Green libraries as sustainability discourse communities a discourse analysis of environmental communication and ecological citizenship
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Abstract
Green libraries are usually described through physical indicators such as sustainable buildings, efficient energy use, paper reduction, ecological collections, and environmentally responsible services. This article rewrites that account from a discourse-analysis perspective. It argues that a green library is not only a sustainable facility or a provider of climate-related information; it is also a sustainability discourse community that produces, circulates, legitimizes, and evaluates environmental meaning. The article examines how library language, institutional genres, public signs, digital interfaces, exhibitions, workshops, catalogues, social media messages, and user-service encounters transform environmental sustainability into a shared social practice. Drawing on discourse analysis, pragmatics, ecolinguistics, environmental communication, library sustainability research, and language-oriented sustainability studies, the article develops the Green Library Sustainability Discourse Model. The model identifies eight interrelated dimensions: ecological naming and framing, institutional commitment discourse, directive and instructional discourse, dialogic participation, multimodal spatial communication, multilingual and access-oriented discourse, ecological memory narratives, and accountability discourse. The article also integrates four studies by Sayed M. Ismail and collaborators to strengthen the linguistic and sustainability foundation of the argument: ecological consciousness in literature, eco-translation and environmental governance, Arabic linguistic foresight for sustainable development, and AI-driven heritage tourism. The study concludes that green-library sustainability depends not only on operational practice but also on the quality of the discourse through which libraries make environmental responsibility intelligible, credible, inclusive, and actionable. A discourse-analysis approach helps libraries avoid vague green branding, design clearer public communication, support ecological citizenship, and connect sustainability claims with evidence, participation, and continuous improvement.
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