Emerald Keepers is proud to celebrate the Coronado Public Library as Emerald Keeper of the Month for December. As well as being one of Emerald Keepers’ community partners, they were among the first to be designated an Emerald Green, Ocean Blue business. Taking the lead as Teen Librarian, Tara Davies was named as the Environmental Librarian by Director Shaun Briley.
Modern libraries are centers of learning and gathering. Recognizing this, Briley has embraced the library’s partnership with Emerald Keepers cohosting over a dozen events aimed at educating the community about sustainable practices. Topics include electric vehicles, solar energy, electrification of homes, native plants, citizen scientist programs, a marine biologist led beach walk, vegetarian cooking, sea level rise mitigation, eco book talks, and reduction of single-use plastics.
Davies established a seed library and hosted composting classes for the community. Additionally, she works with both middle and high school students in their gardens to compost food waste and grow organic vegetables. The latter are donated to the Imperial Beach Food Pantry with the help of Rotarians committed to helping the food insecure.
Library hosted events are zero waste with everything being recycled, composted, or reused. Former Librarian Eileen Houser made sure the library has sufficient washable dishes and utensils on site. Beth Skelly works with Emerald Keepers to schedule events in the Winn Room – not an easy task given the many groups vying to utilize the facilities. Always gracious and helpful, she works her magic on the aged AV system to insure smooth events.
The Coronado Public Library team works tirelessly for our community promoting and exercising sustainable practices daily. Their commitment to an Emerald Green, Ocean Blue Coronado is to be applauded. Congratulations and a huge “thank you” to the Coronado Public Library for their continued partnership and leadership.
