Green Libraries

Thank you to everyone who entered our Green Library competition. There were some fabulous compositions, and we have selected two winners: one for Photography and one for Creative Writing. Click on the images for all the entries. 

For Photography, the winner is Tom Horrocks for the evocative image of Ropner Park Lake

For Creative Writing the winner is Anne Grikitis.

Congratulations to both Tom and Anne and a huge thank you to everyone who took the time to send in creative work to our competition. This has been compiled as an e-zine Entries are also displayed in the Exhibition Space on the Library Ground Floor until 1 December 2024. 

Look out for more green library happenings in 2025.

Green Libraries Week returned in 2024, even bigger and better. The Library rolled its green activities into the University's Student Life Festival enabling our work to reach a wider audience.   

Events in October 2024 included the Big Green Read. Teaming up with Middlesbrough Public Libraries, everyone in Middlesbrough was invited to read the same book during October and chat to anyone about it. The ‘Big Green Read’ book was The Outrun by Amy Liptrot . The Outrun is a memoir about the healing power of nature. Our book group also met to discuss the book. 

Student Life Festival 14-25 October 2024 - Green Library Activities

A number of events were organised as part of the Festival. This included two academic sessions; a creative writing workshop led by Dr Sophie Nicholls exploring writing about our relationship with nature and a lecture discussing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals hosted by Dr Dee Allen. The Green Library stand was in place in Student Life offering; 

• Natural Images - natural world pictures & creative writing - a competition for ‘green’ writing and images. 
• Green Library Bookshelf - a selection of nature-related books and magazines for everyone to share.
• Green Pledges - over 140 pledges were made promising positive environmental action. 
• Green Art - creative designs from nature.
• Environmental Convo Corner - a space to debate environmental concerns and issues.

A more detailed report of this year's Green Library activities will follow in due course. 

In October 2023, at Teesside University, we held our first ‘Green Fair’; a combined environment, poverty, and hunger awareness event, worked in conjunction with the University’s VolunTees team. Stall holders included local ‘green’ groups, including Tees Valley Wildlife Trust that manages multiple local nature reserves, FareShare and Food Cycle who both redistribute surplus food, the sustainable cycling organisation Sustrans and the University’s TU Green Tees team.

Other attendees raised of awareness of period poverty via the University’s student services team, and also included welfare organisations, including My Sisters Place, an independent 'one stop shop' for women suffering from domestic violence and Nitelightcic, who support personal hygiene for vulnerable individuals. Around 500 students and staff came along to see the stallholders and received advice.

Other work on the day included:

• Our Library reading group discussing Naomi Klein’s article ‘Why Black Lives Matter should transform the climate debate’ published in The Nation magazine in 2014.
• The Student Green Pledge - 66 pledges variously promising to recycle, reduce energy, use public transport, plant trees or undertake litter picking.
• A Library ‘conversation chair’ encouraged debate on local and global environmental issues.

The success of the fair demonstrated students have real environmental concerns and were willing to be proactively green. This has encouraged us to cement the ‘Green Library’ event as an annual fixture into our Library calendar.