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The Diversity Baseline Survey

In 2015, Lee and Low Books released a survey on diversity conduced in 2015. The survey aimed to establish concrete statistics regarding diversity in the publishing workforce, and ask the question: if the people who work in publishing are not a diverse group, how can diverse voices be represented in books? It concluded that the workforce in North America was overwhelmingly white and straight. When the survey was repeated in 2019, the numbers reflected essentially the same demographic statistics.

Relevant SDG’s

IPA SDG – Goal No 10 – Reduced inequalities

Restoration of the McMillan Memorial Library and its branches, Kaloleni and Makaadara, in Nairobi

Book Bunk, an independent organization based in Nairobi, is working on restoring the McMillian Memorial Library and two of its branches, the Kaloleni and Makadara libraries. The founders were inspired to restore the library because they believe that public libraries are a cornerstone of so much, including fostering civic space and participation. The project injects a considered and inclusive programme of events into public centres of culture and knowledge.

Relevant SDG’s

IPA SDG – Goal No 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities

The Springer Nature Grand Challenges Programme (GCP)

In 2017, academic publisher Springer Nature launched their Grand Challenges programme (GCP) aiming to help develop solutions to some of the most pressing challenges of our time with sustainable cities as one of their target challenges.
An example of this research includes a study that looked at 185 Chinese cities of different sizes over a period of seven years. It concluded that a reduction of air and water pollution had the effect of increasing direct foreign investment inflows.

Relevant SDG’s

UK Publishing Industry Diversity & Inclusion Workforce Survey

In 2017, the UK PA launched an industry-wide 10-point action plan to ensure that publishing reflects the UK population. As part of this plan, the PA committed to do an annual survey of the workforce demographics of UK publishing houses, the first of which took place in 2019. The survey gathered information on diversity, inclusion, and workforce demographics – such as gender balance, women in leadership roles, disabilities/impairments, mental health, education level, sexual orientation, and more.

Relevant SDG’s

Accessible Books Consortium (ABC)

In June 2014, the Accessible Books Consortium was launched in order to boost the number of books in accessible formats for people around the globe who are blind, visually impaired, or otherwise print disabled. The ABC also encourages publishers to commit to accessible publishing, adopt accessibility features within their publishing processes, and include descriptions of the accessibility features of their products in the information they provide to others in the book supply chain.

Relevant SDG’s

IPA SDG – Goal No 17 – Partnerships for the Goals

Boîte à lire (Box to Read)

RecycLivre has launched the collaborative project Box to Read, which features an online map with the location of more than 4000 free boxes of books. In February and March 2020, they collaborated with the clothing brand Des Petits Hauts to set up book boxes in all their shops for customers to deliver or take books for free.

Relevant SDG’s

IPA SDG – Goal No 9 – Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

PROSE Award

As part of their PROSE award, the Association of American Publishers donates hundreds
of copies of books, written by award nominees, to colleges and universities. Up to 400
academic and professional books are given to various colleges and universities following
the announcement of the annual PROSE award winners.

Relevant SDG’s

Read On. Get On.

The campaign aims to get all children in England reading well by the age of 11 and to have all children achieving good levels of language, early literacy and reading development by 2025. In essence, the mission of the campaign is to eradicate illiteracy for the next generation in the UK.

Relevant SDG’s

The Spare Room Project

The Spare Room project was established in 2016, and aims to help lower the financial and housing barriers that prevent young people from entering the British publishing industry. It works to match interns from outside London with publishers who have a room to spare, thus providing them access to opportunities. This makes it possible to recruit new people who may not have the economic resources to pay for expensive London accomodation.

Relevant SDG’s

IPA SDG – Goal No 8 – Decent work and Economic Growth

Series of Children’s Books about Sweden’s Top Female Football Players

The Swedish publisher Olika, run by Marie Tomičić, has developed a series of books about Sweden’s top female footballer players. The goal of the publication of the series is to contribute to increased equality and representation in literature. Beyond this, Olika is a publishing house focusing on diversity for young readers, and through publishing content such as this series, Olika is clearly committed to highlighting the sustainable development goals.

Relevant SDG’s

RE100

RE100, led by The Climate Group in partnership with CDP, aims to accelerate a global shift to clean energy and zero carbon grids. The project encourages companies to make a commitment to go ‘100 percent renewable’. Within the publishing industry, this includes RELX and Pearson, the world’s largest education company.

Relevant SDG’s

IPA SDG – Goal No 7 – ffordable and Clean Energy

IWA Publishing

The International Water Association (IWA) has its own publishing programme, IWA Publishing, that works to further knowledge on water resources. Their programme includes 15 peer reviewed journals and 800 books.

Relevant SDG’s