The Olive Free Library has earned a national sustainability certification after a three-year effort to reduce its environmental impact, strengthen its finances, and make its services more accessible.
The Sustainable Libraries Initiative awarded the designation on Aug. 24, making Olive the 36th public library to complete its certification program. The initiative evaluates libraries in three areas: environmental stewardship, economic feasibility, and social equity.
Library Director Melissa McHugh began pursuing the certification shortly after joining the library in 2023. Olive became the third library in the Mid-Hudson Library System to earn the designation.
“I believe our membership in the Sustainable Library Initiative is essential because it gives us guidance on how to reduce our environmental impact and create more efficient, resilient, and cost-effective library operations,” McHugh said in an email. “It also provides an opportunity to educate and engage our patrons around sustainability and demonstrate how libraries can be leaders in building stronger, healthier, and more sustainable communities.”
As part of the effort, the library replaced plastic water bottles with recycled cups and a water dispenser, switched to cleaning products certified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s BioPreferred Program, and installed a drainage system to redirect stormwater runoff. It also joined the Hudson Valley Community Air Network, which provides neighborhood-level air quality readings.
The certification’s financial requirements proved to be the “biggest lift,” McHugh said in March. The library had relied on grants to help pay operating expenses and sought a more dependable source of revenue.
In November, voters approved a nearly 50% increase in the library’s annual public funding, to $289,642, by a 1,211–698 vote. The additional revenue helped the library reduce its reliance on grants and pay all staff members a living wage.
The library plans to seek voter approval for its funding each year, allowing it to maintain a sustainable operating budget and continue paying its staff a living wage.
The certification also recognized the library’s efforts to expand access. In September 2025, it opened a branch in Shokan to serve residents on the opposite side of the Ashokan Reservoir from its main location in West Shokan. About 90% of the branch’s collection came from the main library or was purchased through other libraries’ book sales.
The Sustainable Libraries Initiative was founded in 2015 by Rebekkah Smith Aldrich, executive director of the Mid-Hudson Library System, and Matthew Bollerman, then president of the New York Library Association. They envisioned libraries as models for community responses to climate change.
Olive Free Library plans to continue removing invasive species, develop a native pollinator garden in front of the library, and collaborate with restaurants and other organizations on community events.
“I’m eager to see them carry this momentum forward and continue making a meaningful impact in their community,” Laura Crisci, the library’s Sustainable Libraries Initiative mentor and sustainability coordinator at the Mid-Hudson Library System, said in a news release.
Mia Quick is an editorial assistant at The Overlook. Send correspondence to mia@theoverlooknews.com.
