I would like to know if the Library would Consider having a living wall or plants
Around the campus, there are many areas with nice greenery and plants, but the interiors are so sterile. I think it would be nice to incorporate some sustainable living walls strategically located within classrooms and in general passing areas of other buildings, like the library. They would be nice to look at, probably improve the air quality within the buildings and classrooms. There are many studies that prove there is monetary value to increasing the number trees within urban developments, so there should be added benefits to bring it indoors. I imagine the air quality would improve, people's sense of wellbeing may improve, and research can be performed to see if the planted materials can contribute to sustainability efforts within the community - whether it be raising plant pods to sprout and mature so they can be donated to others in the outlying community.
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Thank you for this excellent suggestion.
As the Associate Dean of the University Library I chair the Library's Space Committee, and we are in the process of looking at strategies we can employ to make our space more supportive, healthy, and inviting to students and other library users.
While there can be some challenges to incorporating plants inside a library (e.g., increased humidity can be hard on books) there are definitely ways we can bring more green into our spaces in the future. Living walls are indeed beautiful and have positive ecological impacts, and we're looking into the possibility of opening our 5th floor porches to student use - these outdoor patios would be a perfect location to feature plants.
Thanks again for the suggestion, and stay tuned for plant-based improvements in Kellogg!