I recently joined a group of academic librarians who are exploring ways to enhance information sharing about environmental issues. We’re interested in promoting education, research, best practices, lobbying and grassroots activities on campuses in the New Orleans area. The plan is to create a clearinghouse of information and provide assistance to researchers and environmental groups working on issues on our campuses and in our community.

Like the weather, excessive printing on college campuses is a topic that always brings out strong opinions and discussion. Here’s a short quiz: Do you use print preview? Do you change your PowerPoint slides from a solid background to black text on a white background before you print? Do you select multiple slides per page rather than print one at a time? Do you print only what you need, and pick up your printouts? If you said yes to any of these, you’re on your way to being a responsible green printing consumer.

Our library continues to find ways to reduce the cost of printing while ensuring quality service. We worked with Information Technology on implementing print management software on the public computers in the library and in the labs, and we’ve already seen some improvement. Last fall we installed four super-fast printers that allow users the option of double-sided printing.

Then there’s the recycling side of this picture. Recycling has been slow to return to our city and to Loyola post-Hurricane Katrina. After the storm, Loyola University Community Action Program adviser Rick Yelton approached the library to start up a limited white-paper recycling program.

Blue bins returned to the library and we were able to send all of those forgotten print jobs and mistaken printouts to the Legacy Foundation for recycling. Yelton, Spanish senior Sunshine Bond and the other LUCAP/Environmental Action members worked tirelessly to find a way to make this work. We commend them for their dedication and service to our community. Biology professor Kathy Anzelmo has teamed up with LUCAP, WFF, Physical Plant and Residential Life to implement a campus-wide paper-recycling program.

Back in 2003, an environmental studies class presented a preliminary green audit of the university. Students in the class conducted research in areas such as: recycling, building design, landscaping, heating and cooling, computing, food, transportation and parking. Recommendations were made for each category. One recommendation was for Loyola to sign the Talloires Declaration.

The Talloires Declaration (pronounced Tal-Whar) is a ten-point action plan for incorporating sustainability and environmental literacy in teaching, research, operations and outreach at colleges and universities. As of January 2008, more than 360 university presidents and chancellors in more than 40 countries across five continents have signed the Talloires Declaration. It’s ten points are:

• Increase awareness of environmentally sustainable development;

• Create an institutional culture of sustainability;

• Educate for environmentally responsible citizenship;

• Foster environmental literacy;

• Practice institutional ecology;

• Involve all stakeholders;

• Collaborate for interdisciplinary approaches;

• Enhance capacity of primary and secondary schools;

• Broaden service and outreach nationally and internationally;

• Maintain the movement.

What’s exciting about the Talloires Declaration is how the principles connect to our own Quality Enhancement Plan theme of thinking critically, acting justly. How would this be realized in our day-to-day decisions, in our curriculum, in our campus planning? What opportunities exist for us to go green?

To quote from the 2003 preliminary green audit: “Students must learn about environmental problems from a variety of perspectives such as through ambiance, environmental courses, clubs, workshops, and environmentally sustainable practices. Colleges are highly influential. Therefore, they can develop new systems and practices for the rest of society.”

Deborah Poole is an associate dean of Public Services in the Monroe Library.