Academic libraries seek to engage people with information resources and maximize use of library spaces. When users increasingly rely on digital rather than print resources, libraries respond by shifting space usage from stacks to user working and reading spaces. How then do we, as academic library professionals, best keep print collections on public view and maximize user engagement?

In this whitepaper, we focus on fostering engagement with print resources among\nlibrary users, particularly with open stack print collections and users within the local community. We advocate moving toward a more flexible, more user-focused service that makes library collections easier to understand and to use. Libraries need to work with their surrounding communities in the further development and presentation of their collections. We offer a flexible, a la carte approach to transforming open stack academic library print collection management. We have developed a three-tiered system of potential approaches and actions for academic libraries to foster engagement with their collections. We also include materials and tools to help guide individual libraries towards a data-driven approach to print curation that may be tailored to their local context. We hope that these approaches and tools aid academic libraries in helping users engage in meaningful dialogues with print resources.

As part of a $50,000 planning grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the analysis is aimed at fostering engagement with print resources among library users, particularly with open stack print collections and users within the local community. "The Future of the Academic Library Print Collection: A Space for Engagement" explores a three-tiered system of potential approaches and actions for academic libraries to foster engagement with their collections, and includes materials and tools to help guide individual libraries towards a data-driven approach to print curation that may be tailored to their local context.

Meatless Monday is an initiative that encourages actionable steps toward the reduction of meat consumption by asking participants to eat meat-free on Mondays. Many organizations, cities, schools, and correctional facilities have implemented Meatless Monday initiatives as a push to improve environmental sustainability, human health, and the welfare of animals. Such initiatives provide an opportunity to educate consumers on the health benefits of a plant-forward diet, the environmental impact of meat production, animal welfare issues, the innovation of non-meat proteins, and to engage stakeholders in gaining more control over their food choices. This report offers a summary of seven Meatless Monday initiatives throughout the U.S., highlighting best practices and notable challenges of implementing and maintaining such an initiative in three different contexts: local government, school systems, and non-profit or volunteer-led organizations. This report was conducted through an extensive look at previous research, news articles, and marketing materials, as well as interviews with stakeholders in six mid-sized U.S. cities.

The Hawaiian Islands are highly reliant on imported foods for feeding residents and visitors alike. This is in part due to a shortage in food processing infrastructure locally that contributes to Hawaiʻi’s inability to process much of its own food products. This study examines the feasibility of increasing food self-sufficiency in the islands through utilizing legacy industrial fruit processing equipment recently acquired by Olohana Foundation, a small 501(c)3 non-profit in Hawaiʻi. This study asks: How can the Olohana Foundation develop their aseptic juicing line to best support increased food self-sufficiency in the islands? Additionally, how can the juicing line be re-deployed in a manner to provide sustainable economic opportunity to producers and other community members? Through interviews with Hawaiʻi food system experts, fruit grower and fruit product buyer surveys, and a review of selected Unites States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Survey (USDA NASS) crop data for Hawaiʻi, our team evaluated the feasibility for re-establishing the juicing line. Our results found that due to the lack of available locally-produced fruits and high start-up and operational costs, it is unlikely that the juicing line can be re-established as it was previously operating, producing papaya and guava juices and purees. However, there is no shortage in demand for locally grown fruit products in Hawaiʻi and there is high interest from producers in joining a grower-owned cooperative. We conclude with several recommendations for the near, medium and long-term. In the near to medium-term, we recommend that the Foundation pursue alternative configurations of the equipment to produce niche Hawaiʻi products for which there is adequate supply, including fermented fruit products. In the long-term, the Foundation should research the potential for sourcing produce from other Pacific-region islands, as well as work at the policy and community levels to increase production of fruits locally, lower costs of production, and lower barriers to organic certification.

Tribes in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) are working to increase First Foods access, heal ecosystems, preserve their cultures, and prepare future generations to culturally manage First Foods landscapes as their ancestors have done for millennia. This paper examines present-day government food system funding and advocates for the integration of tribal governments into funding systems and to address the funding gaps where agricultural funding does not reach First Foods cultures. 

This paper explains how Pacific Northwest First Foods cultures are unique from agricultural tribes in many other regions of the U.S. and explores how funding structures built for individual businesses do not match the cultural and environmental context for First Foods. 

This paper seeks to bring attention to regional funding needs for tribal governments in the Pacific Northwest and contribute to the national Indigenous food policy agenda. Lastly, this paper also seeks to outline the funding discrepancy for tribal governments, spark regional conversations to build consensus around First Foods funding needs, and prepare tribes for potential First Foods funding in the future. 

Based on interviews with staff and leaders from 4 tribal governments, funding policy recommendations were developed that include tribal government capacity building, tribal consultation, cultural resources, outreach, education, workforce development, First Food diet and public health, tribal community infrastructure, Land Back, cultural land management, climate crisis risk-reduction, extinction prevention for rare species, and other unique First Food funding needs.

Thirty years ago, Congress passed the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) as part of the 1990 Farm Bill. The law established strict national standards for organic food and a public-private enforcement program to ensure compliance with the law. Today, the organic industry still faces a number of challenges. This report seeks to address some of these and to provide policy recommendations to better support the growing organic industry and its positive impacts on human health, on the economy, and on climate.