Green Libraries Week x CILIPS24
Category: #CILIPSGoGreen, Blog, News
by Kirsten MacQuarrie, CILIPS Sector Development Manager and Green Libraries Network Moderator
Back by popular demand, Green Libraries Week offers an annual opportunity to celebrate and champion library-led environmental action, and the unique link between libraries and sustainability was very much in evidence at the 2024 CILIPS Annual Conference this June.
What impact did our commitments have on our overall conference carbon footprint? How did delegates respond to our new and improved sustainability steps? Read on for reflections, recommendations and eco-inspiration!
I feel like CILIPS24 could be used as an example for other conferences on how to run a sustainable event.
I really appreciated the amount of thought that went into this! I’ve already planted my wildflowers and am looking forward to seeing them bloom.
It was lovely to see the efforts made to host an eco-friendly conference.
Building on the framework provided by our Green Libraries Scotland Action Plan and the success of our moves in making CILIPS22 and CILIPS23 as environmentally friendly as possible, we committed to ensuring that CILIPS24 was as sustainable as it was inspirational, embedding library-led environmental action into our programme. Our actions included:
- The return of our exclusively digital programme (with alternative formats available for accessibility), shaving off 0.02 tCO2e from our conference carbon footprint.
- A car sharing scheme for delegates, including signposting to electric car charging points.
- Recycled lanyards, carbon captured name badges (including a tree-planting donation to the Woodland Trust) and other sustainably sourced items – including our now iconic CILIPS library garden seeds! – in optional delegate gift bags.
My personal top three sustainability steps from CILIPS24 were:
1. Eco-incentives – our first-ever coffee cup competition!
Did you know that if everyone in Scotland switched from single-use to reusable coffee cups, we could save an incredible 4,100 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) per year? Delegate enthusiasm for this new action quickly percolated:
The reusable cup initiative was wonderful.
I loved the reusable cup experience this year – brilliant idea!
Really creative effort to reduce the conference carbon footprint.
Congratulations to Karen, this year’s competition winner, who received a gift card with which to top-up her reusable coffee cup, and thank you to all the delegates who played along, snapping up one of our exclusive CILIPS24 Green Team pin badges in the process!
2. Very Veggie Tasty Treats
Growing from previous conferences where delegates enjoyed meat-free lunch menus, in 2024 we went for wholly green goodness with locally-produced vegetarian food throughout, including all snack breaks and our conference dinner.
I particularly welcomed the choice of vegetarian food.
I thought it was well considered and kept the issue front and centre.
The all vegetarian menu was great!
It’s a positive message. Bravo!
Informed by the World Wildlife Fund Carbon Footprint Calculator, we estimate that the tCO2e impact of vegetarian food is on average only 50% of that for a meat meal. Multiplied by 250 delegates, this means our conference really is making a difference to carbon reduction – whilst we all get to enjoy some tasty treats!
3. A programme packed with library-led sustainability
CILIPS24 featured a range of inspiring content centred on library-led environmental action across our conference keynotes, parallel sessions and exhibition. Contributions included the National Library of Scotland’s new Carbon Literacy for Libraries Shareable Course, supported by CILIPS Research Fund – officially rolling out this Green Libraries Week in two sold-out training sessions! – as well as Green Dreams, a parallel dedicated to encouraging applications to this year’s Green Libraries Scotland Grant Fund with insights shared by past CILIPS grant recipients Donna Baird, St Ninian’s High School, and Professor Gobinda Chowdhury and Ellie Jack, University of Strathclyde.
With our highest number of applications to date – and highest number of successful bids – the seeds of inspiration clearly took root! Watch Donna, Gobinda and Ellie’s session below and stay tuned for more on our Green Libraries Scotland Grant Fund projects-in-progress as Green Libraries Week grows…
We were also honoured to welcome Scotland’s outgoing Makar, our National Poet Kathleen Jamie, in conversation with Ally Heather on how Scotland’s ecology continues to spark her creativity and collaborations with libraries:
‘From this day, I’d rather keep afloat, like wee folded paper boats, the hopes of the young folk… fail them, and I will rise.’
Kathleen Jamie, “What the Clyde said, After COP 26”.
Last but certainly not least in green library land, we were thrilled to be joined in the exhibition hall by longtime friends of CILIPS, Paperboats: a collective of writers drawn from across Scotland and beyond who create to affirm the astonishing life of this planet, and how its future may yet be shaped. Prepare to set sail for a great Green Libraries future by catching up with the crew at last year’s Green Libraries Gathering (from 3:15:00):
In sustainable summary…
Five months on from the conference, Green Libraries Scotland continues to grow, with our vibrant and varied Green Libraries Week programme including Carbon Literacy for Libraries, the first training of its kind anywhere in the UK; an Introduction to Nature Writing hosted by experienced facilitator Amanda Wright on World Mental Health Day; our annual CILIPS Library Litter Pick leaving from the Nature Library on Irvine Harbourside; and Taking Root: Scotland’s Green Libraries – an exclusive two-part CILIPS podcast miniseries celebrating the growing story of library-led environmental action in Scotland. Subscribe now and be the first to listen!
What was your favourite eco-part of CILIPS24? What sustainability steps would you like to see as a delegate joining us in 2025? Please share your thoughts and suggestions on Instagram and LinkedIn throughout #GreenLibrariesWeek and we’ll look forward to welcoming Scotland’s Green Champions of LIS back to Dundee next year!