Environmental concerns in the knowledge industry: literature review

Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to explore and identify the recent contributions to the literature available about various environmental issues associated with the Knowledge Industry, from conception until dissemination of knowledge to end‐users from the sources available.

Design/methodology/approach

An extensive literature survey was performed in an attempt to identify substantial works published to date concerning environmental issues coupled with the Knowledge Industry. A range of online scholarly databases, search engines and websites of recognized international as well as national organizations and publishers was searched, to spot out the substantial works carried out in the area. Varied search terms such as “environmental issues of paper industry”, “paper consumption for books”, “books and carbon footprint” “environmental issues in pulp and paper industry”, “computers and carbon footprint”, “publishing industry and environment”, “internet and environmental issues” and “green computing”, etc. were used for retrieving the literature.

Findings

The literature review connotes that hardly any systematic study or scholarly output which can facilitate the precise and accurate facts about environmental issues coupled with the Knowledge Industry is available, although the size of the industry and its effect on the environment is quite large.

Practical implications

It is evident from the scrutiny of literature existing that there are still areas for advanced exploration on the topic of environmental concerns of the Knowledge industry; and study paves the way for the concerned organizations and institutions (such as Libraries and Publishers), at global level, to take substantial measures to overcome hazardous effects from the industry.

Originality/value

The paper is the first ordered and thorough attempt to review the literature and provide a summary of adverse effects of the Knowledge Industry on the environment.

Citation

Zehra Rizvi, S., Shafi, S.M. and Akhtar Khan, N. (2012), "Environmental concerns in the knowledge industry: literature review", Library Review, Vol. 61 No. 7, pp. 526-537. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242531211288263