Green library concept- an overview

A New Vision to LIS field: An Overview of Green Library Concept W. W. S. Thrishala Warnasooriya University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka Abstract ‘Green concept’ has become a trendy discussion not only among the library professionals but also in other fields as a result of severe environmental issues faced by the entire mankind. Besides other countries have already taken better solutions based on green concept and done various researches but rarely seen in the library Science field in Sri Lanka. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to examine the green library concept as a new vision to the library science field. This article will be a supportive document to fill the knowledge gap of articles on green library concept in Sri Lankan library system. Keywords: Library Building, Green Library, Sustainable Library, Green Concept, Environmental Issues Introduction It has something to be wondered, in this information and technology seeking era why it is necessary to discuss and go back to the “Stone Age” in which period of time the whole life of human beings fully depended on the environment. Not only Sri Lanka but also the whole world faces severe environmental issues with the rapid change of modern technology. With the industrial revolution, the ruling authority went to the fascists’ hands. The capitalism emerged in the world resulting huge gap between developed and developing regions and countries. This gap could create an inferiority complex in the people of developing countries. Even self - sufficient countries such as Sri Lanka, could not protect themselves from this trap. Next, the powerful countries which owned only tactful and foreseeing sapience as well as marine technology were able to migrate and establish the colonialism. This was the tap - root of today’s environmental issues. Construction of railways, expressways, plantation of extrinsic crops such as tea, rubber instead of valuable compatible crops were major causes for these long-term environmental issues. Green Concept Today it has been realized that the mankind has missed something important and have come to this technological era. Therefore, making the world green again has become a trend in many countries, regions, institutes, universities, companies, associations, organizations and in the library field as well. Hence, the “green library” concept or “sustainable library” concept came into discussion. This has become a new vision to the librarians and a challenge too. Green concept or sustainability Green concept or sustainability are often used interchangeable terms to define a same concept. But in broader explanations, Mulford and Himmel have mentioned that these two are different in meaning (1). Going green is “pursuing knowledge and practices that can lead to more environmentally friendly and ecologically responsible decisions and life styles, which can help protect the environment”(2). According to Binks, sustainability is defined as “living and working in a practical and environmentally responsible manner, to ensure the protection of the world’s resources for future generations” (3) Environmental sustainability means using resources and interacting with the natural world in ways that will not reduce what is available to future generations. (4) According to the above definitions, sustainability is a broad term in which going green becomes one of aspects in that broad area. This concept emerged in early 1990’s and gained popularity in 21st century and it is wide spread now in developed countries such as Australia, Japan, UK, Canada and USA. All the environmental changes and challenges are results of human activities which cause air and water pollution, deforestation, destruction of ozone layer, liquefaction of glazier, soil - erosion, distribution of toxic wastes and emission of gases etc. As community service centers, libraries also have a responsibility to join their hands together to overcome this issue to regenerate a green world. However, this concept had been practiced from the origination of libraries through its lending practices which supports to reuse the same book and decrease the deforestation. Green library concept is also a better approach, a marketing tool and an admirable involvement to recreate the lost place of the libraries in the society. Green library According to the online dictionary of Library and information Science (ODLIS) “Green library or sustainable library is defined as a library designed to minimize negative impact on the natural environment and maximize indoor environmental quality by means of careful site selection, use of natural construction materials and biodegradable products, conservation of sources like water, energy, paper and responsible waste disposal recycling etc.” (5) Green library or sustainable libraries are the structure that is designed, built, renovated, operated or reused in an ecological and resource efficient manner. Green library concept includes various areas of sustainability as a multi-faceted concept as mentioned below. • Green building • Green operations and practices • Green programs and services • Green information systems • Green collections Green building Green library buildings support to use energy sources effectively, and reduce carbon footprints. This also ecologically and resource efficiently designed, rebuilt, operated and reused. When designing or rebuilding a green library, the librarian, architecture and the engineers are responsible to pay their attention on natural lightening, ventilation, heating and cooling, interior fitting, installing solar and geothermal energy systems, water harvesting systems, water and electricity efficiency and the use of sustainable environmentally friendly materials. When being eco-friendly, the librarian should consider about the conservation of library collection too. Eg: “Green star system” which is administered by the Green Building Council of Australia is the commonly used certification system in Australia. It includes 9 parameters namely, (6) • Management of the design and construction • Indoor environmental quality • Energy • Transport • Water • Materials • Land use and ecology • Emission • Innovation The council rates the libraries in 3 levels according to the number of starts obtained by the library. (6) • Best practice in ESD (Environmentally Sustainable Design) – achievement with 4 stars • Australian Excellence in ESD (Environmentally Sustainable Design) – achievement with 5 stars • World Leadership in ESD (Environmentally Sustainable Design) – achievement with 6 stars Green operations and practices Operations and practices in a green library can be vary depending on the type of the users, type of the library, rules and regulations of the mother institution or country. The fundamental practices of ‘reduce, recycle and reuse’ are important for a sustainable library system. The library should not be limited to the above 3 practices. The managerial staff should ensure that entire staff involves in planning, implementation and management of new procedures and practices. Educating the staff about green library concept is essential for the best continuity of green practices. Some of practices are mentioned below. But the library should not be limited to the followings. • reusing or donating the items instead of disposing • separating waste and providing onsite-recycling collection • reducing or reusing paper and using recycled, chlorine-free, FSC certified paper • minimizing printing and routing print materials rather than making multiple copies • setting the copier/printer default to duplex • eliminating use of plastics and use of real plates/mugs/utensils • using shared network and public e-mail folders as searchable repositories for information and content • using electronically completed/submitted forms and electronic/digital communication • using products/consumables with recyclable content • procuring refurbished items when possible • purchasing locally • using environmentally friendly cleaning products instead of toxic chemical cleaners • using stairs rather than elevators • having every-other light off where possible • re-filling toner cartridges rather than buying new • recycling toner cartridges and choosing “green” inks • maximum use of energy-efficient lighting/ natural lighting and ventilation • using motion sensors • shutting down computers when the library is closed • using LCD monitors and choosing and using Energy Star compliant computer components • consolidating servers in large institutions • using virtualization to share a single machine’s computing power for multiple patrons • managing equipment replacement cycles mindfully and having older computers repaired • finding reputable recyclers of e-waste Eg: Karnataka university library at Dharward provides a green space with sitting, dirking and Wi-Fi facilities for students. (7) Fayetteville Public Library, Minneapolis (2004), Seattle Central Library (2004), National Library, Singapore (2005), Minneapolis Public Library (2006), and University of California (2005) are other international examples for green library initiatives. (8) Green programs and services Green concept pushes the libraries to offer green library services in addition to the sustainable constructions and buildings. The green message should be transferred to the society not only through green library resources but also through educational outreach programs and workshops to broaden their awareness. This will be a platform for them to adopt green practices in their own lives, office environment, activities, and events. The green education and green literacy play a major role to reach the ultimate goal of green world. The library can launch some efficient programs as given below. • Providing information to cultivate food and herbal plants. • Maintaining community gardens to educate patrons with practical experiences. • Maintaining a depository of genetic materials like seeds and plants Eg: Pennsylvannia state university library provides watt meters to users to measure the electronic consumption of electronic appliances at their houses and offices. Therefore, they can be aware of the electronic consumption. (9) Green information systems Energy consumption and gas emission have become a severe impact due to the rapid use of ICT for the activities in connection with internet, databases, online catalogues and e-repositories. They highly generate CO2. In 2016 Google’s electricity consumption was 6513,179 MWh. The google power consumption is 100% green from December 2017 as they have purchased 536 megawatts of wind power. (10) The internet searching consumes 170 - 307 GW (Giga Watt) of electricity which is equivalent to 11% - 19% of total energy use of the humanity. (11) A typical computer running for 24 hours produces 494kg CO2. (12) Use of cloud computing applications and green IT are alternative methods to reduce server energy consumption and electricity consumption. Chowdhury suggests 4 ways for a green information retrieval namely, (13) • Standardization in processes and practices • Resource sharing • Reusing content and tools • Green user behaviour Green collections According to Connell 3 factors of green development are, (14) • Selection Selection of materials which consist and assess green practices. Facilitating access to green information by acquisitioning green resources related to environment, green computing, organic gardening, energy conservation, etc. • De-selection Green de-selection or weeding emphasizes about reusing and recycling materials. Multi- media resources such as DVDs, CDs, cassettes and audio books made out of plastic and metal are difficult to recycle. • Selection of material format (print/electronic) which generates less CO2 emission Basically, green library tends to select e – resources which support to deforestation. But the librarian should concern about the CO2 emission in using computers and other electronic items ensuring it through a pilot survey study before acquisition of materials. Conclusion Even though green library concept is widely spread in other regions, countries like Sri Lanka are still in its infant stage. Application of the green concept to the library is extremely important rather than having discussions. This can be started from academic and special libraries in Sri Lanka first. The practices and operations can be easily applied with the support of researchers, scholars and professionals in the particular field. For an example University of Kelaniya as the first nominated green state university in Sri Lanka, a sustainable project can be launched with the collaboration of both library and particular faculties. Then the green library concept can be widely spoken through library seminars, workshops, guest speeches, handbooks, websites, notices, leaflets so forth. Then the library professionals should make this a point to communicate this message in national and international level. Each person should bear their individual duty and should do a justice to the world by their side. In simply terms, it is quite clear that ‘going green’ should be started from its primary level. Then the whole mission will be a great success. The librarians have to take immediate and durable decision to establish the green concept to overcome the current environmental issues and to play the best librarian’s role in the mission of making the world green. References 1. Mulford, M. S. & Himmel, N. A. (2010). How Green is My Library? Libraries Unlimited. Santa Barbara, California. 2. Going Green (2013), Retrieved from http://www.thrall.org/special/going green.html 3. Binks, Lisa (2014) Tomorrow's green public library, The Australian Library Journal, 63(4), 301312. DOI: 10.1080/00049670.2014.969417 4. Christinsen, K. (2011) Sustainability in Collection Development: Seeing the Forest and the Trees Against the Grain 22(6), 1–16 http://www.Berkshirepubli shing.com/assets/pdf/ATG_v22_No6_Dec.pdf 5. Reits, Joan M. (2018). ODLIS. Retrieved from https://www.abc-clio.com 6. Binks, Lisa (2014). Tomorrow's green public library. The Australian Library Journal, 63(4), 301312, DOI: 10.1080/00049670.2014.969417 7. Meher, Puspanjali & Pharaboi, Lambodara (2017). Green library: an over view, issues with special reference to Indian Libraries, International Journal of Digital Library Services, 2(7), 62-69, ISSN 2250-1142 8. Shah, Leena, Kumar, Sudhir & Shah, Mukesh Kumar (2015). Green Libraries in Academic Institutions: need of the hour, International Journal of Research Granthaalayah, 9(3), 1-5, ISSN 2350-0530 9. Penn State.: Watt Meter to Measure Electricity Use is Available at Libraries. (2014). Penn State News. http://news.psu.edu/sto ry/31 2112/2 014/04/15/ impact/ watt-meter-measure-electricity-useavailable-libraries 10. Google power consumption (2017). https://www.statista.com 11. How much energy does a web search use? https://www.telegraph.co.uk 12. The University of Oxford IT Services.: Green Desktop Computing (2013). http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/greenit/desktop.xml?ID=estimate 13. Chowdhury, G. (2012). An Agenda for Green Information Retrieval Research. Information Processing & Management, 48(6), 1067–1077. 14. Connell, V. (2010). Greening the Library: Collection Development Decisions. The Journal of the New Members Round Table, 1(1). http://www.ala.org/nmrt/sites/ala .org.nmrt/files/content/oversightgroups/comm/schrs/endnotesvol1is1/3greeningthelibrary.pdf