The Arc, Winchester.
on a Sunday to bigger things – more strategic decisions. For example data showing cases where energy consump- tion is off the scale because of some very old boilers and heating systems.” It’s a similar case for waste data: “We’ve also managed to get data around how much waste we’ve sent to recycling. It means you can do big things around your recycling contracts but also little day-to-day things, like targets to increase the proportion of waste recycled, and to reduce consumption.” “The Green Libraries Partnership is very keen on data and evidence driven action,” Emma says. “We want to make sure we understand what we’re doing. In Hampshire it’s been really illumi- nating as there is often an assumption that we need to demolish an old and inefficient library building and replace it with new a green one, but in fact when you start to look at embedded carbon in the construction industry, it’s very, very rarely more environmentally efficient to build a new building. That data and evidence base is really important, hence the survey, and the need to understand what is happening in the sector.”
Grass roots
“Unlike library hardware, interactions with library users is not so easy to meas- ure. It can sometimes even be difficult to pin down which agenda a particular project is addressing. But Emma says that good community relations are not “top-down”. Sometimes it is possible to provide direct environmental messages. “In Hampshire we have adult and community learning funding and de- cided to deliver some courses on waste
June 2022
reduction and working towards net zero. This changed the attitudes of people who took part and even led to some partici- pants setting up a zero-waste shop.” The message is usually delivered more tangentially and therefore can be more hit and miss. “We have quite a devolved man- agement. Yes, we have a strategy, but every library has flexibility to work out its rela- tionship to that strategy. It can be hard to manage with different initiatives, but good practice evolves out of it. A very relevant example was Ringwood Library in the New Forest getting together with a local food bank, and then another library doing the same thing. This won’t work in a top-down way. You have to give your libraries the freedom to follow their own path.” Another example was the reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: “Ukrainian Connection sessions were very much grassroots, popping up according to need. Our overall strategy will evolve out of this, but it’s important to pilot new things – even if they don’t quite work! We have sessions running in loads of libraries and sometimes they haven’t had anyone, and for some the engagement has been incred- ible. These differences really help us learn about our individual communities and what they need.”
She thinks encouraging this kind of grass roots action and learning how to communicate about it will be important because “tackling climate change will be a mix of different priorities and therefore different initiatives, and our job will be to encourage and share what is achieved.”
Foodbanks
Grass-roots initiatives work on many levels. We know that for people in
disadvantaged communities it may be humiliating to have to go to a foodbank – or it was in the past, it’s probably more normalised now, sadly – but it can be a humiliating experience.
While existing library users might see libraries as safe trusted places, Emma says people who don’t use them, have no reason to have this view. “Food banks or pantries have had a really interesting effect. We get a different demographic coming in, people who might not be comfortable coming into a library. Not everybody is.”
The task then is to help new users see the core value of the library: “We’ve been able to work in partnership with commu- nity pantry teams on events and activities. Some with an environmental theme, aimed at these audiences. For example we had an energy company come in and talk about how to manage energy bills for people from disadvantaged communities. And where we differ from community centres is that we have a core around books, reading and literacy. So outside of that community pantry we had a display of book stock around home cooking, and feeding your family on a budget, that kind of thing. So we always link it back to the core library offer.”
l Emma will be leading a session at CILIP Conference and Expo on 8 July focused on Working towards Net Zero – ideas and discussion to take back. To book your place at this year’s Conference and Expo, taking place in Liverpool on 7 and 8 July, visit
www.ciliipconference.org.uk.
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