Libraries and Sustainability

Libraries are founded on principles of sustainability in that they seek to provide access to information for all people, and they do this by sharing and re-using resources. Because of this, it is not unusual to find that in this modern age of frequent budget cuts, libraries are also finding creative ways to collaborate with each other, in order to share more resources with more people, all the while using fewer resources to do so.

Featured in the picture above are a stack of books I have enjoyed reading during this Memorial Day weekend. Each of these books are related to sustainability, and they are also all from a number of different libraries. And, the really cool thing is, the only place I had to go to pick them up was the library here at Western, (where I also happen to work five days a week), so really it couldn't have been any easier for me!

 Some of the books are from Western Libraries' own collection, some are from the Bellingham Public Library, while others I borrowed via the Summit system. Bellingham Public Library has a courier that comes to campus twice a week to drop off and pick up public library materials for those of us who have requested or returned them, which means you can have your public library requests delivered to Western Libraries for pickup any time you want! All you need is your public library card, and the ability to request your materials online from the public library.

Likewise, Summit offers you access to the collections of 37 academic libraries throughout Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. With a shared catalog and efficient loan system in place, requesting an item from Summit online is easy to do. It generally takes 3-5 business days for your item to arrive, and you will receive an email letting you know when it is at the library Circulation desk.  (And, for more information about any of these services, please feel free to stop by the Circulation desk!)

So you see, not only do you have Western Libraries' books at your fingertips, you also have access to a whole bunch of other libraries' collections as well! How's that for sharing resources? Now the only problem is finding the time to read everything . . .