Inspire is Going for Green

Inspire Culture, Learning and Libraries is to receive one of 15 grants awarded to libraries across the UK to support sustainability and promote environmental understanding and action.  

The grant of £2,500 awarded by CILIP (The Library and Information Association) through their Green Libraries Partnership will be used to develop the green spaces at Inspire’s Bircotes and Bilsthorpe Libraries and develop environmental understanding and action through local partnerships, community engagement activities and staff, stock and space interventions.

With support from Arts Council England and in partnership with British Library, Libraries Connected and Julie’s Bicycle, the Green Libraries Partnership was developed in response to COP26 and the long-term climate commitments made by libraries and local authorities across England.

Inspire who run Nottinghamshire libraries on behalf of the County Council, will create a library garden with outdoor classroom facilities for the development of a high impact environmental programme of activities in Bircotes and Bilsthorpe rural libraries. The work will act as a pilot for Inspire’s LOGGS project (Libraries Outdoor Green Garden Spaces) generating data on community awareness and engagement with the environment through the garden, to explore creating a rolling programme in other libraries in the county.

By creating a library gardens we will enhance and support environmental thinking; reinforcing Inspire’s dedication to reduce our environmental impact and give our communities space for environmental events and activities. A library garden will not only provide additional space for events, with a particular focus on environmental education but will help us to nurture our local communities understanding of living sustainably and restoring our natural world.

For updates on the Green Libraries Partnership and ongoing activities, follow @CILIPinfo and #GreenLibraries on Twitter or visit www.cilip.org.uk/GreenLibraries. Stay up to date with Inspire and the LOGGS project  at inspireculture.org.uk.