Sustainability in Libraries: Buildings, Operations and Partnerships with Users

Can libraries afford to wait for others to fix the world while toxic waste, climate change and pollution harm our environment? How much of a difference can we make anyway?

This webinar, sponsored by the Environment, Sustainability and Libraries Section, will aim to raise ambitions for greener library buildings, provide examples of how library services can lead by example as sustainably managed organisations and highlight the opportunities to work in partnership with users to work together and move towards a smarter, sustainable world. The presentation will draw on examples from Europe and Hong Kong to illustrate good practice in academic libraries, covering library building design, communication with users and applications of management information to improve sustainability.  Spoiler alert – whilst this webinar may not have all the answers to the questions above, the conclusions will suggest there is hope.

Benjamin Meunier
Speaker: Benjamin Meunier

Benjamin Meunier is the University Librarian at The Chinese University of Hong Kong since April 2023. The University Librarian serves as a University Officer and is responsible for overseeing CUHK Library’s operations with effective strategic planning and supervision; enhancing the student learning experience in accordance to the University’s teaching initiatives; developing key collaborative relationships with major stakeholders; strengthening collections of the library for key research areas of the University; and building comprehensive collections across disciplines. Previously, he was the Director of Operations at UCL Library, Culture, Collections and Open Science, overseeing Estate developments, Health & Safety, Communication and other operational matters. He was the strategic lead for Sustainable Estate developments across 16 sites and chaired the departmental Sustainability Committee. As a member of the Senior Management and Leadership Teams, he contributed to the strategic development of libraries, museums and the university theatre, focusing on innovation in the organisation and delivery of its administrative services, quality, user experience and consistency. Benjamin was formerly Assistant Director (Public Services) at UCL and was actively involved in Customer Service management and coordinating input from library staff and users to develop services and facilities.

Benjamin led the development of library services in UCL East, a major UCL development on the Olympic Park to create a model for the university campus of the future. In this role, Ben facilitated partnership working with stakeholders on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, as co-Chair of the Libraries & Archives Working Group which includes the V&A Museum, London College of Fashion (University of the Arts London), Sadler’s Wells and LLDC. He was Secretary of the LIBER (Ligue des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherche – Association of European Research Libraries) Architecture Group between and 2018 and 2023. Earlier in his career, Benjamin was the Building Projects Manager at UCL Library Services, specialised in innovative learning spaces and has overseen major building works in heavily-used historic buildings in order to improve the Student Experience whilst minimizing impact on current library users.

Benjamin holds an MBA in Higher Education Management from UCL. Before joining UCL, he worked for BP Archives and the Royal Parks Archive. He advised The National Archives on their Public Spaces programme between 2016-17. He has also acted as Treasurer (2009-2012) and Secretary (2012-2014) for the Senior Administrators’ Forum: University Information Services in the UK.

 

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