Croatian green citizenship advocate Marina Matijević holds workshop for library professionals as part of “Libraries and sustainable development: Strengthening NSK capacities” project
On 5 September 2023, communication specialist, founder of the Ja bolji građanin green citizenship initiative and green influencer Marina Matijević held a professional development online workshop aimed at acquainting the Library’s staff and the staff of other libraries in the Croatian higher education system with guidelines on the proper management of waste produced by libraries and informing them about the ways to contribute to attaining sustainable development through adjustments of their daily habits – at work and in general – to requirements related to green transition.
Held as part of Libraries and Sustainable Development: Strengthening NSK capacities, the Library’s project funded by the Croatian Ministry of Culture and Media and focusing on staff training with regard to concepts and practices associated with sustainability and green transition in both private and professional spheres, the workshop was organised with the technical support of the Croatian Training Centre for Continuing Education of Librarians (Centar za stalno stručno usavršavanje knjižničara, CSSU), operating as part of the Library.
The National and University Library in Zagreb (NSK) recognises sustainable development and green transition as burning issues at the global level, keeping abreast of the developments in the international library community based on the awareness of library professionals around the world of the significance of gearing the work of libraries to these pressing issues. Incorporating this into its current development strategy, NSK Development Strategy 2026, it is currently working out the Library’s Green Plan, aimed at mobilising both its staff and its users in its transition towards green and sustainable practices.
The activities previously organised as part of the Libraries and Sustainable Development: Strengthening NSK capacities project included a workshop held by the Director of the Sustainable Solutions GIU Zagreb-based company Ivana Ostoić for the project’s team working on the development of the Library’s Green Plan, a workshop on the EU initiative to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent held by Judita Cuculić Župa from the European Commission Representation in Croatia and in cooperation with the European Documentation Centre operating as part of the Library (EDC NSK) as well as programmes including the participation of the Head of the Library of the Juraj Dobrila University of Pula and the initiator of the first green initiatives in Croatia’s library community Ivan Kraljević, Director of the Ivan Goran Kovačić City Library in Karlovac Kristina Čunović, staff of the Library of the Zagreb Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Blaženka Klemar Bubić and Jasmina Sočo, who, along with the members of the Croatian Library Association’s Commission for Green Libraries, are currently cooperating with the Library on its survey into sustainable work habits among library employees, who can take the related online opinion poll until 15 September 2023.
Also, after successfully organising the world’s first international green libraries conference in 2018, the National and University Library in Zagreb is this year organising its sequel, Let’s Go Green! 2023, The Second NSK International Green Libraries Conference, which will be held on 9 and 10 November 2023 and for which you can still register.
