WHAT IS SUSTAINABILITY?
Sustainability represents a societal goal regarding the ability of humans to coexist safely on Earth for long periods of time. Sustainability; defined in three contexts: environmental, economic and social. Today, sustainability is on our agenda more than ever before. People try to act more carefully by calculating how the planet we live in will be affected as a result of each step they take.
Countries and institutions do not remain indifferent to this issue and try to find solutions to problems with various action plans. The most important of these is the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which was adopted by the United Nations Member States in 2015. The agenda identifies 17 Sustainable Development Goals, including eradicating poverty and hunger, improving education, protecting natural resources such as water quality, oceans and forests.
Libraries play a strong role in achieving these 17 goals. According to the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), libraries have both a global reach and an innate understanding of local priorities.
AREAS THAT LIBRARY CONTRIBUTES
Librarians have a strong position in their society as a repository of knowledge and experience. By promoting sustainable practices and concepts, libraries can inspire others to adopt new behaviors.
IFLA's Environment, Sustainability and Libraries Section rewards libraries for their sustainability efforts with the IFLA Green Library Award.
Our posters, which we prepared in Turkish and English with the aim of contributing to the studies on sustainability under IFLA, were accepted and published on the "Environment, Sustainability and Libraries - Green Library Poster" page of IFLA. We were the first library from Turkey to participate in this study. You can review our poster work and the relevant web page via the links below.
The Green Library Poster - IFLA
Today, libraries have started to act environmentally friendly in their design, construction and renovation processes. While replacing old library buildings with a new, energy-efficient one, libraries take sustainable measures such as motion detector LED lights, wall and ceiling insulation, energy-efficient windows and solar panels, thereby reducing their carbon footprint and reducing utility bills such as electricity.
Libraries also have the opportunity to evaluate and modify their programs to reflect progress towards sustainability. Notable efforts currently underway include libraries expanding the material their users can borrow. For example, in some library systems, users can borrow toys, seeds, musical instruments and even new technologies.
ACADEMIC LIBRARIES and SUSTAINABILITY
ACADEMIC LIBRARIES
Libraries play an important and unique role in raising awareness of climate change resilience and a sustainable future, providing the latest resources for researchers on these topics, supporting further academic research and accelerating progress towards solutions to problems.
While academic libraries are involved in reducing the carbon footprint of the library, they also have an impact on sustainability by working in partnership with different institutions and services that support access to research related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
SUPPORTING SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCHES
Libraries play an important role in developing solutions to global problems such as climate change, energy resources, and economic equality. Libraries provide the necessary printed and electronic resources for scientists, enabling research to be carried out and solutions to be found.
The increase in open access publications on issues such as climate change, equality, peace and justice and the announcement of these publications to their stakeholders through the library will facilitate the work of scientists doing research on these issues, and the data they access free of charge will have a high impact on their research output.
At this stage, Librarians should closely follow the resources in the literature on issues such as climate change, environment and economy in order to support the studies of their users and take the necessary initiatives to add these resources to the collection. It should also make plans for the effective use of the enriched collection. Trainings should be organized to announce the resources and to use these resources.
Thanks to the resources it has, the library can act as a guide for its researchers about which studies are carried out in which field and with whom they can cooperate for these studies from different sectors. For this, it can prepare and announce its works such as effective publications list, popular research topics list, interdisciplinary collaborations sample lists, and organize trainings.
Laptop use: Laptops use less electricity than desktop versions. Desktop computers have been replaced with laptop computers in the İstinye University Library. Thus, an attempt was made to influence the carbon footprint reduction work.
GREEN COLLECTION
You can access the printed materials in the ISU Library collection on sustainability from here.
Depending on your research needs, you can access ISU Library databases and e-book collections from here.
For books, articles, book chapters and theses that are not in the ISU Library collection, the Interlibrary Loan and Document Supply Service (ILL) provides borrowing service from the libraries we have contracted with. For your book, article, book chapter and thesis requests, you can fill in the "ILL Request Form" on the Library website and send them to us.
Click here to access the top 40 highly cited sustainability journals in the Web of Science (WoS).
Click for more information about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Sustainable structures (buildings), equipment and management click here to access the checklist.
You can find the latest publication of Sustainable Development Solutions Network on how university campuses can be greened here.
Top Action Tips for Academic Librarians
Click here to access the list of Best Action Tips for Academic Librarians, created by the SDG Publishers Compact Fellows, which united to make Sustainability and Sustainable Development Goals the center of science and learning.
ISTINYE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY and SUSTAINABILITY
As Istinye University Library, we are working to carry out activities that support the sustainability movement in order to raise awareness in the communities we are in contact with (within the university, NGOs, the district and city we are in, etc.) with the goal of leaving a smaller carbon footprint. While the connections we have established enable us to reach more people and institutions, we have opportunities to set an example and pioneer the society in this regard.
Laptops use less electricity than desktop versions. At Istinye University Library, the desktop computers used by the staff were replaced with laptops. Thus, it was tried to have an impact on carbon footprint reduction efforts.
Promote the use of personal cups for less paper waste.
Thanks to smart building technologies, systems such as heating, lighting and ventilation are turned off in unused parts of the library to save energy.
Organizing meetings with our stakeholders as online video conferences to reduce carbon footprint.
Protecting the green by reducing paper consumption by using the other side of used paper and reusing it.
Aiming to maintain the balance of heat and fresh air by giving more space to plants in the library.
Supporting environmental protection through recycling bins.
Reduce water consumption with a purified water dispenser.
Sensor faucets and lamps reduce water and electricity consumption in unused areas and air-flow dryers reduce the use of paper napkins.
Paper consumption is reduced through e-journal subscriptions instead of printed periodicals.
Preparing a monthly online newsletter for communication with internal and external stakeholders.
Use of electronically prepared visuals instead of printed posters for innovations, services and announcements, and active use of social media to share these visuals.
By using cloth bags instead of paper or plastic bags, plastic waste is reduced and green is protected.
Notification by e-mail instead of the information slip used in loan return transactions.
Use electronic shared document and cloud systems to minimize the use of paper.
Turn off all computers used by library users every evening when the library is closed. Turning off the lights in unused areas on off-peak days saves energy.
Donating saplings to the speakers after library events as a memorial instead of plaques.
To be a stakeholder in meetings on climate change, environment and open science, and to announce the activities carried out within the university.
UNAK 2022 Symposium
On September 29-30, 2022, with the theme "Carrying the Present into the Future: Libraries and Sustainability" hosted by Konya Necmettin Erbakan University on September 29-30, 2022, Bahar Biçen Aras, Head of the Information Resources and Library Department, presented the paper titled "Vision for a Sustainable Society: Turkish Librarians Association" in the online session.
Click here to access the presentation.
National Open Science Conference
As ISU Library, we held the "National Open Science Conference", which has been organized regularly every year since 2011 in our country, with the theme of "Openness for Climate Justice", which is the main theme of International Open Access Week this year, on October 20, 2022, hosted by Istinye University in cooperation with IYTE, TÜBİTAK and Hacettepe University. At the conference, where we hosted 100 listeners and 14 speakers from 45 different institutions and different cities at ISU Congress Center, we discussed open access by health, law, libraries and education.
UNAK Sustainable Libraries Webinar Series-2
On June 22, 2023, with the theme of "Sustainable Libraries Webinar Series-2", ÜNAK Sustainable Libraries Working Group hosted an online webinar and Bahar Biçen Aras, Head of Information Resources and Library Department, presented "Supporting Sustainability: What is Istinye University Library Doing?" in the online session.
Click here to watch the webinar.
UN SDSN (United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network) Turkey Meeting
UN SDSN Turkey Members Board Meeting was held on June 14th at Boğaziçi University Nafi Baba Building. 28 rectors, vice-rectors and representatives from 28 universities and two NGOs attended the meeting. On behalf of Istinye University, Vice Rector for Academia Prof. Dr. Hatice Gülen and Head of Library Department Bahar Biçen Aras took their places. At the meeting, new projects and participant suggestions were evaluated within the scope of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were determined in 2015 and aimed to be achieved by 2030.
Prof. Dr. Hatice Gülen also informed the participants about the IFLA Green Library Poster study conducted within the scope of Istinye University sustainability studies.
UN SDSN (United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network) Turkey: http://unsdsn.boun.edu.tr/
The Future Information Workshop 26-29 October 2023
The "Future Information Workshop," which has been held every two years since 2015 (2015, 2017, 2019, and 2021), was organized in Antalya from October 26 to 29 this year with the theme "The Libraries of the Future: What to Expect?"
The workshop brought together librarians, library administrators, and participants from various disciplines. The meeting, attended by 155 participants from 105 different institutions, addressed topics relevant to libraries and discussed issues that will influence the shaping of libraries in the future.
Bahar Biçen Aras, the Head of Information Resources and Library Department, participated as a guest speaker in the fifth session of the workshop, titled "The Role of Libraries in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals." In her presentation titled "How Can Libraries and Librarians Help Us Achieve Sustainable Development Goals? The Case of Istinye University Library," Bahar Biçen Aras discussed sustainability and the sustainability efforts of Istinye University and Istinye University Library within the context of libraries in general.
