Sustainable Development at the Library
Like many others, the library is actively contributing to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals to ensure a sustainable future for current and upcoming generations. Furthermore, major research databases offered by the library are now aligning with the objectives of sustainable development.
For a long time, libraries have played a strong role in achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, also Global Goals) worldwide. Particularly in Finland, libraries have long ensured equal access to information for all users.
Libraries support Open Science
An essential aspect of sustainable development is the openness of information. Scientific libraries contribute to open science in various ways across different areas:
In agreements with the publishers, the libraries together with the national FinELib consortium consider both the openness of reading and publishing.
Libraries provide both platforms and support for opening research publications, data, and learning materials, as well as help parallel archiving.
Libraries contribute to the development of citizen science by enabling access to materials for all who walk into a library.
The main goal is to ensure free, universal, and open access to information, publications, data, and learning materials for citizens worldwide.
Sustainable Development in Scopus and Web of Science Databases
The objectives of sustainable development are becoming evident not only in the research literature, journals, and books offered by the library but also in major citation databases such as Scopus and Web of Science. These databases have both developed their own methods for identifying SDG-related articles.
With the Advanced search -option in the Scopus database, users can choose pre-made search terms for SDG goals to include in their searches. Additionally, information indicating which SDG goal an article belongs to has been added to many articles.
In Web of Science, it is possible to include different sustainable development goals in search result filters and analysis. This allows users to easily see the proportion of search results related to each goal. For example, it is revealed that the affiliation "University of Turku" has published 103 articles related to SDG number five this year.
Tag Sustainable Development Goals in Volter-database
You, too, can label materials according to sustainable development goals by logging in to the University of Turku's own Volter database. Tag relevant material with a simple tag like sdg based on your judgment or add a more specific tag to indicate which goal the material particularly aligns with, for example, sdg12.
More information about
UN and Sustainable Development Goals at UN pages
Scopus and SDGs at Elsevier's web pages
Web of Science and SDGs at Clarivate's InCites web pages
Please, do not hesitate to contact us, if you have any questions: tietopalvelu@utu.fi !