We often tout the money-saving services provided by libraries. Less often do we consider library services as green practices, though they certainly qualify. Sharing resources lessens individual consumption, which can help conserve paper, reduce waste, and lower our carbon footprints.

U.S. News & World Report had a great, if brief, story yesterday highlighting this added-value of library services. On the money-saving side of things, they recommend: “If you’re looking to cut extraneous expenses, replacing your magazine subscriptions, Amazon purchases and Netflix with a library card is the best way to do so.”

More and more stories similar to this are popping up in the news. The American Library Association is helping to keep track of all the media coverage on their web site, if you want to find some more feel-good library stories. These stories help, but we can’t let other people do all the work for us. As libraries, we need to be out in our communities and particularly in our community media touting the multi-faceted benefits of the services we provide.

Don’t know where to start? Try the ALA “Advocating in a Tough Economy Toolkit.” The Toolkit highlights talking points, provides statistics and presentation techniques, offers advice for talking to the media, and includes a number of other helpful tools. There’s plenty there to launch your library’s personal media campaign in your community, but if you want even more you might consider looking at ACRL Advocacy Resources (for academic and research libraries), the ALA Press Kit, or the I Love Libraries site.

After all, there’s no reason the video below couldn’t be about your library.