Environmental Sustainability and Libraries Special Interest Group
& Core Activity on Preservation and Conservation (PAC)

The IFLA Environmental Sustainability and Libraries SIG invites papers for its Open Session on the topic of sustainable development to transform libraries in an environmentally friendly manner.

The program of the SIG will relate to the main theme of the conference, Open access to knowledge: promoting sustainable progress. It will do so at the level of the ways in which libraries engage in practices that are sustainable or advocate sustainability.

The theme of the session:

Interest in environmental topics becomes more and more central in society. Today's libraries are facing energy crises, growing prices of essential resources, cuts in public funding, growing consumption of resources.

Even if a few new green libraries are emerging, most of them remain important places where resources are being wastefully consumed. So the question is how to develop or convert libraries to make them sustainable or to help them contribute to general sustainability? This topic may cover the following points:

Buildings
Renovation or adaptation of buildings: ways to reduce environmental impact without building a new library. Design or re-design of electricity and air-conditioning systems, taking advantage of sunlight and local climate conditions.

People
Respect for health and wellness of patrons and employees as a focal point for
transforming the library in sustainable ways.
Risk assessment of Wifi, RFID, nanotechnologies, etc., as regarding health
hazards.
How to involve users in the library's sustainability program?

Uses
How to make library use green?
Solutions include, but are not limited to: cooperation with environmental NGOs, facilitating access to soft transport (bicycles, roller...), offering recycling containers (cans, bottles, batteries...) or promoting green bags (paper or cotton?).

Management
What guidelines could libraries develop concerning best practices?
Which tools are already available to help employees to work sustainably?
What environment-friendly tools and procedures could the library produce to become sustainable?

The Preservation and Conservation core program and the IFLA section for Preservation and Conservation offer a rich production on the subject of collections so this topic doesn't need to be covered this year by the Sustainabilty SIG, except maybe as it concerns collection building in certain subject areas.

If your library is engaged in one of the above topics or related issue, the Environmental Sustainability and Libraries SIG would be pleased to welcome you to its public session. Papers based on facts rather than theoretical aspects of any of the points will be preferred.

Language of the session:

The paper should be in one of the IFLA official languages. As simultaneous interpretation is not guaranteed for this Open Session, it is strongly recommended that the presentation slides be in English, even if the presentation is delivered in one of the other official languages.

Important dates and information:

Proposals for papers must be submitted by: 22 April 2010.
Proposals should be sent to Veerle Minner van Neygen, Convenor of the Environmental Sustainability and Libraries SIG : veerle.minner@yahoo.es and
Vincent Bonnet, co-convenor of the SIG : vincentbonnet.1@free.fr

The proposal should clearly indicate:

• Title of proposed presentation
• Outline of the proposed presentation (no more than 300 words)
• Name(s) of presenter(s)
• Position or title of presenter(s)
• Presenter(s) employer or affiliated institution
• E-mail address
• Telephone/fax numbers
• Short biographical statement regarding the presenter/s

All proposals will be evaluated by a refereeing committee representing the IFLA Environmental Sustainability and Libraries SIG.

Successful candidates will be notified by 3 May 2010 and must submit the full paper by 30 May 2010 to allow time for the review of papers and preparation of translations.

Abstracts and full papers should be submitted by email
Paper length should be 10 pages maximum, single spaced.

Text should be in English, French or Spanish with a one-page abstract. Each presenter will be allowed 20 to 30 minutes for a summary delivery of the paper followed by clarifications and discussion.

The author(s) should indicate personal full contact details and include summary curriculum vitae with the paper.

During the actual presentation, the presenter should not read the paper, but rather explain the main ideas in a natural way.

Please note

All expenses, including registration for the conference, travel, accommodation etc., are the responsibility of the authors/presenters. No financial support can be provided by IFLA, but a special invitation can be issued to authors/presenters if that is required.