Name: Harri Sahavirta, PhD, chief librarian and chair of IFLA ENSULIB

Institution: Arabianranta and Vallila libraries, Helsinki City Library

Country: Finland

Biography: He has served as project manager in many national projects, like Environmental Sustainability into the 2020s in Public Libraries (2020-2021), “Changing soundscapes of Public Libraries” and “Public libraries as promotors for adult reading”. He has also worked in many environmental projects in Helsinki City Library. He has been an active member of Environment, Sustainability and Libraries IFLA Special Interest Group (ENSULIB) since 2011 and the convenor of the group 2015-2019 and secretary in 2020. He is the chair of the ENSULIB section 2021-2023. harri.sahavirta@hel.fi

Abstract: Humankind may be facing the greatest challenge ever: the climate change and environmental crisis. This has been known for a while and it is recognized broadly in international and national levels. In addition to the Paris Climate Agreement, there are UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and several national acts like Climate-Neutral Finland 2035 and Climate Neutral Helsinki 2030. The challenge concerns also institutions – commercial as well as non-profit. Hence, it is clear that sustainability is also libraries business, and that there are no real counterarguments for that. Libraries have begun to emphasize environmental work relatively recently. It may have been assumed that libraries are already climate-neutral: they do not have great emissions and circulate collections. Another reason might be that libraries did not know what environmental work would – in practice – mean in the library framework. In some respects, it is still an open question. It was architects who first paid attention to the environmental aspects of libraries and formed the Green Library Movement at the turn of century. Hence, it was quite natural that green libraries were defined as green library buildings and the discussion concerned such features as the location and energy-efficiency of libraries. The definition was soon enriched by green office principles – and later on by carbon footprint measurements. This emphasis was also clear in ENSULIB’s working from 2009 on (when it was first established). The library building and green office practices form the basement for libraries’ environmental work. However, it was soon noted that this is not enough. My own argument in IFLA WLIC 2011 was that we cannot rebuild all libraries and thus we must learn to run existing libraries in a more environmentally sustainable manner. A new phase in libraries’ environmental work was about to begin with sustainable library services. The new focus concerned open access to reliable and up-dated environmental information along with shared spaces and devices. This approach has been enriched lately by new concepts like the sharing economy and a carbon-neutral circular economy. The third phase arose a couple years ago when UN’s Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals were published (2015). Sustainability was now understood in a broader sense, including social and environmental emphasizes (in addition to economic considerations). At the same time, new ideas concerning art and fiction and how they promote resilience and empower people. The development has been quite clear: libraries and sustainability stemmed from the buildings to the core of librarianship, including access to information, shared spaces, and fiction – while social aspects also gained weight. Libraries advocate equality and democratic values and wish to offer a forum for discussion on environmental issues. This development has been welcome but includes also some challenges shared in this presentation.