Page 222 - JOURNAL OF LIBRARY SCIENCE IN CHINA 2015 Vol. 41

Extended English abstracts of articles published in the Chinese Edition of Journal of Library Science in China 2015 Vol.41 221

Across the construction of the green library in the world, America is one of the most advanced
countries. After 30 years, whether in theoretical research or in practice field of green library,
Americans have gained great achievements, which are important references to our country.
From theoretical viewpoint, in the aspect of theoretical research of green building, application
of energy saving technology in the library, the design of energy saving structure in the library and
so on could be listed. In the field of theoretical research on library energy saving management,
scholars mainly discussed the recycling of library, and it is generally recognized that energy
management can reduce the carbon footprint of the library, environmental pollution, and also can
help librarians and readers to establish the concept of energy saving and the habit of environmental
protection. In the field of environmental accomplishment education of the public, scholars believe
that the library should actively participate in, which is an important part of library’s educational
function. In the field of practice, many American library buildings have achieved the LEED
certification. By 2010 April, 131 libraries (including branch) had been certified, among which
LEED 38, LEED Silver 47, LEED Gold 33, LEED Platinum 13. According to the survey by
USA Green Building Council, green buildings certified by LEED are more than 29% energy
saving than traditional buildings. In the energy-saving management, formulating energy-saving
and environmental protection plan, using energy saving and environmental protection products,
recycling or reusing waste materials, guiding librarians to develop energy saving habits have
become the universal energy saving management measures of library. In the field of environmental
accomplishment education of public, American libraries promote the energy saving and
environmental protection policy, organize reading, lectures and exhibitions, exchange goods and
other activities, so as to train the consciousness of environmental protection of the public.
The construction of America green library gives us the following enlightenment: first, to build
a sound institutional environment is the basis and guarantee of the construction of green library.
Second, cooperation with the government and other organizations is the key factor for the library to
carry out environmental protection work. Third, the academic research and practice complementing
each other is an important factor to make green library construction effective. Fourth, the value
pursuit in tune with public interest is an important prerequisite for the development of green
library.
This paper used the method of literature review, carried out analysis of the existing theoretical
findings from the time dimension and the theme dimension, and summarized American green
library practice. It takes the literacy education management, energy saving and the environmental
accomplishment education of public as the“latitude”, the theory and practice as the“meridian”,
to conduct a comprehensive analysis and research on the construction of the green library in the
United States.
Because of the academic papers involving the United States green library (including network
papers) are more than 100 articles, due to the limited space, this paper only did an in-depth analysis
of the ideas and contents of some representative results.