編者按:
可持續(xù)發(fā)展是當(dāng)下全球的核心議題,也是我國“十四五”時期的政策重點,越來越受到國內(nèi)外圖書館領(lǐng)域的關(guān)注和重視。然而,業(yè)界對可持續(xù)發(fā)展圖書館的概念、圖書館和可持續(xù)發(fā)展的關(guān)系等問題仍存在一些認(rèn)知模糊。國際圖書館協(xié)會與機構(gòu)聯(lián)合會(International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, IFLA,以下簡稱“國際圖聯(lián)”)環(huán)境、可持續(xù)發(fā)展和圖書館專業(yè)組(Environment, Sustainability and Libraries Section,ENSULIB)是國際圖聯(lián)最活躍的專業(yè)組之一。ENSULIB承諾以聯(lián)合國可持續(xù)發(fā)展目標(biāo)、巴黎氣候協(xié)定以及聯(lián)合國其他相關(guān)文件為指導(dǎo),鼓勵圖書館員以更環(huán)保和可持續(xù)的方式行動,支持全球圖書館的綠色行動,為社區(qū)和社會的可持續(xù)發(fā)展作出貢獻(xiàn)。ENSULIB發(fā)起的國際圖聯(lián)“綠色圖書館獎”已經(jīng)成為為全球綠色圖書館和圖書館項目發(fā)聲的重要獎項。2022年和2023年,ENSULIB分別榮獲了國際圖聯(lián)“最具活力和影響力專業(yè)組”(Dynamic Unit and Impact Award, DUIA)特別提名獎和全面成就獎。為此,我們邀請了ENSULIB的3位主要負(fù)責(zé)人進(jìn)行對談,并就如何申報國際圖聯(lián)“綠色圖書館獎”提出建議,以期為業(yè)界理解和研究圖書館和可持續(xù)發(fā)展相關(guān)問題提供參考。
潘雅茵(Priscilla Pun):國際圖書館協(xié)會與機構(gòu)聯(lián)合會(International Federation of library Associations and Institutions, IFLA,以下簡稱“國際圖聯(lián)”)環(huán)境、可持續(xù)發(fā)展和圖書館專業(yè)組(Environment, Sustainability and Libraries Section,ENSULIB)秘書,曾任ENSULIB信息協(xié)調(diào)員(2021—2023年),澳門大學(xué)圖書館技術(shù)服務(wù)組事務(wù)主管。
哈里·薩哈維爾塔(Harri Sahavirta)博士:ENSULIB主席(2021—2023年),芬蘭赫爾辛基阿拉比亞圖書館(Arabianranta Library)和瓦里拉圖書館(Vallila Library)館長。自2011年以來,他一直是ENSULIB的積極成員,曾擔(dān)任ENSULIB小組召集人(2015—2019年)、秘書(2020年)等多個職務(wù),參與了歐洲多個與圖書館可持續(xù)發(fā)展相關(guān)的項目。
潘雅茵:2022年,ENSULIB給出了綠色圖書館的定義。請談?wù)勀鷮@個定義的理解,對于ENSULIB的使命而言,它意味著什么?
薩哈維爾塔:總的來說,我不太相信存在嚴(yán)格的定義,因為現(xiàn)象通常并不明確,而是相當(dāng)模糊的。并且,現(xiàn)象也在不斷變化,它們的條件在不同的時間和地點也可能有所不同。這一點對于綠色圖書館來說尤其如此。世界各地的綠色圖書館面臨著不同的環(huán)境挑戰(zhàn)和問題,我們對可持續(xù)發(fā)展概念的理解也在不斷深化。然而,ENSULIB對綠色圖書館的定義是意義重大的,因為過去通常認(rèn)為的綠色圖書館只關(guān)注圖書館建筑本身。綠色圖書館被簡單地定義為綠色圖書館建筑,忽視了可持續(xù)的圖書館服務(wù)以及可持續(xù)性的社會方面。因此,ENSULIB給出的這個定義是嘗試在現(xiàn)有定義的基礎(chǔ)上進(jìn)行拓展,并加深我們對可持續(xù)發(fā)展的理解。
潘雅茵:ENSULIB是何時成立的?您認(rèn)為當(dāng)時成立ENSULIB的必要性體現(xiàn)在哪里?
薩哈維爾塔:ENSULIB成立于2009年,當(dāng)時是作為國際圖聯(lián)的一個特別興趣小組。那會大家的討論還是主要集中在圖書館建筑方面,但也有一種新的認(rèn)識蓄勢待發(fā),圖書館員開始探討圖書館對環(huán)境可能產(chǎn)生的影響。隨著對氣候變化認(rèn)識的加深,出現(xiàn)這種情況也很正常。因此,有必要成立一個專門的工作組來研究環(huán)境問題,因為綠色建筑的概念已經(jīng)相對明確,但圖書館員對綠色圖書館服務(wù)的理解卻還是模糊不清的。最初,人們只是意識到圖書館提供共享空間(用于學(xué)習(xí)和工作等)和設(shè)施,而現(xiàn)在,圖書館代表著共享經(jīng)濟,也重視并強調(diào)和聯(lián)合國可持續(xù)發(fā)展目標(biāo)的關(guān)聯(lián)性。
潘雅茵:在ENSULIB成立初期,您是如何“定義”并強化其目標(biāo)的?在此過程中遇到了哪些困難或挑戰(zhàn)?
薩哈維爾塔:我參加了第一屆ENSULIB會議,當(dāng)時就提出了我的看法:我們無法重建所有的圖書館,但我們必須學(xué)會以更可持續(xù)的方式來運營現(xiàn)有的圖書館建筑。挑戰(zhàn)在于,這往往被理解成只需(僅需)遵循綠色辦公原則,即易于衡量且容易被添加到(一般的)環(huán)境項目和認(rèn)證中。當(dāng)時還沒有專門為圖書館量身定制的環(huán)境標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。
潘雅茵:過去十年間,世界各地的圖書館應(yīng)對環(huán)境挑戰(zhàn)方面的工作發(fā)生了哪些變化?有沒有一些根本性的范式轉(zhuǎn)變?
薩哈維爾塔:世界不同地區(qū)的情況各有不同。一些國家缺乏基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施,因此圖書館致力于提高人們對垃圾分類重要性的認(rèn)識;而另一些國家面臨著識字率低的困境,這顯然影響了人們對環(huán)境工作重要性的認(rèn)知;還有一些國家的問題主要是過度消費和數(shù)字垃圾。處于不同環(huán)境中的圖書館所扮演的角色自然也有相當(dāng)大的區(qū)別。
然而,隨著聯(lián)合國《2030年議程》(2015年)的啟動,我們可以明顯地看到根本性的轉(zhuǎn)變。現(xiàn)在,人們對可持續(xù)的理解更為廣泛,不僅強調(diào)了環(huán)境,還強調(diào)了其社會面(而非僅考慮經(jīng)濟因素)??沙掷m(xù)性和“責(zé)任”的社會面已成為關(guān)注的核心。
與此同時,關(guān)于藝術(shù)和文學(xué)以及它們?nèi)绾卧鰪娙藗兊倪m應(yīng)能力并給予人們力量的新思考也開始涌現(xiàn)。因此,趨勢已經(jīng)非常明顯:對圖書館和可持續(xù)發(fā)展的認(rèn)知已經(jīng)從圖書館建筑擴展到了圖書館事業(yè)的核心,涵蓋了信息獲取、共享空間和文學(xué)作品——對社會面因素重要性的認(rèn)識也日益深入。圖書館倡導(dǎo)平等和民主的價值觀,以期為討論環(huán)境問題提供平臺。
未來,圖書館應(yīng)更加關(guān)注數(shù)字化轉(zhuǎn)型對環(huán)境的影響。數(shù)字化減少了紙質(zhì)文獻(xiàn)和實體館藏的數(shù)量,但也帶來了數(shù)字足跡的問題,比如存儲數(shù)字?jǐn)?shù)據(jù)會對環(huán)境產(chǎn)生的影響。
潘雅茵:您認(rèn)為目前ENSULIB最具標(biāo)志性(或影響力)的活動是什么?接下來ENSULIB有什么計劃?
薩哈維爾塔:我認(rèn)為每年一次的國際圖聯(lián)綠色圖書館獎是一項非常了不起的活動。通過這個獎項,不僅優(yōu)秀的圖書館和圖書館項目得到了表彰,我們也在這一過程中為創(chuàng)建和制定綠色圖書館標(biāo)準(zhǔn)作了大量工作。我們希望入選的這些圖書館和項目能夠成為所有圖書館的靈感來源。
此外,ENSULIB也在積極地創(chuàng)建和發(fā)布有關(guān)可持續(xù)發(fā)展的各種形式文本,例如海報、核驗清單以及“讓圖書館變得更加綠色”的海報范例。這些內(nèi)容也被翻譯成多種語言以便讓更廣泛的用戶受益。
最后,值得一提的是,ENSULIB在2021年升級成為了專業(yè)組,原來只有幾個成員的特別興趣小組如今已發(fā)展成擁有近100名機構(gòu)和個人成員的專業(yè)組,其中還包括了許多圖書館協(xié)會。這意味著ENSULIB在國際圖聯(lián)和全球圖書館領(lǐng)域的重要性已大幅提升。
以下為訪談的英文原文:
The Understanding of Libraries and Sustainable Development is A Continuously Deepening Process
Pan:ENSULIB has made a definition of a green library in 2022. May I know how you think about this definition? Is it important to ENSULIBs missions and how?
Sahavirta:In general, I do not believe in strict definitions since phenomena are not usually unambiguous, but quite vague. Phenomena are also changing, and their conditions may vary at different times and locations. This holds certainly for green libraries. Green libraries confront different kind of environmental challenges and problems in different parts of the world and our conceptual understanding on sustainability still increases. However, ENSULIBs definition of green library is remarkable since the accepted one focused solely on library buildings. Green libraries have usually been defined as green library buildings and no weight has been given to sustainable library services, nor social aspects of sustainability. Thus, the new definition was an attempt to broaden the existing definitions and increase our understanding.
Pan:When was the ENSULIB SIG established? Why did you think it was necessary to establish ENSULIB at that time?
Sahavirta:ENSULIB was established as an IFLA Special Interest Group in 2009. At the time, the discussion concerned mostly the library buildings, but a new awareness was about to evoke, and librarians begun to ask what kind of environmental impact libraries might have. It may not be a surprise that this happened at the same time as the awareness of climate change increased. It was necessary to have a special group devoted to environmental questions since it was clear what makes a building green, but librarians had very vague idea of green library services. At first, it was realized that libraries offer shared spaces (for studying and working etc.) and devices – now libraries represent sharing economy and emphasize UNs SDGs.
Pan:How did you “define” and enhance ENSULIBs aims in the beginning of the establishment? Any difficulties or challenges?
Sahavirta:I participated the first ENSULIB sessions with a statement that we cannot rebuilt all the libraries but must learn to run libraries in a more sustainable manner in existing buildings. However, the challenge was that this was understood to mean (only) green office principles, i.e., activities which are easily measured and added to (quite general) environmental programs and certificates. There were not environmental criteria tailored for libraries.
Pan:How the environmental work in libraries has been changed during the past ten years indifferent parts of the world? Any paradigms have been shifted?
Sahavirta:The situation is naturally quite different in different parts of the world. There are countries where there are lacks in infrastructure and libraries attempt to increase the awareness of the importance on sorting waste while some other countries struggle with low literacy and its impact on environmental work. And finally, there are countries where the problem is mostly overconsumption and digital waste. Libraries role is quite different in all these situations.
Nevertheless, there has been a clear paradigm shift which begun (or became apparent) with UN Agenda 2030 and Sustainable Development Goals (2015). Sustainability was now understood in a broader sense, including social and environmental emphasizes (in addition to economic considerations). The social aspect of sustainability and “responsibility” have become central.
At the same time, new ideas arose concerning art and fiction and how they? promote resilience and empower people. Hence, 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.
In future, libraries should also think more the environmental impacts of the digital shift. Digitalization has decreased the number of printed documents and collections but there is also a digital footprint and, for example, storing digital data has environmental impacts.
Pan:What are the signature (or most impactful) activities of ENSULIB at present? What is the future plan of ENSULIB?
Sahavirta:I would say that IFLA Green Library Award which is given annually is a very remarkable activity. It is not only that great libraries and library projects are elected and prized, but we have done a lot of work to create and develop the criteria for green libraries. In addition, it is our wish the Award finalists would be a source of inspiration for all libraries.
ENSULIB has also been very active in creating and publishing short documents on sustainability, like poster, check lists and “what makes a library green”. These have been translated into several languages so that they would reach a broader audience.
Finally, one should not pass the fact that ENSULIB gained a full section status only two years ago. Former Special Interest Group with couple of members has grown into a section which has almost 100 institutional and personal members, including many library associations. This means that ENSULIBs significance in IFLA and in the global library field has increased enormously.