Presented at CONUL conference, May 2018, Galway, Ireland

1. Love Our Library
Greening UCC Library
Transforming the Library environment
with a sustainable agenda
Ann Byrne & Grace McGlynn UCC Library

2. Love our Library
•How & Why
•Achievements
•Future

3. Love our Library Campaign
Scope is to: Reduce Energy, Waste & Water

4. Love Our Library: Why?

5. Love Our Library & Building & Estates
B&E said:
•Boole consumes 10% of
electricity across UCC.
•€263,000 per year electrical cost.
•Enough electricity to power 400
homes for a year.
•“Help us to help you”
•Influencer
The library said:
•OK…..but
•We are frozen.
•We are hot.
•We are frozen.
•We are hot.

6. Love Our Library : How?
Formed the Library Green Team
Representing each physical area of the Library
To:
Monitor energy usage
Identify areas for improvement
Monitored waste management and water use
 Environmental impact of all library operations

7. Love Our Library : How?
• Target audience diverse – student pledge of 2,000
signatures within 24 hrs of the go live date
• Students, library staff, university staff and cleaning
staff - the challenge of keeping everyone on board
• Consistent and comprehensive communications
• Ensuring everyone knows the
library is going “green”

9. Achievements to date: Energy

10. Achievements to date: Energy
1,567,158 kwh for period of April 2017 to March 2018
12% drop on 2016/17 levels.

11. Achievements to date: Recycling &Waste
Before Campaign:
• 167 bins spread across the Library – 10,000 plastic bags a year
• Heavily contaminated – 94%-95% contamination
• Virtually no recycling during term time
• Thousands of disposable coffee cups going to landfill

12. Achievements to date: Recycling
After Campaign:
• All bins removed from library including offices
• 2 Recycling stations on Ground floor of Library
• Recycling stations in 3 key office areas
• Reusable travel mugs only allowed in Library
• Encouraged use of water fountains
• Recycling went up by 700%

13. Achievements to date: Awareness
• Green Team won the “Best Public Sector” category in the
Cork Environmental Forum Annual Awards Ceremony in
December 2017.
• The Green Team received the Best Library Team award at
the Irish Education Awards Dublin in April 2018.

14. • The student experience and their engagement with the
campaign is a key feature.
• The Love Our library campaign builds on the culture of mutual
respect and appreciation we believe exists between the
student body and library staff.
• "The “Love our Library” led by the green library team is an
inspiring action amongst our students and staff, as well as the
wider community. This campaign has been instrumental in
broadening participation in the Green Campus programme
across UCC, and speaks directly to the university’s strategic
aim to embed sustainability into all aspects of our
operations" John O’Halloran, Deputy President & Registrar,
UCC.
Love our Library Impact

15. Love Our Library : The Future
• Green Wall
• Green Conferencing
• Air Conditioning Upgrade
• Air Handling system for Special Collections
• Zero Waste
• Three other major UCC campus sites are now signing up to the
“Saver Saves” scheme.
• The campaign seeks to leverage the existing culture to
promote good environmental behaviours, as well as
nurturing social norms that will help make the library a better
space to work and study in.

16. It can only be good.