THE SCRIBE

Volume 2

The Scribe

March 2020
LIBRARIES IN TRANSITION

IN THIS ISSUE:

How libraries are changing to meet the

demands of the community
by

Alicia Perez Ververa

In recent years the issue of green

libraries has swept across North
American cities with growing
awareness amongst public libraries,
library associations, and librarians
with the implementation of green
initiatives and the construction of
green libraries.
The Green Library Movement: An
Overview And Beyond, -author
Monika Antonelli defines the term
green and chronicles the time line
of the Green Library Movement, a
movement uprooted from librarians,
libraries, and cities in pledging for
public and academic libraries to
become environmentally
sustainable. The Movement
emerged in the early 1990s and
gained popularity in the library
profession around 2003. It is
comprised of a growing number of
librarians, libraries, cities, towns,
college and university campuses
committed to greening libraries by
reducing their environmental impact
on the planet. This innovation is
happening by building green library
buildings, by greening existing
library facilities, providing green
library services, and embracing

environmentally supportive and

sustainable practices within the
library. (Antonelli, p.1)
As popularity of the Green Library
Movement began to grow amongst
the library communities there was a
shift toward building green libraries,
greening existent library facilities,
providing green resources to library
patrons such as information, library
services, and programming. The
author goes on to define some
trending terms of the Green Library
Movement such as green and
sustainable. Throughout the
article the terms green and
sustainable are used and need to
be defined. In the Oxford English
Dictionary (1989) the term green is
defined as pertaining to, or
supporting environmentalism. (p.
811) The term sustainable refers to
forms of human economic activity
and culture that do not lead to
environmental degradation, esp.
avoiding the long depletion of
natural resources (Oxford English,
2008). (Antonelli, p. 1) In the wake
of the Green Library Movement
popular terms like green and

sustainable were used by many

within the library community, the
term green had to with supporting
environmentalism and sustainable
had to do with environmentally
friendly human activity. The Green
Library Movement took root in the
early 90s and today is still
considered a growing topic with
limited publications.

Academic Libraries Going

Green
Libraries within university and college
campuses are central hubs for students,
faculty, and staff which gives librarians
and library staff the opportunity to

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become green role models for the

campus. Page 2

Green Librarianship
Green librarianship is defined as services
and policies within the library institution
that result in appositive affect towards
the environment.
Page 2

Academic Libraries
Going Green
by Alicia Perez Ververa
Libraries within university and college
campuses are central hubs for
students, faculty, and staff which
gives librarians and library staff the
opportunity to become green role
models for the campus. Author
George J. Ausilio proposes to redefine
the phrase green libraries and gives
academic librarians helpful tips on
educating their students and
university campuses in the article
Green Libraries Are More Than Just
Buildings. The phrase green library
is prevalent in library circles and
seems to pervade the library and
information science literature; for
example, see Antonelli (2008) and
Brown (2003). Although the wealth of
literature on how academic libraries
contribute to sustainability, the
phrase green library colloquially
refers to a library that a green
building is a necessary
environmentally friendly building. This
trend implies that a green building is a
necessary qualification for a library to
be considered a green library.
(Ausilio, p.1)
Ausilio defines the phrase green
libraries as a green building that is
environmental friendly and implying
certain requirements are needed to be
given the prestigious title of green
library. Ausilio makes the connection
of the importance of the university
library as a vital organ to a university
campus because it is the pumoing
source of the campus for students,

faculty, and staff as a central location.

The university library, the heart of
most university campuses, is an
integral component to teach
sustainability. Because university
libraries are often vibrant hubs where
students are spending hours studying,
simply passing through, socializing
with friends, or just using the location
as a central meeting point, the library
can be a central model for sustainable
practices and in essence lead by
example. (Ausilio, p.5) Libraries
within the university and college
campus are central hubs for students,
faculty, and staff which gives
librarians and library staff the
opportunity to become green role
models for the campus. The author
provides four major reasons why
academic libraries and librarians need
to implement green practices.In their
comprehensive literature review,
Jankowska and Macum (2010) identify
four major areas of environmental and
sustainable issue in the library
literature: (1) Sustainability of
scholarship and collections; (2) Green
library operations and practices; (3)
Green library buildings; and (4)
Measuring and improving
sustainability.Ausilio gives librarians
and library staff helpful advice on how
to implement green policies and
practices within the campus library.

Green Librarianship
by Alicia Perez Ververa
The article Going Green in North
American Libraries: A Critical Snapshot
of Policy and Practice, authors authors
Rodney Al and Sara House define the
term green librarianship and provide a
history of the societal shift in
implementing a sustainable lifestyle
within public libraries across North
America. For this project, green
librarianship refers to services and
policies meant to positively affect the
environment; and green libraries are
library institutions that employ these
services, practices, and policies. (Al and
House, p.2) The authors define green
librarianship as services and policies
within the library institution that result in
a positive affect towards the
environment. During the time of the
environmental movement another green
movement sprouted, the practice of
green librarianship grew with librarians
and library association became
environmentally conscious of their
library facilities. Since then the
environmental movement has gained
momentum, and more people want to
make changes at home and work
ensuring they live a sustainable lifestyle.
This societal shift has been adopted by
the library community, with associations
and institutions increasingly taking steps
to make their organizations
environmentally sustainable. (Al and
House, p.2) Al and House detail the
societal push towards practicing a
sustainable lifestyle and the library
community start to fostering green
initiatives. The authors acknowledge the
fact that the literature within the library
community seems to focus solely on
green librarianship as the actual
building and requiring certification than
the practice of green policies within the
librarys mission statement. While the
literature on green libraries has primarily
focused on infrastructure certification,
the literature has also highlighted
smaller initiatives that libraries take in

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their quest to go green. (Al and House,

p.3) The authors offer some helpful
advice to librarians and library staff
small initiatives to go green does not
necessarily require any new buildings or
building certification.

The Scribe
Editor-in-Chief:
Alicia Perez Ververa
905 S 5th St.
Montebello, CA 90640
aliceperezververa@gmai
l.com
Photos By: Alicia Perez
Ververa