Becoming green and sustainable: a Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library case study

INTRODUCTION

Noted anthropologist Margaret Mead stated: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world” [1]. Replace “citizens” with “librarians” and replace “change the world” with “influence environmental issues,” and Margaret Mead's wisdom can be reworded to serve as an impetus for changing the way libraries affect the environment. Librarians can seize the opportunity to become role models and influence our institutions to start or maintain the greening process.

Simply stated, “greening” is having more care for the environment. Greening is a process, as well as a state of mind, and it calls for taking action. Greening involves a spirit of reciprocity. We take care of the environment that takes care of us, cultivating a relationship with the natural world that sustains us.

Sustainability means meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Practicing sustainability means using materials in continuous cycles, using renewable resources, and having less impact on the planet. Sustainable practices translate to caring for the environment.

Among the many greening issues for libraries include disposal of the following:

• packaging (cardboard, polystyrene plastic, plastic) from serials, books, software, computers, etc.;

• unneeded gifts;

• weeded materials;

• office paper waste generated from printing and copying;

• junk mail and printed email (Table 1);

• outdated computers;

• computer disks, CDs, and audiovisuals; and

• the normal waste stream of paper (Table 2), plastic, glass, food, cloth, and more.

Table 1 Junk mail

Table 2 Recycling statistics: by recycling one ton of paper you save

Additional greening issues relate to the following:

• utilities—water, electricity, gas, heating, and cooling—and

• building and grounds.

CASE STUDY

The Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, a medium-sized academic library located at the University of Utah, is engaged in the greening crusade and is working to encourage sustainable practices on campus. This effort requires rethinking everything we do in light of sustainability principles and the six-Rs of recycling: rethink, reduce, reuse, recycle, repurchase/recover, and rejoice (Table 3).

Table 3 The Six Rs

In the beginning, recycling efforts at the Eccles Library were minimal and championed by individuals. Aluminum cans were collected and the traditional “live” Christmas tree was replaced with poinsettias, but that was the extent of it. The library threw away tons of unneeded materials (gifts and weeded materials), paper, cardboard, plastic, and polystyrene plastic. The same was true at other campus libraries and throughout the University of Utah. Recycling was not mandated at the University of Utah. No voluntary campuswide recycling efforts existed other than the University Surplus and Salvage program, where departments could send unneeded furniture, computers, equipment, and so on, for redistribution within and outside the university.

At a certain point in the mid-1990s, the University of Utah contracted with BFI, a local waste management company, to recycle newspaper, white computer paper, and aluminum cans. Unfortunately, many of the other kinds of materials in the library's waste stream were not included, and recycling remained optional.

In 1999, the J. Willard Marriott Library, the main University of Utah library, formed a Green Team and invited the health sciences and law libraries to participate. The Green Team provided an opportunity to discuss how the libraries could become more environmentally sensitive in their practices. Initial discussions identified gifts and weeding as the major recycling concern. The Green Team invited University Custodial Services and BFI to discuss this issue. During the meeting, BFI indicated that taking these materials was not economically feasible for them. However, we were not deterred.

During an Earth Day event, a local nonprofit recycling group put us in touch with the South Valley Training Company (SVTC) as a potential recycling partner. (SVTC is a sheltered workshop program that teaches work skills to and provides jobs for mentally and physically challenged adults.) The three campus libraries negotiated a contract with SVTC to pick up bound and unbound journals, catalogs, telephone books, junk mail, and cardboard, once every three weeks for a fee of $80. Now, the libraries were able to accept gifts with the understanding that if they were not incorporated into our collection, they would at least be recycled.

About the same time, library staff became aware of a Northwest Earth Institute (NWEI) discussion course on voluntary simplicity [2]. The course became the catalyst for taking further action. Every two weeks during lunch, we discussed how to lessen our impact on the environment at home and work. A second discussion course on choices for sustainable living followed and strengthened our organizational commitment to greening. As a component of each of the sessions, we spent ten minutes discussing library issues. Initially, we addressed the plastic packaging associated with new journal issues. A container for recycling plastic was placed near the journal check-in station. As journal mail was opened the plastic could be tossed into the recycling bin. Staff members voluntarily take the plastic home to recycle in the city's curbside recycling program. It was a small step with wider impacts. With consciousness raised, staff and students began more concerted recycling efforts at work and home. This small success gave us the confidence to explore other changes like providing a recycling bin for tin, plastic, polystyrene plastic, and aluminum containers in the staff lounge. We even put our coffee grounds and food scraps in containers stored in the freezer. Staff members take this waste home for composting.

Further actions taken as a result of our greening discussions were

• setting up a recycling area for polystyrene plastic packaging,

• providing a container for collecting used batteries for proper toxic waste disposal,

• collecting and sending used CDs to a CD recycler,

• turning off computer monitors and office lights when not in use to save energy,

• encouraging staff to provide their own plates and utensils at library staff gatherings (staff picnic, holiday party, etc.),

• purchasing copy paper made from recycled paper,

• switching to recycled paper for printing library public relations materials,

• promoting campuswide and departmental recycling efforts,

• encouraging others to host the NWEI discussion courses, and

• spreading the word: through Earth Day activities, annual reports, poster sessions, and meeting presentations.

This bulleted list makes our greening efforts look easy, but a number of barriers were encountered along the way. For example, SVTC was a small company and eventually found it unprofitable to keep up with the volume of materials generated by the three campus libraries. In fact, they said they could only continue if they increased their fee by a factor of three. The libraries could not afford this cost, but our conscience would not allow us to ignore the long-term impact of filling up our landfills with paper waste. We discontinued the contract with SVTC. Everything could have collapsed at this point, but again we persisted. Discussions with friends and colleagues presented an alternative. We initiated discussion with Weyerhaeuser and negotiated an agreement that ended up costing us less than what we originally paid SVTC.

Additional barriers were related to money, time, space, and aesthetics. Cooperation with the other campus libraries addressed some of these barriers. The individual libraries alone could not have sustained the cost of this program. Neither the law nor health sciences library has enough storage space to hold large amounts of materials for recycling pickup. But the main campus library does and works with us to manage the overflow and to keep all areas looking presentable. Indeed the volume of the three libraries together (over 48 tons in the past 1½ years) made it worthwhile for Weyerhaeuser to consider a contract. A minimal commitment of staff time is required with recycling embedded into our daily routine. Weeding and gift-recycling responsibilities have been incorporated into a student assistant's job description. A member of the health sciences library staff serves as the primary contact with Weyerhaeuser, coordinating the program. The main campus library pays the bill, invoices the other libraries, and provides storage space and transportation for overflow.

SUMMARY

While recycling remains optional at the University of Utah, the libraries are creating change. As our case study illustrates, becoming a green library takes commitment from individuals as well as the larger organization. It is an evolutionary process, starting small and building step-by-step. From cans in lockers, to recycling bins, to cooperative recycling efforts among three libraries on campus, to encouraging similar steps in other campus departments, Eccles Library has begun its greening journey. Time, money, space, and support challenges have been faced and met with innovative and collaborative solutions. With support from staff and library colleagues, we have made a significant impact on reducing waste, recycling discarded materials, lessening our impact on the environment, and celebrating our successful efforts to make a difference.