Sustainability

The Library is committed to sustainability and helping the University meet its net zero goals

Green leaves of the Library's living wall

Lancaster University declared a climate emergency in 2020 and has an ambitious strategy to achieve a goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2035. The Library works closely with the University's Sustainability Team and is a member of University's Sustainability Board and Sustainability Steering Group.

In 2025 we became signatories of the Green Libraries Manifesto, the primary sustainability commitment for libraries in the UK.

Our action on sustainability

We have aligned our environmental sustainability work around three themes: Building and Spaces, Service Delivery and Education and Engagement.

Tab Content: Building and Spaces

  • The Library’s 2016 refurbishment was the first refurbishment project on campus to target a BREEAM Excellent standard. Both the refurbishment and subsequent extension meet high efficiency standards in line with the University's Estate Strategy.
  • Motion sensitive lighting is used to save energy, and energy saving approaches are used by PCs and printers. Recycling facilities are available throughout the building, in both study spaces and library staff offices.
  • Working with Facilities we've undertaken work to analyse energy usage in the Library building. During a pilot phase in the 2024 summer vacation period we saved over 26,000 kWh of electricity by adjusting ventilation settings. We are building on this in the 2025-26 academic year by introducing a new range of energy saving measures during our 24-7 opening periods. We aim to save up to 53,000kg of carbon per year, while ensuring that user comfort and experience is unaffected.

Tab Content: Service Delivery

  • Procurement is a key area where Scope 3 emissions can be addressed. We are conducting a review of procurement activity, working with the university procurement team and utilising their carbon dashboard. We will engage with vendors around carbon reduction plans, sustainable procurement practices and advocate for engagement with the NETPositive Futures initiative.
  • The Library uses both Anybook and Better World Books as book disposal partners. The unneeded books that we send to Anybook and Better World are either resold or recycled. We've recently launched the Book Exchange - a way for members of the Lancaster University community to swap, share and discover new reads, with uncollected books going to our disposal partners.

Tab Content: Education and Engagement

  • The Library’s collections provide extensive coverage of sustainability. We facilitate
    access to databases such as GreenFILE, Environmental Issues Online, ENDS Report and JSTOR Sustainability.
  • A new tab of Sustainability resources has been added to all of the Library's Subject Guides for the 2024-25 academic year. See an example on our Business & Management Subject Guide.
  • The Library has a key role in promoting and enabling open research at Lancaster. Open research practices have a significant impact on sustainability through ensuring access, transparency and equity for global researchers and enabling collaboration, innovation and empowerment.
  • The Library is a partner on the Wellcome Trust-funded project Reimagining Research Practices which explores how research practices can be strengthened to foster a healthier research culture. One of the outputs of the project is Sustainable Research Practice: An Introduction, an open-access course that encourages researchers to reflect on the way they undertake research and identify opportunities to engage and advocate for sustainable research.
  • We have developed a collection of sustainability-themed print resources aimed at primary school children to support the Morecambe Bay Curriculum. A set of the collection is held in the Library, and another set is available to loan to schools involved with the initiative.
  • The Library has hosted a Little Researchers event as part of the Morecambe Bay Curriculum, where local primary school children presented findings from environmental projects.
  • The Library hosts the University's termly Sustainability Knowledge Exchange in our events space. These meetings are where staff and students from across the University gather to discuss various issues related to sustainability and share best-practice ways of working.

Partner with us

Our Library Vision lays out our ambition to be a library that is connected, to go beyond providing just a service and a building and to work in partnership with all Lancaster University communities

We wish to work with and learn from the diverse communities that we serve, supporting environmental initiatives in the University and beyond. Have you got an idea for a sustainability-focused event, exhibition or activity that could take place in the Library?See details of how you can submit an event request.

If you wish to partner with us around sustainability in any other way, please contact us.

Latest Sustainability News

a happy group of students working around a laptop together

Library Events for Positive Change Week

Positive Change Week (Monday 2 March – Friday 6 March 2026) is Lancaster University’s biggest celebration of diversity, sustainability and positive impact. As part of our commitment to sustainability, the Library is hosting a range of events for Positive Change Week
Library staff members Heather Vazquez-Rivera and Lucy with the Library

Swap, share and support sustainability with the Library’s new Book Exchange

We’re excited to introduce the Book Exchange – a welcoming space where you can share books you no longer need and pick up something new to read, completely free! 
An aerial view of the library tree

Lancaster University Library signs up to the Green Libraries Manifesto

The Library is proud to announce that it has become a signatory of the Green Libraries Manifesto.  
Two students in conversation in front of one of the Library

A more sustainable library

We're introducing a new energy-efficient approach to the way the Library building operates during our 24-7 opening hours.  
How to keep well in wartime, a Ministry of Information pamphlet from WW2. Image of a woman, man and two children dressed in old fashioned clothes.

Make Do and Mend Day - Thursday 15th May

Special Collections and Archives in the Library are holding a special 'Make Do and Mend Day' to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II!

More News

The Library and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

The Library is featured in this guide to Lancaster University's activity in tackling The United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Sustainable Development Goals