IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v13y2023i4p21582440231211432.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Green Libraries and the User’s Perspective: A Case Study in Turkey

Author

Listed:
  • Hatice Demirtas Dogan
  • Bulut Gurpinar

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to identify green (environmentally friendly) practices in the university libraries of Kocaeli and Istanbul, and to determine the environmental awareness and attitudes of the users (students) of these libraries in their daily lives, as well as conceptually. In addition, students’ level of awareness about the environmental impacts of access to and use of information, and the greenness of libraries from the user’s perspective were also investigated. Within the scope of the study, data was collected through a face-to-face questionnaire method conducted with the library users of 11 universities. Questionnaires were distributed only to student library users, and a total of 436 students answered them. This study differs from the existing literature by evaluating the environmental measures applied by librarians and their users, in contrast to studies employing conceptual approaches to the subject of green libraries. This study is intended to assist library managers, librarians and researchers conducting research on these issues. It encompasses the users’ perceptions of green libraries, environmental approaches and practices that they support in libraries, their awareness of the environmental effects of information access and use, and how they evaluate their library from a green perspective. In a global context, it aims to contribute to the literature on libraries by presenting data from an unresearched region. The study first assesses the green practices of 11 university libraries using a questionnaire given to library managers, and then assesses them using a questionnaire distributed to users. Finally, it seeks to present a concrete link between information literacy and the environment, contrasting green libraries with their users’ awareness of environmental impact. The results of the study showed that 7 of the 11 university libraries are in the green library category. When the data obtained from the users was analyzed, the average score for environmental awareness and attitude (EAA) in daily life among those who had received environmental education was found to be significantly higher than those who had not. The level of greenness a library was evaluated as having (EGL) was significantly higher among users of green libraries than non-green users. This can be interpreted as users having noticed the environmentally friendly measures being practiced. No significant difference was found between the green libraries and their users’ environmental awareness and attitudes in daily life.

Suggested Citation

  • Hatice Demirtas Dogan & Bulut Gurpinar, 2023. "Green Libraries and the User’s Perspective: A Case Study in Turkey," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:13:y:2023:i:4:p:21582440231211432
    DOI: 10.1177/21582440231211432
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440231211432
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/21582440231211432?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gobinda Chowdhury, 2012. "Building environmentally sustainable information services: A green is research agenda," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 63(4), pages 633-647, April.
    2. Eric Williams, 2011. "Environmental effects of information and communications technologies," Nature, Nature, vol. 479(7373), pages 354-358, November.
    3. Gobinda Chowdhury, 2012. "Building environmentally sustainable information services: A green is research agenda," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 63(4), pages 633-647, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kuan-Siew Khor & Ramayah Thurasamy & Noor Hazlina Ahmad & Hasliza Abdul Halim & Lo May-Chiun, 2015. "Bridging the Gap of Green IT/IS and Sustainable Consumption," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 16(4), pages 571-593, August.
    2. Katundu Imasiku & Valerie Thomas & Etienne Ntagwirumugara, 2019. "Unraveling Green Information Technology Systems as a Global Greenhouse Gas Emission Game-Changer," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-29, June.
    3. Zhou, Kaile & Yang, Shanlin, 2016. "Understanding household energy consumption behavior: The contribution of energy big data analytics," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 810-819.
    4. Byung Moo Lee, 2017. "Energy Efficiency Gain of Cellular Base Stations with Large-Scale Antenna Systems for Green Information and Communication Technology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-18, June.
    5. Pei-Yi Lin & Ching Sing Chai & Morris Siu-Yung Jong, 2019. "A PISA-2015 Comparative Meta-Analysis between Singapore and Finland: Relations of Students’ Interest in Science, Perceived ICT Competence, and Environmental Awareness and Optimism," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-15, December.
    6. Sovacool, Benjamin K. & Martiskainen, Mari & Furszyfer Del Rio, Dylan D., 2021. "Knowledge, energy sustainability, and vulnerability in the demographics of smart home technology diffusion," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    7. Lu, Yan & Xu, Zhenming, 2016. "Precious metals recovery from waste printed circuit boards: A review for current status and perspective," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 28-39.
    8. Saia, Artjom, 2023. "Digitalization and CO2 emissions: Dynamics under R&D and technology innovation regimes," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    9. Allauddin Kakar & Anwar Khan & Akbar Khan, 2024. "Analyzing the Role of Governance, ICT, and Urbanization on Environment in South Asian Countries," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 2682-2703, March.
    10. Zhang, Chunhong & Khan, Irfan & Dagar, Vishal & Saeed, Asif & Zafar, Muhammad Wasif, 2022. "Environmental impact of information and communication technology: Unveiling the role of education in developing countries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    11. Xiaoxia Chen & Mélanie Despeisse & Björn Johansson, 2020. "Environmental Sustainability of Digitalization in Manufacturing: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-31, December.
    12. Zhou, Xiaoyong & Zhou, Dequn & Wang, Qunwei & Su, Bin, 2019. "How information and communication technology drives carbon emissions: A sector-level analysis for China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 380-392.
    13. Niu, Meng & Wang, Zhenguo & Zhang, Yabin, 2022. "How information and communication technology drives (routine and non-routine) jobs: Structural path and decomposition analysis for China," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1).
    14. Chan, Chien Aun & Gygax, André F. & Leckie, Christopher & Wong, Elaine & Nirmalathas, Ampalavanapillai & Hinton, Kerry, 2016. "Telecommunications energy and greenhouse gas emissions management for future network growth," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 174-185.
    15. Jin, Zhida & Li, Zheng & Yang, Mian, 2022. "Producer services development and manufacturing carbon intensity: Evidence from an international perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    16. Axenbeck, Janna & Berner, Anne & Kneib, Thomas, 2022. "What drives the relationship between digitalization and industrial energy demand? Exploring firm-level heterogeneity," ZEW Discussion Papers 22-059, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    17. Mathias Kirchner, 2018. "Mögliche Auswirkungen der Digitalisierung auf Umwelt und Energieverbrauch," WIFO Monatsberichte (monthly reports), WIFO, vol. 91(12), pages 899-908, December.
    18. Zhilong Lou & Nan Gao & Min Lu, 2024. "The Impact of Enterprise Digital Transformation on Low-Carbon Supply Chains: Empirical Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-22, September.
    19. Olga Gurova & Timothy Robert Merritt & Eleftherios Papachristos & Jenna Vaajakari, 2020. "Sustainable Solutions for Wearable Technologies: Mapping the Product Development Life Cycle," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-26, October.
    20. Andrew Hook & Victor Court & Benjamin K Sovacool & Steven Sorrell, 2020. "A Systematic Review of the Energy and Climate Impacts of Teleworking," Working Papers hal-03192905, HAL.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:13:y:2023:i:4:p:21582440231211432. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.