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Public libraries in Finland have a strong history of cooperating and networking. Implementing SDGs and steering the action toward sustainability, however, has been so far carried out mainly out by individual libraries. A larger consensus or common guidelines are still missing, be it designing a new building, customer design thinking or rearranging internal workflows. This is to be changed, hopefully serving as an example to readers´ communities. The report presented current cases and current best practices on initiatives and concentrated on finding a broader common ground on sustainability work. Helsinki City Library will act as a nationwide accelerator and common voice promoting the step marks toward greener libraries. A nationwide expert network and community of practice is to be established as well. As one example of the development, the tight cooperation between public libraries and basic education in Finnish society will be discussed. For historical reasons public libraries operate to a large extent as school libraries, so the task of supporting curriculum on sustainability topics is a major task for public libraries as well. What does the future of this collaboration and its possibilities look like?

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Mit den "Erzählwegen" hat die Büchereizentrale Schleswig-Holstein in der Corona-Zeit ein flexibles Ausstellungsformat entwickelt. Seit Herbst 2020 werden in Schleswig-Holstein regelmäßig am "Runden Tisch Grüne Bibliotheken" Fragen zur nachhaltigen Entwicklung diskutiert und neue Vorhaben dazu gemeinsam auf den Weg gebracht. Das Portal "Zukunftsbibliotheken-sh" bündelt die Ideen und Pläne aus diesem Netzwerk für die Teilnehmenden wie auch für eine breitere Öffentlichkeit.

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Academic librarians have a notable opportunity to take the lead in ensuring reliable information enters the hands of community members, including leaders and activists. One area for improvement is the topic of sustainability---an issue not just for those interested or working in the sciences, but one for every living, breathing being.

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As I’ve spent more time working with OCLC’s Global and Regional Councils, I’ve come to an agreeable realization that’s maybe a bit of a paradox. The wider our professional networks become, the more likely we’ll find faraway colleagues whose local solutions fit our situations. Sometimes the best answers don’t come from next door, but from across the globe.

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Since the Executive Yuan in Taiwan established the Council for Sustainable Development in 1996, green building policies have become the focal point of domestic construction industries in pursuing sustainable development. The Architecture and Building Research Institute, Ministry of the Interior, Taiwan also began promoting the green building labeling system in 1999 and pioneered the demonstration of the concept by using public buildings to facilitate the comprehensive development of green buildings. Presently, private buildings are not strictly regulated; a mechanism for the use, management, and maintenance of public green buildings. Based on the andysis of the Taipei Public Library Beitou Branch, a mechanism for the use, management, and maintenance of public green building is proposed in this paper.

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NYLA's Sustainability Initiative provides New York's library leaders with time and resources to articulate how libraries adapt to our changing world while, as co-creators, shape strategies that ensure libraries remain vital, rebound from disruption, and provide on-going value to the communities they serve.

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o mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day---and recognize the American Library Association adding sustainability as a core value---American Libraries returns with its ongoing sustainability series. In these posts, information professionals share their experiences with sustainability in libraries. As academic libraries evolve to contribute to institutional missions and visions, librarians are transforming out of their ``regular'' roles to collaborate with students, faculty, and staff in achieving goals such as sustainability. But how can academic libraries help with this integral commitment?

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The reuse of old buildings for new libraries has gained currency within the Library and Information Science (LIS) profession and has informed sustainability initiatives. Adaptive reuse benefits the environment by conserving natural resources and minimizing the need for new materials. This chapter provides a review of some key documents on sustainability, green libraries and the recycling and conversion of buildings as libraries. Building reuse provides an opportunity for sustainable thinking in library planning. Sustainability and going green are already evident in library architecture and design and there is a need to encourage embracing greener practices and adaptive reuse. Sustainability and going green are growth areas for the future. Adaptive reuse and repurposing buildings that have outlived their original purposes for different uses or functions while at the same time retaining their historic features are viable alternatives to new buildings. Building reuse is occurring in developed countries while some developing countries are saddled with challenges slowing adoption of the trend.

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Unprecedented. Heartbreaking. Heartwarming. These three words have been most prominent in my mind as I observed and consulted with my colleagues, near and far, as they make tough decisions about how to keep their communities and staff healthy in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the reality set in as to what was going to be necessary to ``flatten the curve,'' I watched library directors go through a fast-paced version of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's ``stages of grief'': denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Library leaders were listening intently to public health officials, government officials, stakeholders, and their own intuition. First, we had to acknowledge that we all need to pull in the same direction. But close the library? People need the library, they rely on it, we have advocated so hard to help funders understand that libraries are essential in people's lives. If we close, what message are we sending?

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As a reoccurring feature on the Sustainability Roundtable blog, we will post reviews of books related to sustainability.

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There is growing concern that a variety of factors threaten the sustainability of academic libraries: developing and preserving print and digital collections, supplying and supporting rapidly changing technological and networking infrastructure, providing free services, maintaining growing costs of library buildings, and lowering libraries' ecological footprint. This paper discusses the multidimensional issues of sustainability in academic libraries and identifies needs for designing an integrated framework for sustainable strategies in academic libraries. Additionally, the paper presents a synthesis of existing literature on the increasingly popular topic of "green libraries'' and prepares a background toward developing a framework for sustainable strategies in academic libraries.

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Services, buildings, logistics, IT-equipment and much more – that is the library of today. These items are normally viewed from an economical point of view in a library’s yearly budget, but have libraries ever considered that they also have an impact on a library’s ecological sustainability? When you want to observe where and how ecological sustainability occurs in a library you should go beyond a purely economic analysis. By creating conditions for sustainable development, adding eco-efficiency as a measuring tool and generally acting in an environmentally friendly manner, library staff can assist in realizing the sustainability of the library. Dienstleistungen, Gebäude, Logistik, IT und vieles mehr – das ist die Bibliothek von heute. Normalerweise werden diese Elemente von einem ökonomischen Standpunkt im Rahmen eines Jahresbudgets betrachtet; doch wurde jemals daran gedacht, dass diese Themen auch einen ökologischen Effekt auf die Nachhaltigkeit einer Bibliothek haben können? Wenn man herausfinden möchte, wo und wie in einer Bibliothek auf ökologische Nachhaltigkeit Wert gelegt wird, muss man über die ökonomische Analyse hinausgehen. Die Einführung von Kriterien für nachhaltige Entwicklung, zusätzliche Eco-Effizienz als Messinstrument und das allgemeine umweltfreundliche Verhalten können helfen, die Nachhaltigkeit von Bibliotheken sichtbar werden zu lassen.

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ABSTRACT: This thesis originated from an idea to study how libraries have taken sustainability into account and how to improve libraries’ sustainability. The thesis was commissioned by Central Library of Public Libraries and it was an international part of the Finnish national project Sustainable Development in Libraries that has investigated sustainability in Finnish public libraries. The aim of this study was to answer the questions what are the differences and similarities between the Finnish and the foreign libraries according to the analysis made by the survey and which of the areas: environmental management, environmental economy, reduction of environmental burden, increase of environmental awareness or environmental communication, do arise to be the best or the worst handled in libraries? This quantitative study used a descriptive survey method supported by a questionnaire. The survey was conducted in IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Helsinki in August 2012 by a web-based questionnaire. After the congress the link to the questionnaire was shared also by e-mail. As the theoretical background of the thesis was used Finnish and foreign sources concerning sustainability in libraries and environmental management. The results showed that there are still a lot of things to consider in order to improve sustainability in libraries. Major differences were not noticed between the Finnish and the foreign libraries even if the results can be seen only tentative because of the low number of respondents in the international survey. Reduction of environmental burden seemed to be the best handled area and environmental communication the worst. As a conclusion can be stated that in order to improve sustainability in libraries an own auditing system and an environmental label for libraries would be needed. Libraries should have their own environmental indicators in order to measure the state of sustainability. The commitment to sustainability should be demanded from staff that librarians could act as green educators. IFLA World Library and Information Congress could be a green event in itself. In future more research on the field of economic and social sustainability in libraries would be needed as well as research of ecological sustainability because of the low number of publications at the moment. TIIVISTELMÄ:Tämä opinnäytetyö sai alkunsa ajatuksesta tutkia, kuinka kirjastot ovat ottaneet huomioon kestävän kehityksen ja miten sitä voisi parantaa. Opinnäytetyö toteutettiin osana kansallista hanketta Kestävä kehitys kirjastoissa ja sen toimeksiantajana toimi Yleisten kirjastojen keskuskirjasto. Hanke oli jo aiemmin tutkinut suomalaisten yleisten kirjastojen kestävää kehitystä. Opinnäytetyön tavoitteena oli saada vastaus kahteen tutkimusongelmaan: Mitä yhtäläisyyksiä ja eroja suomalaisilla ja ulkomailla kirjastoilla on kyselyistä tehtyjen analyysien mukaan ja mikä osa1alueista — ympäristöjohtaminen, ympäristötalous, ympäristökuormituksen vähentäminen, ympäristötietoisuuden lisääminen vai ympäristöviestintä, on kirjastoissa parhaiten tai huonoiten hoidettu? Tutkimusmenetelmänä käytettiin kvantitatiivista survey-metodia, jota tuki nettipohjainen kyselylomake. Kysely toteutettiin IFLA World Library and Information –konferensissa Helsingissä elokuussa 2012. Konferenssin jälkeen linkki kyselylomakkeeseen jaettiin myös sähköpostin kautta. Opinnäytetyön teoriapohjana käytettiin niin suomalaisia kuin ulkomaisiakin lähteitä kirjastojen kestävästä kehityksestä ja ympäristöjohtamisesta. Tulokset osoittivat, että kirjastojen kestävässä kehityksessä on vielä paljon parantamisen varaa. Merkittäviä eroja suomalaisten ja ulkomaisten kirjastojen välillä ei tutkimuksen mukaan ilmennyt. Tosin kansainvälisen kyselyn vähäisen vastaajamäärän takia tuloksia voidaan pitää vain suuntaa2antavina. Ympäristökuormituksen vähentäminen vaikutti olevan parhaiten hoidettu osa-alue ja ympäristöviestintä huonoin. Tutkimuksen johtopäätöksenä voidaan todeta, että kirjastot tarvitsisivat oman auditointijärjestelmän ja ympäristömerkin parantaakseen kestävää kehitystään. Kirjastoille tulisi luoda myös omat ympäristöindikaattorit, jotta niiden kestävän kehityksen tilaa voitaisiin mitata. Kirjastojen henkilökunnalta tulisi vaatia sitoutumista kestävään kehitykseen, jotta he voisivat toimia vihreiden arvojen puolestapuhujina. IFLA-konferenssia voisi myös kehittää aiempaa enemmän vihreäksi tapahtumaksi. Tulevaisuudessa tutkimusta voitaisiin ulottaa myös kirjastojen sosiaaliseen ja taloudelliseen kestävään kehitykseen. Joka tapauksessa tutkimusten määrä tältä alalta on vielä hyvin pieni.

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Many in the library world are embracing sustainability initiatives in an effort to better serve our communities and planet. In this article the author explores the need to integrate preservation within the broader approach to library sustainability, as well as the challenges presented by sustainable preservation practices. The author addresses concerns including reducing the amount of waste produced, recycling options, and availability of environmentally friendly supplies through the presentation of a case study. In addition, the article further explores the complexities of sustainable preservation by promoting continued discussion on finding the balance between accepted preservation best practices and emerging trends in sustainable solutions.

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The world faces global ecological systems challenges of unprecedented severity and threat. The scientific reality of climate change has been politicized; President Trump has withdrawn the US from the Paris Climate Accords and the action has moved city and state leaders to offset this maneuver. The role of public libraries as hubs for reliable information, learning, and community building is ever more critical to our future resilience and sustainability.

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Purpose This paper aims to propose a model which serves to illustrate that a number of factors are responsible for, and contribute to, the different forms of sustainability of digital information services. It also seeks to identify some areas of information research and their interrelationship in the context of sustainability of digital information services. Design/methodology/approach This research is based on critical analysis of a range of research and policy documents, and an environment scan, in different aspects of sustainability of information systems and services. Recent and relevant past research studies as well as some relevant government policies and initiatives have been critically analyzed in order to identify various factors that are said to contribute to the economic, social and environmental sustainability of information services. Findings It is noted that the sustainability of information has not been studied within the mainstream information science research. However, several previous research studies have produced findings and models that can be used to achieve some aspects of sustainability of information. It is also noted that various parameters of sustainability are inter-related and hence a proper research agenda has to be prepared, and concerted research efforts are needed in order to be able to develop and manage sustainable digital information services. Practical implications A model has been proposed showing the various factors to be studied for achieving the economic, social and environmental sustainability of information services. Interrelations among the different factors and their implications for sustainability of digital information systems services are also discussed. Originality/value The model is expected to open new vistas for research in the economic, social and environmental sustainability of digital information systems and services. It will develop new tools, technologies and applications for building sustainable information systems and services appropriate for the digital era.

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About a year ago I was talking to the chief sustainability officer at the University of Utah about my work as a librarian, and she made a surprising suggestion: ``Why don't you come work with us for a while?''

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The article describes the role of libraries in promoting sustainability. It is asserted that libraries should choose to create, manage and promote an environment that supports the health and sustainability of human beings. The West Vancouver Memorial Library in British Columbia manages its resources through its Green Building Operations Policy.