CURRENT POSITION Director, Lindenhurst Memorial Library, NY DEGREE MLS, Queens College, City University of New York, 1994; Advanced Certificate in Public Library Administration, Long Island University, 2008 FAST FACT Three years in a row, Kropp walked 39.3 miles through Manhattan to raise funds for breast cancer research. FOLLOW linkedin.com/in/lisakropp; alastore.ala.org/laspap Photo by William Neumann Photography

Sustainable Success

Since arriving at Lindenhurst Memorial Library in 2015, Lisa Kropp has been a key figure in both modernizing an outdated building and helping the library become more sustainable. Things got off to a rough start with the failure of a $14.9 million bond library expansion referendum. “I assumed—never assume!—that the library was the community center of Lindenhurst,” Kropp says. Extended outreach and asking hard questions uncovered the need to build partnerships with groups including the local Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs and the Chamber of Commerce. 

After the first bond failed, Kropp knew she also needed a way to keep staff morale up. She proposed that the library take on the Sustainable Libraries Initiative (SLI) certification program, an idea enthusiastically accepted by staff and the library board. Lindenhurst became the third U.S. library to earn the certification. Among the initiatives implemented were EV charging stations, a community garden (it has donated more than 400 pounds of produce to food shelves), and applying for a grant to install a solar panel array. 

Kropp joined the SLI advisory board and shares what she’s learned with other library workers, encouraging them to do what they can with what they have. “We say that any progress is the right progress,” she says. 

Kropp pledged and delivered on promises to work more actively with local groups, and in 2019, a $9.4 million bond to completely renovate the building and add a two-story addition passed. Kropp says library use rose sharply after the grand reopening in 2022 and has continued to grow: hard door count was up 66 percent, program attendance 19 percent, and both Wi-Fi sessions and outside community group meetings 103 percent in 2024 compared to 2023. “I could tell we were busy based on the tables all being full more often than not,” she says, “but seeing the hard data was a WOW moment!”