Here is what we submitted to Brick and Click, a symposium about libraries and technology.

"Greening Between the Lines"

Environmental conservation is quickly becoming an issue of global importance. University library systems are in the unique position to handle and react to the growing global crisis.

An environmentally friendly library would not only be news-worthy, drawing the attention of the local media, but would create a way for the Institution as a whole to advertise itself as being environmentally progressive. This has the potential to attract environmentally-savvy students to the institution. The programs which we intend to develop could possibly become a way for our greater institution to draw in a greater student population.

As library employees, we see waste every day at many different levels. Often the problem is due to a lack of knowledge. For instance, it's common for us to see students walk up to the printer to look briefly at what they printed and immediately throw it out. If we can devise a way to make the student body aware of the issues, we could see a drop in wasted printing. We would like to change the nature of these wasteful habits, and move towards an institutional responsibility to the environment.

A Sustainability Green Team has formed at the John Vaughan Library this year. Our goal is to use technology to not only promote our new programs, but to change the way we function as an entity. We can use blogs to communicate privately within out institution in addition to using them as an advertising tool. The department of Access Services already communicates mainly through a blog, and has been quite successful. We can replace incandescent light bulbs as them burn out with fluorescent bulbs. We can promote the use of e-reserves as a method of conservation. We can create electronic flyers as opposed to paper for communication with faculty and the student body.

Every new project has some possible complications, and this is not an exception. There are several questions we are wrestling with that could possibly take years to solve. For instance, the theoretic unplugging of machines every night is an environmental plus, but how do you make sure everyone is doing it? Also, as in many other institutions, our computers are updated at night, and unplugging them is a virtual impossibility. What are the solutions to these problems? We feel confident that time will answer many of our questions while we take the strides as a library to do what we are able.

Our projects include a spattering of social activism as well as environmental conservation through food-drive programs and public recycling. It is important to change the way we live, but also the way we work. We look forward to the coming year of implementation and assessment.

e.