How the ANU Library is working towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The 17^th to 26^th of September 2021 is Global Goals Week – an annual week of action, awareness, and accountability for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The SDGs were established by the United Nations General Assembly and are designed to be “the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all”.

The ANU Library aims to ensure that all our work is contributing to achieving relevant SDGs, and this week we are highlighting some of the ways we are working towards these goals.

Goal 4: Quality education

The ANU Library aims to provide quality education and promote lifelong learning.

During Semester 1 of 2021:

• Over 2.8 million e-resources were accessed through the ANU Library collection.
• Over 1.7 million titles were downloaded from the ANU Press collection.
• Over 10,000 people attended training sessions run by our Digital Literacy, Academic Skills and CartoGIS teams.

Goal 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure

The ANU Library aims to provide appropriate infrastructure and foster innovation.

• The ANU Data Commons - the University’s own data repository - collects, maintains, preserves, promotes and disseminates research data. It was recently upgraded to make the process of data storage more user friendly and intuitive, so more users are able to access it and contribute their research!
• Scholarly Information Services staff came up with many innovative approaches to deliver services and support to the ANU community during the COVID-19 pandemic. This included moving services and training online; increasing access to digital resources; creating new videos and online guides; developing a chatbot; and introducing a click & collect service.

Goal 11: Sustainable communities

The ANU Library aims to ensure our community is inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

• Over 1.6 million items were accessed from the ANU Open Research Repository, and over 23,000 additional works were digitised and made accessible in the repository during Semester 1, 2021.
• Collections being digitised are helping to preserve the history of our communities (local, national and international), including Australian trades; Sydney and NSW country pubs; Pacific Research Archives; and much more.
• The ANU COVID-19 Digital Archive was launched to capture and preserve the ANU community experience of the pandemic through records from staff, students and supporters.

Find out more about the Sustainable Development Goals on the United Nations website.

Read the Sustainable Development Goals: Insights from Research Librariesby University Librarian Roxanne Missingham, published in the International Journal of Librarianship, contextualizing and reporting on initiatives undertaken by libraries in International Alliance of Research Universities that support the framework.