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 de- velopment, adding eco-e ciency as a measuring tool and generally acting in an environmentally friendly manner, library sta can assist in realizing the sustain- ability of the library.

The strong involvement of standards in the areas of libraries and documentation, is illustrated by the best known standards such as cataloging formats, transliteration, the quality management (ISO 9001) and indicators of library performance (ISO 11620).The least known of the standards that must be the emblem of each library: – ISO 14001 for organizing and integrating the consideration of the environment in organizations’ functioning; -The last recommendation of the ISO 26000 standard provides an understanding of the social responsibility of organizations.

In addition, there are national standards and labels that should be known, such as the French Environmental Quality (HQE) and incorporated for creating awareness of sustainable development and environmental protection in the various activities of libraries and documentation services. Few librarians know these environmental standards. To make Libraries environmentally and socially responsible, IFLA must disseminate these environmental standards and make them intelligible to our libraries and documentation committees and communities.

Vallila Library is a medium sized public library and belongs to the Helsinki City Library. It was the first public institution to seek and receive the EcoCompass environmental label (2011). We created our own environmental strategies and policies, and reviewed such activities as recirculation and recycling. However, we could not decide alone on what kind of greener actions should be adopted; we are not independent actors. It was not always clear what kind of actions should be taken and what to measure. The greatest challenge was nobody had spelled out the concept of ‘green library’: we were forced to view the issue on a broader scale. It seemed that the best option was to show others the road to becoming green(er). Our commitment to environmental responsibility shows that we consider green values to be important. We offer easy access to information on ecological issues and arrange events that focus on environmental issues. We have to tell the world (and decision makers) that libraries are responsible actors and promote environmental sustainability. Commitment to green values may increase environmental sustainability and help libraries to take a new and visible role in changing society.

The University of Melbourne has embarked upon a bold strategy to ensure its place as one of the finest universities in the world, a strategy founded upon excellence in research, learning and teaching, and engagement. Released in July 2008, Melbourne’s Scholarly Information Future is a ten-year strategy to guide the development of the University’s scholarly information services, collections, systems, technologies and infrastructure.

The implementation of this strategy will see the creation of physical library environments that support the development of the scholarly communities and facilitate a sense of belonging as well as providing an information environment that is distinguished by ease of use, equity of access, quality of content and richness of possibility.

The University is now two years into an ambitious programme of library redevelopments. Key deliverables for these new buildings and infrastructure are linked to the effective delivery of services to support the academic community but also high on the agenda as a key deliverable is reducing the environmental footprint to improve environmental sustainability

In 2009, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opened a new library designed to meet the rigorous standards set by the U.S. Green Building Council for newly constructed facilities. The success of the project was officially recognized in 2009 when the Church History Library received its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. This paper will trace how building plans originally focused on preserving archival materials were expanded to address larger environmental concerns. Also explored will be the impact a single green facility can have on the sustainable practices of entire organization. Topics covered will include:

As a public building and a cultural service institution, library should take the initiative to protecting environment. A new project named Energy Saving and Emission Reduction of Libraries (ESERL) has been launched and convened many experts to conduct research. According to the research and analysis, two solutions by project experts are proposed to help reduce energy consumption and energy cost in the library. First, reconstruct high energy-consuming libraries by EMC. Second, add energy saving design and technology in the new building. The construction of new building of Zhengzhou Library is a successful example of such concept. The energy saving and green building design of new building of Zhengzhou Libraries consists five parts: integrating energy management system in monitoring and control systems, complex vacuum glazing of building envelope, energy saving illuminating system, convertible frequency air-conditioner of HVAC and rainwater utilization system.