Sustainable book supply chain

Lizzie Sparrow

Do you check whether the books you buy are printed on FSC paper? Have you ever considered purchasing second hand books because they are more sustainable? Do you consider a book supplier's sustainability credentials when purchasing books?

Sometimes it can be really hard to find this kind of information and make an informed choice if you want to take sustainability into account when selecting a book supplier. This idea is to advocate for sustainability in the book supply chain and create resources that librarians could use to improve the sustainability of their procurement practices.

I'm sure more ideas could be generated by a group discussion, but for starters this could include:
- Identify aspects of the book supply chain that have (the greatest) impact on sustainability
- Create a sustainability checklist of things to look for in a sustainable book supplier
- Review publishers against checklist, maybe using some sort of scoring system to rate them (cf. Ethical Consumer)
- Advocate for improved sustainability practice in the book publishing industry
- Advocate for increased information on what publishers are doing to improve their sustainability
- Raise awareness of this as an issue in the profession

- Engagement and advocacy with the book publishing industry
- Provide a space to share information and resources
- Lead / host a working group to develop idea/resources?
- Fund / host a sustainability professional to provide expert input?
- Promote outputs