Vairo Library

Earth Week – Postcards for Pollinators

Dr. Laura Guertin Activities, Events , ,

Postcards for Pollinators!

For Earth Day/Earth Week, Sustainovation Team member Dr. Laura Guertin joined forces with the Vairo Library for a week-long campaign for protecting our pollinators. The Earth Day Network theme for 2019 was Protect Our Species, and the campus decided to focus specifically on the plight of our threatened pollinators.

Students were allowed to submit their names to online petitions or to write postcards to the EPA to encourage the ban on neonic pesticides that kill pollinators, to write postcards to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to encourage Amazon to stop selling these chemicals, and to write our Pennsylvania Senators to encourage them to support the Pollinator Recovery Act. The Library also hosted a book display on pollinators.

The Postcards for Pollinators event in Vairo Library during Earth Day/Earth Week in spring 2019 supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities, Goal #12 – Responsible Consumption and Production, Goal #15 – Life On Land, and Goal #17 – Partnerships For The Goals.

Postcards for Constitution Day 2018

Dr. Laura Guertin Events , , , ,

For Constitution Day 2018, the Sustainovation Team collaborated with Penn State Brandywine’s Vairo Library and Center for Ethics and Civic Engagement to host opportunities for students to engage in the democratic practices our Constitution affords us. The Center for Ethics and Civic Engagement had a table for voter registration and for people to double-check their registration status. Vairo Library had a book display on the Constitution. And since we at Sustainovation are so passionate about postcard writing, it should be no surprise that the Sustainovation Team staffed a table for students to write postcards to their U.S. and State Senators and Representatives on three different issues – the Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal Act (an ongoing project for us), banning puppy mills in Pennsylvania, and requesting a risk assessment of the Mariner East 2 pipeline coming through our region.

Supporting the Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal Act

Dr. Laura Guertin Events , , ,

The Penn State Brandywine Vairo Library and Sustainovation Team came together to host a special event for students, staff and faculty across campus involving writing postcards for advocacy and education. With two prior campus-wide postcard writing events to show support for the EPA and the Gun Violence Research Act, we found that students are expressing an interest in having additional opportunities to write postcards. Instead of having students wait for us to hold an event, we wanted to make sure students knew where to find materials and resources so they could engage on their own.

We held two sessions on campus to help students with the overall postcard writing process and how to find the contact information for their U.S. and State Congresspeople. Faculty librarian Annie Jansen created a LibGuide for Elections and Adovcacy that will serve as an ongoing reference for students.

At the sessions, we encouraged students to write postcards to support the women of NASA – specifically, the Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal Act. We also shared a new program we are doing with Media Elementary School, helping their first grade students learn about geography and culture from postcards we send them during our travels locally-to-globally.

We look forward to engaging our students more with postcards and advocacy!

 

Library displays during Earth Week 2018

Dr. Laura Guertin Events ,

The Penn State Brandywine Vairo Library has been a consistent partner and supporter of sustainability-themed activities throughout the year. During Earth Week, the Vairo Library staff put two tables on display with books from the library collection. One display is themed around food insecurity (with information about the campus Canstruction University competition) and the other display is for a screening of the movie Bag It.

These Vairo Library book displays during Earth Week in Spring 2018 support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #2 – Zero Hunger and Goal #12 – Responsible Consumption and Production.

Postcards for HR 1478

Dr. Laura Guertin Activities, Events, Sustainovation Club , ,

On March 11, 2018, the Sustainovation Club collaborated with Vairo Library to hold a day-long postcard writing campaign to support research into the gun violence epidemic. On this National School Walkout Day, postcards were available in the Library along with information about H.R. 1478, the Gun Violence Research Act. This bill amends the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 to eliminate the prohibition on the Department of Health and Human Services using federal funds to advocate or promote gun control. The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce – Subcommittee on Health, so we picked up our pens to write to members of the Subcommittee and our local representatives to support this bill and to move it along. As a community, we authored 96 postcards that were sent to Washington DC.

This postcard writing advocacy event in Spring 2018 supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #16 – Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

Library pass now available for Tyler Arboretum

Dr. Laura Guertin Tyler Arboretum ,

We’re thrilled to share that Penn State Brandywine’s Vairo Library now has a library pass to Tyler Arboretum!

Thanks to the coordinated efforts of Reference Librarian Mary Fran McLaughlin and Tyler’s Membership & Annual Giving Manager Caitlin Anello, Vairo Library became the first library to become a “member” and part of Tyler’s new program for libraries.

Anyone with a Penn State ID card can borrow the pass from the library circulation desk. The pass will permit admission to any Penn State student or employee, as well as three guests. The guests do not need to be affiliated with Penn State.

The pass will circulate for three days at a time. This will enable those who might take the pass on Friday to use it during the weekend, with return expected by Monday.

Vairo Library’s goal is to inspire more of the campus community to take advantage of this beautiful arboretum just across the way.