Internationale Konferenz
Die Bibliothek inFormiert: Das Gebäude, die Organisation und das Angebot einer „green library“

Klaus Ulrich Werner

Head Librarian "Freie Universität Berlin"
Philological Library
Dept. of Humanities
Germany

Klaus Ulrich Werner (born in 1956) is a library director at the Freie Universitaet Berlin. University Degree in Library and Information Science, Ph.D. He served as Academic librarian at several University libraries of Freie Universität Berlin (1991-2000) as well as project manager for the “Philologische Bibliothek” called “The Berlin Brain” designed by Lord Norman Foster (opened in 2005), head librarian since then. He is member of the commission for library and archive building guidelines of the German Institute for Standardization (DIN). He has published various books and articles on library building and equipment and on library management and serves as consultant in various library topics, in particular library building, reorganization and change management. His latest publication is a book about “The Green Library. The challenge of environmental sustainability”.

Libraries as Green Buildings: Designing and Managing an Environmentally Sustainable Library in Germany

The “Brain” is the striking metaphor given to the Philological Library at Berlin’s Free University designed by the world famous architect Lord Norman Foster. This does refer to its shape, its exterior and interior structure, which is an architectural consequence of building a library with low energy costs. The heating and ventilation of this kind of dome is cheaper than a rectangular structure because of there is less space, less cubic meters. For the Philological Library, a new energy-saving ventilation and temperature control concept was developed that allows natural ventilation of the building. In addition of a concrete core temperature control, there is no need of a traditional air conditioning with its high consumption of energy. The building was fitted with a double shell of aluminum panels and sun protection glass outside for this purpose (and an inner skin of white fabric), with the ceiling cavity thus created serving as an air supply and exhaust system: membranes on the interior of the dome, and air vents on the exterior. Depending on different weather conditions, certain sections can thus be completely opened or closed. This additional temperature control is carried out by means of a network of plastic pipes laid in the concrete shafts and the intermediate floor of the five levels of the building. Warm or cold water is conducted through them as required. The district heating network supplies the energy. The library is not only a spectacular “green” building, but a location with very good climate conditions – by low costs.

Andreas Ptack

Director of EKZ Marketing and Sales
Head of the department Library Equipment / Library Interiors

Green library suppliers – partners for Green libraries

Against the background of globalization and a new awareness by customers, sustainability and environmental management have become more and more important.

In 2011 ekz.bibliotheksservice GmbH, the largest German library supplier, implemented an environmental management strategy and achieved DIN EN ISO 14001 certification. This certification is becoming as important as the certification ISO 9001, which is an international measure of requirements for quality management systems. The DIN 14001 standard supports companies in systemology, and well-documented, objective and continual evaluation of their environmental performance.

This presentation focusses on environmental management and describes the basic considerations to be taken into account before introducing such a management approach. It describes the enterprise ekz and the steps to be taken throughout the process. To conclude, the next stage in the process is described and a view of where the business is going in terms of environmental awareness is outlined.