phongolo floodplain in South Africa. The floodplain was negatively impacted by the Pongolopoort Dam that was originally built in 1973 to support upstream agriculture. There was little consideration of the downstream impacts on the local underrepresented communities that relied on the river for not only water, but for their fish source needed for survival. Water was historically released from the dam during winter, when the normal flood regime would be summer. This had severely negative consequences for not only the natural environment but also for the communities relying on these resources. This had a profound impact on me, and ever since I have been searching for equitable and sustainable solutions as a common thread throughout my work, from making databases more accessible, to making research more accessible and inclusive, to advocating for more sustainable practices in libraries.

ATG: You organize a Sustainability Committee in your library. Can you tell us about this, who participates and what your goals are? What are some achievements so far? 

ST: The Sustainability Committee (Green Team) was catalyzed through a project the library did on mapping the work in the library to the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which highlighted a gap and need in the library to formalize sustainability related work. The green team comprises members from administration, faculty, and staff and, in the fall, we are hoping to include student representatives. Our first big goal was to benchmark sustainability in the library, so we enrolled and have now completed the Sustainable Libraries Initiative Certification Program (SLCP). Projects on the horizon will be to work with our administration on developing a comprehensive Disaster Management Plan, as well as a Sustainability Hub in the library, modeled on that from Binghamton University. We publish monthly newsletters that are hosted in Sustainability in the SDSU Library, along with all things related to our committee, and try to host workshops quarterly that highlight some of the initiatives we have been involved in. 

ATG: Can you tell us about the Citizen Science Projects that you’ve been doing and how involved the students have been? What have been some other recent successful services, initiatives or programs that you have offered to the community or university? 

ST: Essentially we are facilitators of citizen or participatory science projects that are happening on campus. We do not host any of the projects ourselves, but highlight projects that are happening on our campus, or in our community, with input from our students, staff, and faculty. We have focused on Citizen Science month, with support from SciStarter, feeding into their #OneMillionActsofScience. This year, for the San Diego City Nature Challenge, we collaborated with students from the San Diego State University Biodiversity Museum for iNaturalist workshops as the students are involved in this initiative by volunteering as expert species identifiers. The aim of these citizen science initiatives is to make science open and inclusive to anyone wanting to participate. 

Our workshops are aimed to provide some fun and education around the topic of sustainability and climate. Other successful workshops we have held include a ‘T-shirts-to-Totes’ workshop for Earth Day, highlighting the importance of upcycling; Sustainable Gift Wrapping around the Holidays; and a Digital Declutter workshop emphasizing the environmental impact of our digital footprint, and providing solutions, including the mental health benefits of decluttering.

Some of our broader community collaborations include those with the San Diego Circuit, a consortium of academic and public libraries, focused on bringing social change to our communities through a series of author talks and programming related to combating health misinformation and climate equity.

ATG: We see that just last week, you were welcomed as an advisory board member to the Sustainable Libraries Initiative, which is for both public and academic libraries as well as individuals. What are some of your duties in this role? What do you hope to accomplish by being an advisor? 

ST: I am honored to serve on the Sustainable Libraries Initiative (SLI) Advisory Board, where I will advocate for libraries that want to adopt environmentally sound, socially equitable, and economically feasible practices. My role involves raising awareness of SLI’s goals and achievements, mentoring libraries on best practices in sustainable librarianship, and helping to mobilize the SLI’s resources.  Through my work for SLI and the American Library Association (ALA) Sustainability Roundtable (SustainRT) as their coordinator this year, I aim to be an ambassador for successful sustainability initiatives in academic libraries, empowering all libraries to tell their stories. Libraries are inherently engaged in sustainable work, and I’m eager to help them share their stories and knowledge with others to help build resilient communities. 

ATG: There are still many states with no membership representation  (Including the state where I live) in the SLI. What do you feel can be done to help gain support in libraries and individuals within these states and help get them on board with this initiative? What are some ways that libraries  can “go greener” that are economically feasible?

ST: To foster broader adoption of the SLI in currently unrepresented states, strategic outreach is crucial, focusing on leveraging existing libraries and library networks that have success with SLI, showcasing the tangible benefits and success stories of "green" initiatives, and providing accessible entry points like freely available webinars. SLI and ALA’s SustainRT have many free resources on their respective websites, with ideas of low entry, low cost programming and initiatives. Tailoring messages to local environmental concerns and diverse library types, alongside direct relationship-building with library leaders, is also key. Concurrently, libraries can embark on economically feasible "greener" practices such as optimizing energy use through LED lighting and HVAC adjustments, implementing comprehensive recycling and waste reduction programs, conserving water with low-flow fixtures, promoting digital collections, and engaging communities through sustainability-focused programming and "Library of Things" initiatives. Not all libraries have the options of these but, for example, if your library is going to be renovated, in the planning process, include some of these “greener” options to save money, as well as supporting the sustainability goals in the future. 

ATG: Switching gears here a little- you recently wrote articles on Assessing AI and the resulting energy usage and also fair use in AI with assessing ethical and social equity concerns. What are your views on the use of AI in libraries and how we should educate incoming students on the use of AI in their work? Do you feel threatened by AI or see it as a good tool to have in the toolbox and the need for upskilling with faculty?  

ST: I have many views on the use of AI in libraries - but not necessarily all negative! I feel strongly that we should be providing comprehensive AI literacy training to our students, so they can critically assess the tools they are using. I don’t feel threatened by AI as I consider it a tool, depending on its application. I do think there needs to be more education and literacy on how to critically assess specific tools, and we should not only focus on our students, but also our faculty and staff to ensure they are also critical of specific tools, as well as the implications of using AI regarding the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of these tools. We currently have a taskforce in our library to develop an internal AI policy that will help our employees to critically assess the tools they are planning on using, and I feel that all libraries should develop something like this, or follow the ACRL toolkit and guidelines. 

ATG: What’s a major challenge you have faced in your role in librarianship and how did you overcome it?

ST: Challenges I have faced include doing work that is not necessarily considered typically “academic librarian" work, which includes the sustainability work I am pursuing, as well as the citizen science programming. These have mostly been carried out by public libraries, so my challenge has been getting the buy-in and support to show that this work is equally important for academic libraries, and can be done in conjunction with the typical work that someone in my role does, such as research support and information literacy instruction.  

ATG: What does “Librarianship Elevated” Mean to you?

ST: I think of “Librarianship Elevated” as librarianship beyond traditional perceptions of what we think librarianship is, or perhaps what it traditionally was, to playing a more proactive, influential, and essential role to build resilient communities. So, a shift from being custodians of information to becoming dynamic leaders, educators, and community builders. 

ATG: Is there anything that we didn’t ask you about that you’d like to talk about here? 

ST: I do want to say that I am doing this work on the backs of many who have come before me: ALA’s SustainRT was founded more than 10 years ago, and the SLI has been doing the work since at least 2014. I have so many role models and mentors in the field that are too many to list. I feel a personal responsibility to be continuing the momentum of what many of these folks started. I think there is more urgency than ever to be doing climate-related work and telling the story, and that this work touches all of our jobs, no matter where we work in libraries. 

ATG: Is there something that you enjoy doing in your “spare time” or a hobby that you enjoy that you want to share with us ?    

ST: I love spending time in my garden seeing it evolve, and am constantly in awe of nature-I find it grounding and therapeutic. I have also always loved running to clear my mind, and have recently embraced triathlons to test my endurance, learning my biggest challenge isn’t my body, but my mind telling me to quit!

ATG: Thank you so much, Sarah, for taking the time to talk with us, and for sharing insight into your experiences at your library. We know you are very busy. We really appreciate it!

If you would like to nominate a librarian or library staff to be featured in this column, please reach out to us at info@charleston-hub.com.