Climate change in the spotlight of RECIDA, the Spanish Network of Green Libraries
Rosario Toril Moreno
Documentalist, National Center of Environmental Education, Spain
E-mail: rtoril@oapn.es
The Twentieth Seminar of Environmental Documentation Centers and Protected Natural Areas was held from 20 to 22 October 2021. This year it has been coordinated by the National Center for Environmental Education (CENEAM) of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (Spain) and the Center for Documentation and Resources for Environmental Education of Cantabria (CIMA).
After the COVID19 pandemic, we resumed our in-person annual meeting in Valsaín, Segovia (Spain). This year, it has also been possible to attend the meeting online, since, for the first time, it has been held in a hybrid way. Ninety participants were registered, including heads of centers, experts and professors from universities in the seventeen regions of Spain and from thirteen national parks, in addition to other natural areas.
During the Seminar, the heads of the represented institutions told us their news and experiences in different cases and settings, as well as about their collaboration and exchanges through the RECIDA network.
We began the meeting with Petra Hauke, Secretary of IFLA’s Environment, Sustainability and Libraries Section (ENSULIB), who informed us of its organization and activities, as well as of the German Green Library Network, of which she is a co-founder.
RECIDA, the network of green libraries, which has been working for sustainability for 20 years, was present at COP25 in Madrid with a stand in the green area. RECIDA’s Action Plan commits to keep raising awareness about how to mitigate climate change and to reach its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this area, we can highlight activities such as:
● Reading Clubs in environmental information centers that allow citizens to bring environmental readings closer to the public to raise awareness of the climate emergency
● Parks and libraries which raise awareness and provide education for the better preservation of natural and cultural heritage within the framework of the public library and natural parks
● Literary Ecomenu, which encourages users to read, gaze, feel and marvel at nature through words and books—reading and nature linked in a restaurant menu card
● Resources for a sustainable diet
●Educational materials for eco-social education aimed at solving social, economic and ecological problems
● Application of nature-based solutions for local adaptation of educational and social buildings to climate change
● Environmental education in waste management
● The creation of a Climate Library
● Natural Areas Conservation Experiences
● The 2030 School Agenda based on the SDGs, the purpose of which is to develop skills, knowledge, attitudes, motivation and commitments to take part in the eco-social transformation.
We also got to hear about the magazine “Salvaje” thanks to its director. This publication focuses on natural and rural values, giving voice to new initiatives that are revitalizing the rural environment. And we participated in the live broadcast of the videoblog on Twitch “En plan Planeta: Educación Ambiental en la trinchera”.
Representatives of some of our strategic alliances were also present, such as the Association of Environmental Journalists (APIA), which deals with accurate reporting, International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) with its SDGs wool books. These books are made by elderly, people with mental illness, intellectual disabilities or women in prison. These stories are used in educational centers and libraries in environmental awareness workshops (Bees, Climate change, Wool), so that children learn through experiences with wool. We also heard from Teachers for Future Spain with its Plan 28,000 for the climate, and from the International Network of SDGs Promoters about its awareness, dissemination, communication and SDG promotion activities aiming at social transformation and citizen participation.
We learned about open access information sources that can be used on social networks, as well as how the digital magazine “Actualidad Jurídico Ambiental” is managed. We were also given news of the updating of the ISBD standard for the bibliographic description; and about the environmental bibliographic resources of the Ministry of Defense.
Workshops were provided on content creation with light metadata, a first contact with Scimago Graphica and how to make tables that represent communicative efficiency in the visualization of data. The meeting was closedwith an exchange of ideas between working groups and the new commitments were made for the next Action Plan.
It should be noted that the presentations demonstrated the optimal use of RECIDA resources and the ability of managers to innovate in difficult situations. This was either because of the pandemic or because of the limited resources, developing methodologies and using technology in the most efficient way possible, always with the aim of giving the best support to environmental education and promoting the best use of the natural resources of our environment and of the planet.
