The Importance of Green Libraries in terms of Sustainability

Abstract

Since the mid-1970’s, the world's civil society organizations and state institutions have started to worry about the concept of sustainable development. A report entitled our common future was prepared by the World Commission on Environment and Development/WCED and the report set out the ideal of a society in which future generations ability to meet their own needs can be carried out in harmony with the natural environment. According to this ideal, in order to achieve environmental sustainability the damage to the environment must be repaired and the harmful works carried out in the past should be reduced to the maximum level possible. In this case, it obliges both individuals and institutions to change their behavior. In this respect, the Green Library movement started in the early 1990’s as a result of the fact that libraries were also interested in environmental issues in general. With Green Library movement, literature on Green Libraries began to develop and as a result awareness on the subject began to increase. The Green Libraries bibliography which covers the years 1971-2012, contains 218 publications. Starting in 2016 a Green Library Award is presented to a library annually by the IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutes). In the article; by developing Green Libraries emphasis has also been placed on protecting library buildings from disasters and various fires. At the same time, the future of green library current status of state institutions in the world and in Turkey and Turkey has focused on the needs improvement.