Children and Families Design our NEW Sustainable Library Card

Oldham Libraries are very pleased to be moving to 100% recycled and biodegradable library membership cards across all its 12 libraries.

This move, towards more sustainable lending, has also included a creative competition whereby Oldham Libraries and Gallery Oldham audiences have been invited to design the new library cards.

Having tasked, an independent panel of creatives and environmental specialists, with judging over 200 hundred children’s and adult entries Oldham Libraries are now proud to announce the three winning designs!

Congratulations to Larissa age 8, Fatima age 10 and Natalie Walters, in our adult category, who suitably impressed; Gillian Flint, author of The Woodland Explorer Club books, Ruth Moilliet, Sustainable Artist, Matt Sanderson, academic in Sustainability at The University of Manchester and Subnum Hariff-Khan, Head of Heritage, Libraries and Arts, with their bright and bold designs.

Matt said “I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of entries. The scope of ideas and the quality of designs were outstanding. Ultimately, I think the winning entry captures not only the ethos of Oldham Libraries, but also well reflects their sustainable credentials.”

Our winning designs were launched to coincide with the celebration of Green Libraries week, a nationwide event that highlights the importance of sustainability in libraries. Winning entrants were awarded with £25 of Waterstones vouchers and their designs will be printed on our new cards.

Head of Heritage Libraries and Arts, Subnum has been behind the move saying “as a library service we are always looking to improve practices to ensure we are being more environmentally friendly and encouraging others to do the same. The creative card design competition has been a great way to engage children and young people on an important environmental issue and we have been delighted with the number of entries and the quality of artwork.”

These new library cards, available for all new library members are manufactured in the UK, lightweight and use less ink and power for print drying than standard plastic library cards.

Soon members joining the library will receive one of the new sustainable library cards. If you are a current member with an older plastic card, we encourage you to use this card until it needs replacing to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.

The Heritage Libraries and Arts Sustainability working group is very pleased with the move to eco friendly Library cards. Jo, a Customer Experience Assistant and active member of the group says ‘as a team we work together to make our whole service more sustainable from small daily changes to bigger projects like our new library card. It’s really important that we bring our customers on the journey with us and the competition has been a great way to do this.’

for more information please contact jenny.allen@oldham.gov.uk.