Well, of course there are other ways for us to reduce our waste. And because we as a profession are responsible for such vast quantities of paper, it makes me more sensitive to the issue. But the point I particularly wanted to make was about the unsolicited marketing inserts, most of which are destined to become waste from their earliest inception. 

All of the material that you mention has been requested by the people who recieve it.

I agree that the best way to reduce waste of any material would be to address the biggest usage, but I am suggesting what I think would be an easy step for us to take. If we don't even take the easy steps, when will we ever get around to taking the bigger, more difficult steps?

Personally, I'd be more than happy for CILIP to stop sending me the jobs section as LisJobnet gets the adverts to me first, but then I have Internet access at home, and I recognise that not everybody does. So this would not be an easy step for CILIP to take. 

Jen

Jenny Delasalle
Service Innovation Officer
Research and Innovation Unit
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/subjects/riu/

University of Warwick Library
Gibbet Hill Road
Coventry, CV4 7AL
Tel: +44 (0)24 765 75793 

>>> [log in to unmask] 05/13/05 11:26am >>>
Jenny Delasalle
>I would like to see CILIP help us to reduce the waste. After all, that is
>the government's prefered way for us to deal with our waste!! <

If we want to get serious about reducing waste maybe all CILIP
communications should be electronic only? We would already have the
computers, monitors etc anyway so theres no need to buy extra equipment and
use up extra resources that way.  Make them pdf's with the printing option
disabled to stop people printing pages off and using up paper. Why add the
jobs section in the paper version when we have LisJobsnet.com?
And anyway just how much paper are we all in this profession responsible
for? In my library I get a range of nearly 80 journals, weekly, monthly and
quarterly, not to mention books, newsletters, press cuttings etc.
If we need to stand by a principle on the environment maybe it's where the
biggest usage is that needs addressing, but I can't see that happening as
only a very picky person would say that is a solution (as there are so many
cost, access and archiving problems) but it's a point to be made.


As to making a decision on how choosy or not CILIP marketing has been with
inserts I'd say we have to wait to see what else might be coming up, one
swallow does not a summer make.


Kevin


Kevin Symonds
Librarian
MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit
15 Chaucer Road
Cambridge
CB2 2EF

Tel: 01223 355294 ext 110
Fax: 01223 359062