NSK joins “Resolution Earth”, one of Croatia’s largest environmental projects
The National and University Library in Zagreb (NSK) has joined Resolution Earth (Rezolucija Zemlja), one of Croatia’s largest environmental projects, formally becoming the Friend of the Project, along with currently over 50 other institutions, organisations, companies, associations and legal entities in Croatia acting in this capacity. Run by the Večernji list daily, Resolution Earth was awarded the 2023 INMA Global Media Award for Best Community Service Campaign as the best project in its category in the world among 775 submitted projects of 239 prominent media companies from 40 countries.
NSK’s initiatives with regard to the significance of Croatia’s natural heritage and its preservation through transitioning to sustainable development have since 2016 been organised as part of the Green Library for Green Croatia programme (Zelena knjižnica za zelenu Hrvatsku), which has so far included a wide range of activities and the Library’s successful cooperation with a number of institutions and organisations in the library, heritage and other sectors in Croatia and abroad.
NSK 2023 Libraries and Sustainable Development project
Carried out as the latest activity of the Green Library for Green Croatia programme was Libraries and Sustainable Development: Strengthening NSK capacities, the Library’s 2023 project focusing on the development of the NSK Green Plan and including a number of educational workshops for NSK staff of which the last one spotlighted the need for adjusting everyone’s daily habits, including those at work, to sustainability requirements. Held in December 2023 by communication specialist, founder of the Ja bolji građanin green citizenship initiative and Croatia’s famous green influencer Marina Matijević, the workshop programme also presented guidelines on the proper management of waste produced by libraries.
Promoting environmental awareness through citizen science initiatives
The Library’s green activities in 2023 included the Green Is Smart – Smart Library NSK Goes Green project, aimed at upgrading the Smart Library NSK mobile application through the addition to it of environmental awareness-oriented content and functionalities, while some of these activities have been organised as part of citizen science initiatives, which the Library has been undertaking since 2022. After joining forces with other libraries and institutions in the Croatian educational system to add to the Croatian Web Archive relevant sustainability-focused online content, NSK brought together experts on natural heritage and Croatian secondary school and university students through an exciting survey combining science and culture to promote environmental awareness.
Going global – and gaining international recognition
By far the greatest success of the NSK Green Library for Green Croatia programme is the organisation in 2018 of the world’s first international conference on green libraries, Let’s Go Green!, which brought together library specialists and internationally acclaimed researchers, experts and activists in different green areas and presented green library initiatives from more than 20 countries. The conference’s second edition was held in 2023, representing another step forward in presenting the impact of libraries on facilitating the attainment of sustainable development through their role in building resilient, sustainability-focused communities, advocating sustainability practises among the local population to which they cater and bringing sustainability-related issues closer to younger generations.
After fist getting international recognition by winning the 2018 IFLA Green Library Award for its 2017 NSK Green Festival, the Green Library for Green Croatia programme was crowned one of the winners of the 2023 Energy Globe Award, considered the ‘Oscar’ for best sustainability projects and initiatives from all around the world.
Jointly advocating for the protection of Croatia’s natural heritage
Since the beginning of the Green Library programme and in cooperation with institutions safeguarding Croatia’s natural and cultural heritage, NSK has organised a number of exhibitions bringing into spotlight some of Croatia’s greatest natural treasures such as the river Krka, its fascinating waterfalls, underground and other natural phenomena, along with the rich cultural and historical heritage in its surrounding region. The same cooperation initiatives resulted in the putting on of these joint exhibitions all across Croatia as well as in the creation of related online exhibitions, mobile applications and online quizzes.
Taking action and responsibility for a faster transition to sustainability
A significant part of the NSK Green Library programme is also aimed at directly interacting with the Library’s users in order to bring to their attention sustainability-related issues through activities ranging from displaying in the user areas attractive content presenting Croatia’s national parks, through organising events presenting The European Green Deal and other European Union’s green polices, to systematically promoting the growing need for adjusting everyone’s daily habits to sustainability standards by putting up stimulating messages in the Library’s user and staff areas as well as posting them on its pages and profiles on social media platforms.
Committed to reducing its own carbon footprint, in 2022 the Library drew up its energy efficiency guidelines, whose implementation, achieved in cooperation with the Library’s users, resulted in a 25% saving of heating energy and a 15% saving in electricity consumption during a seven-month period (October 2022 – April 2023).
After many successful joint endeavours of the Library and Večernji list, through this latest cooperation initiative we wish to contribute to further raising public awareness of the vital importance of sustainable development, the preservation of the natural environment and a faster reaching of sustainability standards when it comes to lifestyle, daily habits and the sphere of work and corporate activity.
Learn more about the activities which NSK organised in 2023 as part of its Green Library programme in the electronic edition 20th issue of the Library’s journal, The Voice of NSK.
