Yes, it may be that we are "preaching to the converted" but it has to begin somewhere --
I encourage you to explore the Web Site of the "Resources for Economic Viability in Sustainable Agriculture" site http://www.mvla.org/revsa -- especial the "about this project" section.
As you might imagine, "Sustainable Agriculture" has the potential to have been considered "controversial" and yes, we had a few bumps on the road, but in our role as a public library system we were able to maintain neurality and achive some amazing results.
The project ends this Friday, so I have not yet gathered all the data but in the course of the two years we held two 5-session farmer-to-farmer study circles, 16 workshops, 12 off-site demonstration / displays and purchased over $30,000.00 in books, periodicals, CD-ROMS, videos, etc., created one Web site with over 150 links to information sources about sustainable agriculture and a 500 item, Web-based & fully searchable database of local (Capital District / Hudson-Mohawk-Schoharie Valley of NY) agricultural service providers
Attendance at the study-circles (an on-going group which met 5 times, one "circle" in each of the two years) we had an average of 13 participants per session. In workshops we varied from 9 to 57 with an average of about 30 per presentation.
We had one "odd" editorial that used the guise of our programs to really take some swats at the Humane Society of the US (not one of our partnering agencies!) Other than that, all press was bountiful & either informative or positive.
I was asked last week to post the origins of this project to the discussion, and I will do that in my next message. Look for it under a new subject heading: "How a Federally funded Library Services and Technology Act project on Sustainable Agriculture came to be."
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