Teesside University Library will host eight days of talks, creative sessions and practical environmental activity in Middlesbrough from Wednesday 21 to Wednesday 28 October, with activities centred on the ground-floor Exhibition Space.

Green Libraries Week will focus this year on climate facts and the part libraries can play in helping people navigate and . The university’s programme brings that broad theme down to street level, with advice on cutting waste, into local and global environmental questions, a pledge tree and quiet creative sessions.

Practical action on the library floor

The first main drop-in, Positive Environmental Action, runs on Thursday 22 October from 10am to noon on the library’s ground floor. VolunTees, Middlesbrough Council and the university’s and Lifestyle team will share information on environmental volunteering, reducing waste, recycling and environmentally kinder period products.

Visitors will also be able to browse a Green Library Bookshelf and add a personal promise to a pledge tree. The idea is simple: connect reliable information with something people can do, whether that is borrowing a book, changing a habit or finding a local volunteering route.

Two evening Green Colour and Calm sessions are scheduled for Wednesday 21 and Wednesday 28 October, both from 5pm to 7pm. Participants will use watercolour to paint birds, bugs and flowers Albert Park and RSPB Saltholme. The activity links nearby wildlife with a slower, hands-on way of thinking about the environment.

Research, and

A longer Environmental Research and session will take place on Tuesday 27 October from 9.30am to 1pm in the ground-floor Exhibition Space. Academics, professional services colleagues and Environmental Science students will cover wildlife genetics, community woodlands, net-zero technologies and creative science communication.

The university’s detailed guide says everyone is welcome to that session and tea and coffee will be served. Later the same day, an environmental film or documentary is planned from 5pm to 7pm. The film title has not yet been confirmed, so anyone planning around a particular screening should check the guide before travelling.

Why libraries are taking this on

Green Libraries Week is a UK-wide campaign led by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. Its 2026 theme, “Climate Facts for a greener future”, asks libraries to help people recognise misleading environmental claims while building confidence to find dependable information.

That makes the Teesside programme about information skills as well as sustainability. The mix of , council services, students and practical activities gives people several ways into a subject that can otherwise feel technical or remote. A separate free national webinar on understanding climate misinformation is also scheduled online from 12.30pm to 1.30pm on 21 October.

Plan your visit

Activities are centred on the ground floor of Teesside University Library in the university’s Campus Heart, Middlesbrough, TS1 3BX. The full programme and any late changes are listed on the university’s Green Library guide. The university published the announcement on 13 October; the guide was last updated on 9 October and notes that some activities are still coming together.