Greening Between the Lines - Recently Updated Pages

Greening Interlibrary Loan and Doc Delivery

brownez — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 17:00:18 CDT

What can we do in the Interlibrary loan and document delivery office to help save the environment?

Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery is an important part of every academic library. We borrow items for our patrons that we don't own from other libraries- and conversely lend to libraries who need what we have.

What if we started to use PDF delivery instead of photocopies for articles?

Greening Reserve

brownez — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:59:57 CDT

What can we do at the Reserve desk to help save the environment?

How can using e-reserves help? The reserve system in any library is set up so that all students have access to an item- often times by limiting the amount of time they can check the item out. If we move to e-reserves (when practical) we can improve access for students who can reach the material from any computer that is connected to the internet.

How do we use this as a promotion tool? For articles and copies of articles, we can say that it's the students choice whether or not they print it or save it to their computers. Instead of handing them a paper copy, which they in turn copy, we can direct them to the online source, therefore saving paper.

A beginning of our ideas can be seen in our proposal.

Greeninig Circulation

brownez — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:59:40 CDT

What can we do at the circulation desk that will help to save the environment?

We have a café here at the library- and it's a rather unique situation. We essentially run the café, but receive not monetary gain from it, as it all goes to a larger corporation. This corporation supplies us with the food and supplies needed to run it, but we staff it.

The corporation provides us with Styrofoam cups- we wonder how easy it would be to convince them to allow us a bring-your-own-cup for a discount service. Or, we could charge them for a small not matter what size of cup they bring, if they bring their own. Is this ethical? Thoughts?

Some of our ideas are reflected in our proposal.

Greening the Library

brownez — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:59:24 CDT

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.

What the Library is already doing to help

brownez — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 09:27:38 CDT

The John Vaughan Library is already making strides to help save the environment.

Here we already have a recycling program for employees- but we're looking forward to expanding this to the general public. We recycle ink cartridges and used CDs.

What is your place of employment already doing to save the environment?

We can make a difference!

brownez — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:26:37 CDT

Welcome

We would like to invite anyone interested in conservation to join our wiki and share ideas on how to save the world while doing our jobs!

We are an university library in rural Oklahoma trying to make a difference. We're taking steps to conserve through everyday actions like using recycled paper to make scratch pads for students. We would love to hear your ideas on how we can best serve the environment at the same time as best serving our student body and members of the faculty.

Though we are a library, we really want to hear what other people are doing in their work spaces to be proactive towards the environment!

We plan to make a big deal about this! We're already thinking about applying for a government grant to add solar panels to our roof so that we can use natural power to run our building.

This is an interesting time to be a resident on planet earth. Please join us, and invite your friends to participate as well! The more ideas, the greater the impact.

e.

Image Source

Who We Are

Our Proposal

Getting the word out

Greening Circulation

Greening Reserve

Greening ILL/DD

Campus Environmental Committee

brownez — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:15:44 CDT

Campus wide conservation!

Campus Environment

Functions: This committee promotes environmental awareness, resource conservation, and public safety. It serves as a recommending body to the administration concerning safety and environmental issues. The primary goal of the committee is to make the University a safer place to work and study.

I am a member of the Campus Environment Committee and we just had our first meeting!

Some things I found out: the campus already uses environmentally friendly cleaners. We have a eye-glass recycling program through our Optometry Department. Also, there is tin can collection in Optometry!

It is exciting to know that NSU has already taken strides to become an environmentally friendly campus. I look forward to working with my fellow committee members. We talked about what the library is going to do and I will be writing an article about it for a newsletter that should go out on Earth Day- we're going to focus on what the campus is already doing to save the environment.

Our Videos

brownez — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:21:48 CDT

Our Favorite Videos!

To add YouTube videos:

Click on EasyEdit button, then delete one of the placeholder videos in the table.
Put your cursor in the empty cell, then go to theWidget button on the Toolbar, and select YouTube. Follow the directions in the window to search YouTube.

See also: Our Photos | Stuff We Like | Who We Are

VIDEO TITLE	VIDEO TITLE

VIDEO TITLE	VIDEO TITLE

VIDEO TITLE	VIDEO TITLE

VIDEO TITLE	VIDEO TITLE

VIDEO TITLE	VIDEO TITLE

VIDEO TITLE	VIDEO TITLE

VIDEO TITLE	VIDEO TITLE

Our Photos

brownez — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:21:26 CDT

Our photo scrapbook!

See also: Our Videos | Stuff We Like

	Add photo caption or credit here.
Add photo caption or credit here.	Add photo caption or credit here.
Add photo caption or credit here.	Add photo caption or credit here.
Add photo caption or credit here.	Add photo caption or credit here.

Library Energy Conservation

brownez — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:57:18 CDT

How can we ensure that we're conserving energy?

With a lively patron load, we deal with a lot of traffic. This means doors open and close often when students go in and out. Also, what about lighting? How can we save money on electricity when we have a duty to maintain a reasonable academic environment?

We've discussed trying to figure out how to us natural light as opposed to having lights on. There are some problems with this as we are a service institution- one that focuses on reading. How can we turn down the lights on our readers? Our particular building has a lot of windows- perhaps shutting the lights off by the windows would make sense.

Or, if that isn't practical, I wonder if there's a way to shut off every other "row" of lights. They're mostly ceiling fluorescent lights. We'll have to play around with some ideas on how to keep our patrons happy as well as conserve energy.

e.

Public Recycling

brownez — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:56:59 CDT

What are some of the challenges we face in offering public recycling?

Living and working in a rural area has a lot of bonuses- but also a lot of limitations. Even urban areas have loop-holes in their recycling programs, but living in a rural area has presented us with unique challenges.

Our local (Tahlequah, OK) recycling does not cover plastics. Also, we have to arrange for a monthly pick-up, and that could amount to a lot of recycling waiting to be picked up.

We've discussed making rounds ourselves, in order to keep our trash closets relatively clear, but we would love to hear some ideas on how other rural institutions are handing recycling needs.

Providing library wide recycling bins reflects our desire to give back to the community by providing the opportunity to recycle. We're also interested in becoming more socially active by participating and promoting Donation Drives.
e.

Donation Programs

brownez — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:56:38 CDT

Social activism can be an important part of spreading the word!

If we hold food or clothing drives at our library, how can we make the people who participate from the wider community aware of our "greening?" Are the two things even related?

I think that being proactive towards society as a whole will not only alleviate suffering but bring attention upon us- and spreading the word about our "greening" could make all the difference.

We could work with national or local charities to make these donation drives a success.

Texting and Conservation

brownez — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:42:23 CDT

How can using text messaging reduce our use of paper?

As mewst33 pointed out in theWelcome Thread, Millennium is updating their database to send text messages to students when they owe fines or a book needs to be renewed.

We could offer students the option of texting them the with the call numbers we send them with into the stacks. What other uses might we find for text messages?

One potential problem that I see with relying on text messaging- they aren't free. Students might not welcome text messages from the library that they have to pay for. Also, how will sending text messages from Millennium effect the library budget?

Should we reward them?

brownez — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:04:25 CDT

One of the ideas we've been kicking around is rewarding the students if they don't use all of their print quotas.

Students at NSU are given a 400 page quota as part of their tuition. We think that if we reward students who print 50 pages or less we could promote environmentally friendly printing habits.

What do you think we should reward them with? How could we pay for this? Jump drives have been suggested, but are still pricey.

Recycled Rain Water

brownez — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 15:15:22 CST

Recycling rain water to water plants: realistic conservation.

As part of our "greening" we would like to put a rain barrel in our atrium to catch and use rain water.

We have a decent collection of plants around the library. If we caught rain water, we wouldn't be using tap water for these plants.

One concern I would share is mosquitoes. Are there rain barrels out there that somehow prevent mosquitoes from using them as nesting sites?

e.

I suppose a container that somehow held the water below a layer of material would do the trick, keeping insect eggs out. that and a little vigilance toward emptying the barrel.
Mr.V

Public Relations

brownez — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:36:26 CST

In what ways will our campaign effect the University? How should we go about advertising?

As a library, the first things we think of as an advertising tool are, of course, bookmarks! We could find a business that will print our bookmarks on recycled paper!

Who We Are

flacktwin — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:58:49 CST

We're a group of people intrested in making our work places more environmentally friendly.

Go ahead and introduce yourself!!

Emily Brown Hi! I'm Emily, and I'm the Access Services Librarian here at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. I founded this wiki so that my coworkers and I would have a place to brainstorm about how to make our library green!	Hello!!!! I am Brande Flack a staff member and Graduate student at NSU. I am a member of the library Green Team and happy to be a participant in helping NSU develope an awareness and love for the planet!!!!!
Name:	Name:
Name:	Name:

See also: Our Videos | Our Photos | Stuff We Like

Blogs and Wikis

brownez — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:10:49 CST

How can communicating online using blogs and wikis reduce paper use?

Here at JVL we communicate via a closed blogger account. That means only people I allow to see the blog can see it- so there's no risk of our communications leaking to the general public (and I know how many of you are dying to know about the inner workings of a library).

Can we expect such communication to reduce paper use? We send less emails, yes, but that is already an electronic medium.

One thing to note, we share drives here at NSU. Saving documents to a shared drive does, in fact, reduce paper. Each person has the choice about whether or not to print an item found in a shared folder.