GREEN LIBRARY

What is a Green Library?

Definition from the IFLA ENSULIB Section

Environment means the surroundings or conditions in which human beings, organizations, animals, or plants live and operate. Environments can be natural, social, or cultural.

Sustainable development is development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Our Common Future, Brundtland Report, UN).

Present environments are endangered by climate change and other threats including social inequalities. All organizations should strive to protect the environment through sustainable development. This includes all kinds of libraries, which can play an active and significant role in sustainable development.

A green and sustainable library is a library which takes into account environmental, economic and social sustainability. Green and sustainable libraries may be of any size, but they should have a clear sustainability agenda which includes:

• Green buildings and equipment: The emissions, or carbon footprint, of the building and equipment are actively decreased.
• Green office principles: Operational routines and processes are environmentally sustainable.
• Sustainable economy: Consumption is restrained, circular and sharing economy practices are advanced and are made accessible to the community.
• Sustainable library services: Relevant and up-to-date information is easy to access for users, shared spaces, devices, and environmental education is offered, and operations are efficient. The library has a positive carbon handprint.
• Social sustainability: Good education, literacy, community engagement, cross cultural diversity, social inclusion, and overall participation are considered. The library works actively to reduce inequality.
• Environmental management: Environmental goals are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timebound), and the library works to decrease its own negative impact on environment. The library’s environmental policy, its implementation and the results of environmental work are communicated to a broader audience.
• Commitment to general environmental goals and programmes: Commitment is guided by the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Climate Agreement and related environmental certificates and programmes.

 

 

The concept of ‘Green library’ is of recent origin and is under the process of evolution. Being an evolving concept it is gaining popularity among the researchers, academicians, and library professionals all over the world. The amount of information available on ‘Green Library’ and ‘Sustainability’ is limited but continues to grow. Interconnected topics of green libraries and sustainability have received a great deal of coverage in recent years in various publications targeted toward world librarians. This article elaborates the concept of green library, list outs features, and necessarily discusses the elements of green library.

 

Features of Green Library: Basically, green library is characterized as environment friendly library or sustainable library. And every green library necessarily possess certain essential features like - · Proper location or most suitable site · Use of natural, recycled and regionally available materials · Use of reflective roof and ground · Use of insulating windows · Conservation of resources like water, energy, and paper · Use of energy-efficient lighting minimizing consumption · System for optimized cooling · Suitable plantation both inside and outside of building · Circulation of fresh and healthy air · Use of environment friendly technology

 

Elements of Green Library: Basically, the ‘Green Library Movement’ has been emerged in the early 1990s and is gradually gaining popularity in the field of library and information science profession.

 

Many of the library professionals of today are working on the idea of green library, which will use natural and regional construction material, minimize consumption of water and electricity, and also use environment friendly technology. Though it is somewhat in the initial stages of development, we need to understand that green or sustainable library is the structure that is designed, built, renovated, operated, or reused in an ecological and resource efficient manner.

 

There are wide range of ways to promote the idea of green library, such as use of environmentally friendly or recycled and regionally available materials, optimal use and conservation of natural resources, virtual user services and resource-saving copy services, waste separation, elimination of plastic bags, no more paper cups and instead use of recycled/private crockery, fair-trade coffee in the library’s coffee shop, green events, choosing library suppliers with green certificates and many more.