What is Green Libraries Week?
Green Libraries Week is an annual celebration of libraries and their sustainability initiatives. Part of the wider Green Libraries Campaign led by CILIP, this week is a great opportunity to showcase how libraries are building climate consciousness and positive action within their communities.
How can you get involved?
Throughout this week libraries across the UK will be offering a range of workshops and events. We have included a small selection below:
- The Scottish National Library is running a “Rooting for Nature” workshop to highlight the library’s rich collection of environmental resources.
- Leicester City Council has planned a week of arts, poetry and gardening, including workshops on how to plant bulbs, grow herbs and even how to make mandala windchimes from recycled CDs.
- Through their library service, staff and students at the University of Worcester can attend a composting workshop, a talk from Dr Kate Ashbrook on ‘Gardening for Wildlife’ and a film screening about the power of gardening and community.
- The British Library has a lengthy itinerary, including a series of events exploring how libraries worldwide are tackling the climate crisis.
- In collaboration with the British Library, Royal Holloway is launching a new national archive of interviews with environmentalists. This launch will be marked by a special talk, “Voices for Change: Stories from the Environmental Movement”, from the leaders of Greenpeace UK, Friends of the Earth, Natural England and the Green Party.
Each library event is part of a wider network of growth, each sowing seeds for a regenerative and greener future.
Exact Editions and Green Libraries Week
The theme for this year’s Green Libraries Week is ‘Seeds of Change’, signifying that even the biggest of developments start as something small. To understand what climate awareness and activism means today, it is helpful to consider its roots.
Ecological thinking relies on the ability to access relevant and trusted information. There’s no doubt that libraries are crucial in providing access to this information, thus tackling climate misinformation and promoting climate literacy. Digital preservation ensures that climate-related research and thought is not lost, but actually made increasingly accessible, allowing a wider demographic to read about climate change and ecology in general. This greater awareness encourages greater action.
Digital Archives: Documenting Change
Digital archives are particularly helpful in tracking societal shifts in the understanding of environmentalism over time. We can see how the very roots of climate action began to grow into mainstream journalism. A great example of this can be seen within The Illustrated London News. From deep into the archive until the title ceased publishing in 2003, the understanding of climate change and its collateral gradually gained momentum.
The April 1964 issue marks the death of Rachel Carson, with a mention of her seminal book “Silent Spring” which galvanised the environmental movement. In the May 7th 1966 issue we can also see an advertisement regarding animal extinction, with a mention of ‘environmental changes in its habitat’:
The issues from the 1970’s bring further attention to pollution, in particular the February 28th 1970 issue highlights that “Never before has man challenged nature in the way he does now. Vast new buildings point scornfully as a sky heavy with smoke; whole tracks of land give way to the bulldozer; and oil wastage licks our shores with an increasing appetite”. Heightened cynicism is very apparent.
The 1980’s issues are littered with terminology such as the ‘Greenhouse effect’, ‘carbon emissions’ and ‘global warming’, with emphasis on the discovery of the hole in the Ozone Layer in 1985. Despite forming in 1971, Greenpeace gets its first mention in a September 1983 issue.
The 1990’s mark powerful milestones in the history of environmental awareness, such as the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, which led to the formation of UNFCCC. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is also mentioned, in regards to its’ worrying report that ‘predicted a 1°C rise in temperature by 2025 and a 20cm rise in sea levels by 2030’.
As demonstrated, a quick look into this archive makes it very clear to see how ecological awareness has grown over time, but there is certainly still work to be done. Green Libraries Week is the perfect opportunity to visit your library to take part in the numerous events, or delve into the research available.
To help raise awareness this Green Libraries Week, Exact Editions have put together a special collection of issues which hone in on four key environmental themes: Oceans, Energy Choices, International Climate Politics and Biodiversity.
Explore the special Green Libraries Week Collection on Exact Editions!
Want to find out more?
The Exact Editions platform provides access to a range of magazines and journals which help raise awareness of climate change. An example of this is the Environmental Studies Collection which showcases 11 leading magazines, including Geographical, Resurgence & Ecologist and Ethical Consumer. From organic farming and gardening, to wildlife conservation and geopolitics, these titles promise to offer positive inspiration and an insight into ecology.
Alongside this, the Exact Editions Climate Crisis Page is a freely available learning resource about the Climate Crisis, featuring articles from over 50 different publications.
Individual digital subscriptions to magazines are available in the Exact Editions shop. If you are looking to subscribe on behalf of an institution or library, you can view the wide range of digital magazines available.
Find out more about Exact Editions’ digital publishing solutions here, or contact us at info@exacteditions.com.
**All Reading Room links to the magazines will expire on 27 January 2026.**
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