Engaging Campus

ConstituentsUsing Partnerships to

Increase Behavior Modification

Awareness & ActionHaley McMinn, Assistant Director of Sustainability

Sarah Mangrum, Circulation Librarian

Overview • A Partnership with the Office of Sustainability and

University Libraries was formed in order to increase awareness of sustainable practices through a phased behavior modification pilot study.

• The main focus of the study was energy and resource management that was implemented in a three phase process in order to target library employees, the campus community, and increased education.

• Results of the study are the pre-curser for implementing a green office certification marketing campaign.

Cook Library

• Hybrid Building • Houses academic and

auxiliary services

• Largest public computing area on campus

• Most operational hours

Phase One

• Concentrated on employees working within Cook Library

• Educational tools focused on:• Recycling• Lighting• Computer Energy

• Information was disseminated through Library administration, department heads, list servs and social media

Phase Two

• Public Computing Power-down campaign

• All public computers remotely powered down after closing. Select few scheduled to boot up 10 minutes prior to opening.

• Energy settings checked for consistency• Signage placed among public computers

• Continued Educational outreach:• Library sustainable practices and operations

Phase Three

• Concentrated on increased education to the campus community

• Increased web and social media presence• “Did You Know” and “Sustainability

Digest” were made publicly available• Instructional videos

Survey Assessment

• Pre and Post surveys measured awareness, engagement, challenges, and preferred communication channels.

• Key Findings• Statistically, energy management was the number 1

concern of all campus constituents• 4.1% increase in regards to turning lights off • 8% increase in regards to powering down computer

equipment• Slight increase in people using natural light and a

slight decrease in people using overhead lighting during working hours

• Increased awareness of sustainable library services

Energy Consumption Assessment

• Compared historical energy usage data from 2012 to 2013.

• Due to renovations, Cook Library is run off of two meters.

• Key Findings• Phase One brought a decrease of 1,560 kwh in the

meter that measures the majority of the faculty/staff equipment.

• Phase Two had a net decrease of 2,500 kwh• Phase Three had a large net increase• Inconclusive due to the large number of computers

that were added in the fall of 2012 and HVAC system problems that were out of the scope of this project

Closing and Moving Forward• Challenges• Dual meters • Change

• Future plans• Green Office Certification Marketing

Campaign• Continued monitoring of energy

usage for the power down campaign

Better collaborations yield stronger

solutions!

Haley.McMinn@usm.edu

Sarah.Mangrum@usm.edu