21st century: environmental sustainability in libraries

Abstract

Sustainability and green thinking have become an issue of general interest by our days, and these efforts constitute a major task and responsibility for institutions mediating information. In the future, those libraries will succeed which correspond to human ecological considerations as well, are environmentally conscious, and prefer sustainable thinking. Institutions in favour of this principle and spirit are called green libraries. They are built according to the certification standards on green buildings on the one hand, and incorporate sustainability and human ecological approach into their operations, on the other. To be qualified as a green library several criteria have to be met; these relate to the institution, its building, location, collection, vision and services. If only part of these criteria can be integrated into the everyday life of the institution, the term „a library of green nature” is justified. In addition, there is a difference between a newly built library’s green nature and an existing library building becoming green or greener – the latter being especially interested in solutions regarding energy conservation, waste collection and paper usage. In addition to sustainability and developing green collections, libraries play an important role in green education, whose effectiveness increases – as the Singapore Children's Library’s example proves it – with starting it with the possibly youngest age group.