Speakers: Benjamin Meunier; Can libraries afford to wait for others to fix the world while toxic waste, climate change and pollution harm our environment? How much of a difference can we make anyway? This webinar will aim to raise ambitions for greener library buildings, provide examples of how library services can lead by example as sustainably managed organisations and highlight the opportunities to work in partnership with users to work together and move towards a smarter, sustainable world. The presentation will draw on examples from Europe and Hong Kong to illustrate good practice in academic libraries, covering library building design, communication with users and applications of management information to improve sustainability. Spoiler alert – whilst this webinar may not have all the answers to the questions above, the conclusions will suggest there is hope.

1. Sustainability in
Libraries
IFLA ENSULIB Webinar Series
29 June 2023

2. 29 June 2023
Outline
• Introduction
• Buildings
• Operations
• Partnership with users
• Conclusion

3. Creator: Slane Cartoons Limited (CC BY-SA 4.0)

4. Buildings:
raising the ambition
for greener buildings

5. Re-use of existing buildings: UCL Cruciform Hub

6. Re-use: Luxembourg Learning Centre

7. Building sustainability in: UCL Student Centre
“The fantastic design is sensitive to Bloomsbury’s fine heritage and
shows how to deliver sustainable development on a constrained
urban site.”
Professor Anthony Smith, Vice-Provost (Education & Student Affairs), UCL

8. Operations:
lead by example

9. Leading by example: support for SDGs
• SDG 13 Climate Action
• SDG 3 Good Health and Well-Being
• SDG 4 Quality Education
• SDG 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
• SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

10. SDG13 Climate Action
Making carbon neutrality a strategic priority:
CUHK Library Strategic Plan 2021-2025
Research Café on Carbon Neutrality (2022)
Climate Science at the VR Zone of the
University Library
Monitoring consumption to inform energy-
saving action

11. SDG3 Good Health and Well-Being
Dr. Dog visits Meditation events during exam period Library Guide on Positive Psychology

12. SDG4 Quality Education
InfoLit for U
A self-paced, non-credit bearing MOOC
Designed by the library of all 8 UGC-
funded universities in Hong Kong
Library workshops:
Information Skills, Academic Integrity,
Research Skills, Open Access, Digital
Scholarship and Research Data
Good Reads Corner, University Library

13. Partnerships:
work together with
staff and users to
make a difference

14. Support the natural environment
and human wellbeing
• Draw on user and staff interests to provide opportunities to
care for green spaces
• Indoor plants
• Roof terraces/gardens
• Library “farm”

15. Engage
• Grass-roots events / ideas can help drive change
• Engagement can help ask the right questions for senior
managers, designers and engineers (acknowledging we
don’t have all the answers yet!)

16. Conclusion
• Libraries can bring people together to share knowledge and experience on how to tackle
environmental issues
• We have agency!
• Make a difference – a small action can lead to big change over time

17. Thank You

18. CHRIS SLANE CARTOONS | Climate Quest Cartoons, By Chris Slane
Cruciform Hub awarded Gold for green credentials | Sustainable UCL - UCL – University College London
InfoLit for U: A new Information Literacy MOOC – The Chinese University of Hong Kong Library (cuhk.edu.hk)
LUXEMBOURG LEARNING CENTRE - Luxembourg Architecture Award 2019
UCL Student Centre, Shadowssettle, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Student Centre - a flagship for sustainability | Sustainable UCL - UCL – University College London
Ma, Leo F.H., Ko, Lily Y. (2022) Supporting the Sustainable Development Goals: The role of the Chinese University of Hong Kong Library, Journal of Academic
Librarianship, 48(4), 102562. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2022.102562