Greening of the Campus

Greening of the Campus is the title of a series of conferences held at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, over the last ten years that "allows people representing diverse areas in university communities to share information on environmental issues." The campus community, say the organizers, "can become a 'green' model for society as a whole by gathering and sharing this information." The seventh and most recent conference in the series took place this week and included presentations in the categories of Education, Research, Service and Operations.

In today's Wisconsin Week . . .

In today's Wisconsin Week is a story about a UW employee, Jim Winkle, who has made a switch to solar power for his Madison home.

The article quotes him as saying, "I've just become more and more aware over the years of the environmental impact of the way we live. . . . You think of [electricity] as this clean energy, this clean thing coming out of your wall outlet, but in fact it's the largest source of greenhouse gases."

Read more at Wisconsin Week

"Balance" or disinformation?

According to today's Independent (UK daily newspaper), the BBC has decided to withdraw a major program on global warming titled "Planet Relief," (see the Independent at http://environment.independent.co.uk/climate_change/article2934318.ece) arguing that it is "not the BBC's job to lead opinion on the global warming issue."

This politicization into "opinion" of what is now overwhelming scientific evidence is very familiar to those of us who live in the United States. Calls for "balance" have resulted in a tiny minority of mostly non-scientists wielding influence in terms of air time or print space disproportionate to their numbers. Their claim to equal time with the scientific community results in a distortion of the truth that amounts to a disinformation campaign, which the BBC has unfortunately decided to join.

Librarians, like journalists, need to critically examine the notion of balance. Adherence to the Library Bill of Rights should not be a pretext for librarians to stand back from this crucial issue. Is it possible that one of the reasons that the library community has so far failed to take a concerted stand on global warming (just as in the past it unfortunately failed to take a major stand on civil rights) is because we are afraid of entering the political fray? If so, then the disinformation campaign has succeeded. The fact of global warming is not a matter of opinion.

Far from "leading opinion" the BBC program would have been reporting on what is already standard knowledge among scientists. Balance requires that information agencies like the mass media and libraries bring this vitally important information to the public as much as possible, not that they give equal time to a minority of nay-sayers who are the modern equivalent of flat-earthers.

Reading information studies: Planetary Management

Folks following this weblog might want to check out another UW-Madison SLIS effort, "Reading Information Studies," where next Friday July 20 on the Terrace at 3pm we'll be discussing Fernando Elichirigoity's book Planetary Management: Limits to growth, computer simulation, and the emergence of global spaces.

Friday July 20 3pm: Fernando Elichirigoity, Planet Management: Limits to Growth, Computer Simulation, and the Emergence of Global Spaces (Northwestern University Press, 1999). [paper: $28]

Planet Management is a study of, and contribution to, the history of "globality"--the emergence of a complex organization of politics, economics, and culture at a planetary rather than a national level. Drawing on historical archival research as well as recent theoretical work in science studies and critical theory, the book tell the story of the central role of technoscientific discourses and practices in the emergence of globality.

New blog title

You'll notice I've changed the title of our blog to "Libraries, information, and sustainability." Mostly this was because the earlier title was a mess and and this one is more memorable. But I think this topic has resonance outside of UW-Madison SLIS and I wanted a title that would be more welcoming to faculty, staff, students, and other professionals from the wider UW community (and beyond).

Is Harry Potter green?

Only two weeks to the release of the last Harry Potter book. (Full disclosure: I'll be buying one and reading it non-stop the day it's released.) But with all those books printed and shipped to all those bookstores around the world, should we be considering the environmental impact as well as the educational and entertainment value of the event? Over at the Britannica Blog, a posting asks How green is this Harry Potter?

In March Scholastic announced its plans for what it called “a historic commitment” to the environment. For its first print run, Scholastic said, 12 million copies of The Deathly Hallows would use paper with “a minimum of 30% post-consumer waste (pcw) fiber.” In addition,

65% of the 16,700 tons of paper used in the U.S. first printing will be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the global standard-setter for responsible forest management.

Scholastic also announced that it would produce 100,000 copies of a “deluxe edition” that would use 100 percent pcw fiber for its 784 pages of text and FSC-certified paper for its jacket.

As a large collective of institutional purchasers, I wonder what leverage libraries might have in convincing publishers to increase the use of recycled material in their products.

Eco-Librarians Continuing Ed Course

When this sustainability discussion started, I wanted to be proactive about the effort. CES hosted a library design conference in April which featured Wisconsin's first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) library built in nearby Cross Plains. The library's director, Pam Bosben, has expanded on the LEED ideals by providing environmental-based programming for all ages, encouraging staff to reduce consumption, and working with local green organizations to establish the library as a community leader of sustainability. She's fabulous and it makes absolute sense for her to share her philosophies and actions with the broader library world.

I contacted her about developing an online, non-credit course about how to make libraries greener and she enthusiastically accepted. The course is set to be offered during Spring 2008. In my perusing of continuing ed courses, I have not come across anything similar. It's exciting to be able to offer such a unique and undoubtedly important class from SLIS! Spread the news! Publicity about the course will be distributed this Fall.