Sustainability Librarian Contact Information

Librarian liaisons for topics related to sustainability:

Matt Torrence, USF Tampa Library: torrence@usf.edu
- Liaison for the Patel College of Global Sustainability and the School of Geosciences
Chris Sturgeon, USF Tampa Library: csturgeo@usf.edu
- Liaison for the Muma College of Business
Theresa Burress, USF St. Petersburg Nelson Poynter Library: tburress@usf.edu
- Liaison for the College of Marine Science, Mathematics & Statistics, and Honors College

Sustainability

What is Sustainability?

The concept of sustainable development emerged from environmental awareness and socio-economic factors, particularly notable in the late 20th century. The term gained prominence with the release of the 1987 Brundtland Report, which defined sustainable development as the ability to meet current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.

In 2015, the UN established the 2030 Agenda with 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that delve deeper into these areas, addressing a number of topics. The SDGs recognize the interconnectedness of these areas, aiming for a future that is prosperous and sustainable for all.

Sustainability-related issues are interdisciplinary and can be explored through various subject databases, journals, books, and more provided by the USF Libraries. Watch the below video to see an example of how faculty across disciplines are engaging with sustainability and click the "Sustainability at USF" tab on the left to link to our programs and initiatives.

Starting Points: Interdisciplinary Sustainability Journals and Databases

ABI/INFORM Global
In-depth coverage of business and management trends, practices, theory and tactics. Mostly full text publications with coverage from 1855 forward.
Academic OneFile
Peer reviewed, full text articles in the physical and social sciences, technology, medicine, arts, theology, literature and more. Coverage from 1905 forward.
Academic Search Premier
Multidisciplinary full-text database with peer reviewed journals, magazines and other resources from 1975 forward.
Google Scholar
A simple way to search for scholarly literature. Includes full text and citations. Searching while signed in to the USF Library website can grant wider access to full text.
JSTOR
JSTOR coverage spans a variety of disciplines, with a focus on the humanities and social sciences. The included content is comprehensive for archival and historical materials in the collection’s scholarly titles. The most recent 3-5 years of each journal is not available directly via JSTOR, however the USF Libraries provides access to current issues of a majority of these titles in other database and e-journal subscriptions.
Nexis Uni
Full text news, industry and market news, legal news and research, company financial information and general medical topics from 1987 forward.
Sage Data
Licensed and public domain datasets available in chart, map, and table form. Search and browse by state, country, subject, source, and key economic indicators.
Scopus
Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature: scientific journals, books and conference proceedings and features tools to track, analyze, and visualize research.
Web of Science
The ISI Web of Science provides seamless access to the Science Citation Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index. It enables users to search current and retrospective multidisciplinary information from approximately 8,500 of the most prestigious, high impact research journals in the world. ISI Web of Science also provides a unique search method, cited reference searching.