Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
actual, or de facto, privatization of public libraries so important, though, is their
continuing relevance to maintaining meaningful democratic processes and a moral
economy that distinctly upholds, supports and realizes the notion of a cultural
commons (Blewitt, 2012). Free and ready access to knowledge and information,
topics, journals and other cultural artefacts have been, and remain, essential to civil
liberty - the freedom of expression, assembly and democratic decision-making. The
continuing existence of free, safe and trusted public spaces where this knowledge
and information can be pondered, discussed and questioned is thus of utmost
significance. Informed judgements are only possible if free deliberation and free
access to information, including assenting and dissenting voices, exists. If dissenting
voices are crowded out or silenced by corporations or governments, truth and liberty,
as John Stuart Mill wrote in
On Liberty
(1974: 111) 'would lose something'. The
clear fact that today much of this information takes a digital form renders the need
for the public library all the greater, especially as the Internet too, the cyber commons,
is increasingly becoming controlled, enclosed and colonized by political and economic
interests. The utopian idea that the Internet would become a global common space,
almost anarchic in its egalitarian and democratic potential, is quickly fading as
censorship, copyright and commerce encloses the virtual world (Lanier, 2013). By
contrast, public libraries institute a civic 'right to know' (Greenhalgh
et al
., 1995:
112). They are hubs for various networked information ecologies allowing access
to materials and resources they literally hold in common but which may otherwise
remain beyond the financial or other reach of users and citizens.
Public libraries also have a wider role in articulating a public pedagogy of
environmental sustainability. In Helsinki, for example, the medium-sized Vallila
Library became the first public institution in Finland to be awarded the EcoCompass
environmental label for its green estate management processes. The library has its
own environmental policy, modelled on that of the city, and displays six ecologically
aware qualities encompassing image, circulation, sustainability, leadership, design
and public space. Library users quickly learn that Vallila is an ecoproject. Access to
environmental information has been made easier by, among other things, concentrating
all eco-related topics in one place. Public events such as discussions on climate
change are frequently held and staff give presentations on Vallila's sustainability
activities to other Finnish libraries. A new approach to library lending has also been
introduced reinforcing the value of sharing and co-operation by acting as a facilitator
and mediator between members of the public who wish to lend items such as skis,
cameras and tools to people who may be totally unknown to them. Apart from
challenging the dominant values of consumer materialism, Harri Sahavirta writes:
The advantage of this activity is that the library does not need to buy any
of these items, we only mediate the exchange. The only thing which is needed
is people willing to lend their own items for the benefit of strangers. Surpris-
ingly enough there are willing people! People wish to advance environmental
sustainability and are searching for new ways to act.
(2012: 242)
Networks or community in the new media age
The practice of community participation, democratic engagement, social communica-
tion and social relationships will undoubtedly be affected by the massive changes in
