1 00:00:12,540 --> 00:00:15,460 I don't know how many of you watched UK column news on Monday 2 00:00:15,580 --> 00:00:18,260 when I talked about the Sustainable Development Goals 3 00:00:18,260 --> 00:00:22,220 and how they tie into scientific research and libraries and 4 00:00:22,220 --> 00:00:25,100 universities. And so I had a comment from 5 00:00:25,100 --> 00:00:27,220 Charles actually saying that he thought that this was 6 00:00:27,220 --> 00:00:29,580 particularly interesting and useful information. 7 00:00:29,940 --> 00:00:33,540 So he suggested that I go into a little bit further into some of 8 00:00:33,540 --> 00:00:36,460 this with libraries for this talk. 9 00:00:36,780 --> 00:00:39,520 So I've, these are things I've been aware of for a while. 10 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:41,360 There's some new things that I found this week. 11 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:44,000 I went far into this rabbit hole and I will try to keep it as 12 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:46,840 surface level as possible. If there's anything else about 13 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:49,680 libraries or education you'd like to talk about during the 14 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:52,400 question and answers, of course, I'm, I'm certainly happy to 15 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:54,360 address anything related to this. 16 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:59,400 So Sandy Adams and I have been, unfortunately, she's not here 17 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:01,080 today. It's actually her birthday this 18 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:02,720 weekend. So happy birthday to Sandy. 19 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:06,000 So she's away celebrating with her family, which is lovely. 20 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:10,200 She, she and I have been talking a lot recently about sustainable 21 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:13,920 development goals and, and education and in particular, and 22 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:17,240 how this all ties in together into the 2030 agenda. 23 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:21,600 So I'm assuming that most of you who are here, if you watch UK 24 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:23,720 Holloman, if you're here at this event, you are aware of the 25 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:28,080 sustainable development goals and our, our reporting, which 26 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:30,520 has shown that basically whatever they say is the 27 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:32,360 opposite is true. So sustainable means 28 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:35,800 unsustainable, right? So they are trying to unsustain 29 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:39,560 us at whatever level at the top that we're trying to talk about, 30 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:41,400 right? So if they're saying we're going 31 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:43,680 to protect life underwater, it actually means we're going to 32 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:47,720 kill the fish, right? So we have to really be careful 33 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:50,360 of what they're saying because it's inversion of language that 34 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:53,280 they use is actually they're they're doing the opposite 35 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:55,600 usually of what they're telling us or they try to make it sound 36 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:57,960 like it's really nice. And that's something that we 37 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:01,200 have to be really careful with is what's actually going on 38 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:03,880 beneath this language that they're giving to us, because on 39 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:07,240 a surface level it sounds great, but what are they really trying 40 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:09,160 to do? So I'm going to talk in 41 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:13,520 particular today about libraries and the the sort of the 42 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:17,200 globalist organization that runs libraries and how they have 43 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:19,520 contributed to these sustainable development goals. 44 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:24,000 In particular, Sustainable Development Goal 16 is the one 45 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:29,240 that apparently they see libraries fitting into under the 46 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:31,560 most, although they see libraries relating to all 47 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:34,560 seventeen goals and that we can all contribute to them as good 48 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:36,720 librarians. Well, not me anymore, but 49 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:39,960 previously other librarians that still exist in the system that 50 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:43,520 we are able to contribute to all seventeen goals because we have 51 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:46,760 such a role to play in education and knowledge and and and 52 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:49,400 getting things out to the world and access to information. 53 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:52,760 But what is actually going on underneath all of this? 54 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:58,520 So the short version of the title of Sustainable Goal 16 is 55 00:02:58,640 --> 00:03:02,240 peace, justice and strong institutions, Which of course 56 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:04,760 sounds lovely, doesn't it? Sure who does? 57 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:06,240 Who doesn't want peace and justice? 58 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:09,840 And strong institutions. However, if you read some of the 59 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:12,680 language, and these are things, I know this is being recorded. 60 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:15,600 So if people need to see these details later, you can always 61 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:18,040 look at them later on, but they're on the slides anyway. 62 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:21,560 Goal 16 is about promoting peaceful and inclusive 63 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:24,920 societies. So inclusion means exclusion, 64 00:03:24,920 --> 00:03:25,880 doesn't it? Right. 65 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:28,360 Think about myself. Think about what inclusion 66 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:29,760 actually means in this day and age. 67 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:33,560 Providing access to justice for all and building effective, 68 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:36,840 accountable and inclusive. Second word in the second 69 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:40,800 inclusive in the same sentence. Institutions at all levels, 70 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:44,040 people everywhere should be free of fear from all forms of 71 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:47,520 violence and feel safe as they go about their lives, whatever 72 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:51,680 their ethnicity, faith, or sexual orientation. 73 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:54,640 So we're talking about including everyone. 74 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:56,560 Just that's OK. It sounds good at a surface 75 00:03:56,560 --> 00:03:58,800 level, but those of you who are aware of the sort of the 76 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:02,080 equality, diversity, sorry, equity, not equality, equity, 77 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:06,000 diversity and inclusion agenda that has perfaded all employers 78 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:08,880 and institutions in this country, you will know that it 79 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:11,720 is not all as nice and lovely as it sounds. 80 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:14,680 There are. I don't know how much you've 81 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:17,040 looked into the actual UN policies. 82 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:20,000 This is directly from the the United Nations website. 83 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:23,400 The targets and all of all of the sociable development goals 84 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:27,400 have these different targets and indicators and outputs and what 85 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:30,400 we want to do by 2030. So there are several of them 86 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:32,560 listed here. They have a lot to do with 87 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:36,240 violence and stopping violence, stopping abuse, exploitation, 88 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:38,520 trafficking. Again, that all sounds great, 89 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:42,400 but it's all about, you know, basically treating everyone the 90 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:44,600 same. So it's kind of this idea of 91 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:47,760 everyone is equal, which depending on what you call it, 92 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:51,160 there is academic debates about is it Marxism, is it communism? 93 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:54,120 Is it socialism? You know what, what is behind 94 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:55,440 that? But essentially, basically 95 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:58,440 saying that everyone has to be treated the same, which is why 96 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:01,520 they're funneling money from, you know, wealthier nations like 97 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:05,080 the UK, at least historically, to other countries in the name 98 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:07,240 of climate finance. And so there's channeling money 99 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:09,920 through, you know, City of London and, and the banking 100 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:12,800 system to Africa. And then African nations are in 101 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:16,760 another sort of less affluent nations in the past. 102 00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:19,360 So we're all being treated equitably so that we all have 103 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:22,200 the same amount of nothing and we'll be happy about it in five 104 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:23,000 years. Yay. 105 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:28,880 OK, So what I want to focus on here, though, for my talk is 16 106 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:34,640 A, which is to strength. Well, there's 1610 and 16 A 1610 107 00:05:34,640 --> 00:05:37,560 says ensure public access to information and protect 108 00:05:37,680 --> 00:05:40,040 fundamental freedoms in accordance with national 109 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:42,760 legislation and international agreements. 110 00:05:43,280 --> 00:05:47,480 SO16A in particular. 16 sorry, 1610, I've been up since 3:00 AM 111 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:51,080 16/10 is the one that the library associations, the 112 00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:54,440 International Federation of Library Associations, which I'm 113 00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:58,280 going to talk about in depth, directly contributed to this. 114 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:01,240 So what are they actually saying when they're talking about 115 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:03,800 access to public access to information? 116 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:09,360 Well, this has to do partially with their target 1610 and 117 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:13,160 sustainable development goals. So who has ever tried to do a 118 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:15,240 Freedom of Information request in this country? 119 00:06:16,280 --> 00:06:18,720 How did it go for you? Was it difficult? 120 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:22,240 Not difficult. Well, that's surprising. 121 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:27,120 Anyone else wasn't difficult. Well, that's good because that's 122 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:30,320 not been my experience. And, and, and one of the one of 123 00:06:30,320 --> 00:06:32,920 the things that is interesting about Freedom of Information 124 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:35,360 requests is that you have to hit a certain spots. 125 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:37,680 You guys must have done them much better than I have ever 126 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:41,320 done because you can't ask for too much because then they say 127 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:43,360 it costs too much money. You either have a threshold, I 128 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:46,960 think it's £600 which was set 20 years ago, which is still £600, 129 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:50,280 and if it costs more than £600 in staff time or resources, they 130 00:06:50,280 --> 00:06:52,920 won't do it. If it's too broad, they won't do 131 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:54,360 it. If it's too generic, they won't 132 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:56,480 do it. We've been giving Freedom of 133 00:06:56,480 --> 00:06:59,960 Information requests for libraries to find out what 134 00:06:59,960 --> 00:07:02,640 they're doing in these decolonization projects and 135 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:05,000 access to information that children shouldn't be seeing 136 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:08,640 that I reported on consistently. And we get very vague answers 137 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:11,040 back from the universities and the libraries and they claim 138 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:13,520 that they haven't done this or they don't hold this or you've 139 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:15,440 asked for too much. It's the same with the Fidelity 140 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:18,120 Residential School cases. So maybe the things that I'm 141 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:20,280 doing are too controversial. Maybe you've done things that 142 00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:23,720 are easier to answer, but here this was written evidence 143 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:26,960 submitted to Parliament around SDG 16. 144 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:30,120 These are media related organizations and they said that 145 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:33,640 in 2000 when the UK started using the Freedom of Information 146 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:36,720 Act or when they tried to put into place they had problems. 147 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:39,840 But although it was meant to be instrumental in speaking truth 148 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:41,920 to power, does that sound like a real government term? 149 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:44,880 Truth to power? And and it has been met with 150 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:47,640 fierce criticism from both government representatives and 151 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:51,560 civil society organizations for complexity and ministerial veto 152 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:54,480 power to block information requests, among other issues. 153 00:07:54,480 --> 00:07:57,040 So if they decide that they want to block it, they they can 154 00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:00,760 essentially, but they've tied this back to in this report, 155 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:04,680 Parliament on SGG target 1610, which is the one I read to you. 156 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:07,880 Fundamental freedoms vital for democracy and good governance, 157 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:10,440 such as freedom of expression, which we've been talking about 158 00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:13,160 today on online safety and censorship and all of these 159 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:18,080 things and access to information which is ATI these are they are 160 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:21,640 curved, exacerbates corruption and allows for complete impunity 161 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:24,000 for violations of the law and human rights. 162 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:27,600 Consequently, citizens become disenfranchised and have a low 163 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:29,360 trust in government. Well, that's surprising. 164 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:33,240 A feeling of further decline in civic space and democracy. 165 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:37,760 The achievement of SDG 16 and other SDGS are severely impeded. 166 00:08:37,919 --> 00:08:42,080 That's not good for them and any related initiatives can easily 167 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:45,880 be misdirected and fail. So this is what's going to 168 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:49,360 happen is if we don't follow these SDGS, then you know, 169 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:51,280 apparently civil society will fall apart. 170 00:08:52,600 --> 00:08:55,760 So this gets into the IFLA organization, which is the one 171 00:08:55,760 --> 00:08:58,160 that I mentioned, which is the International Federation of 172 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:00,160 Library Associations and Institutions. 173 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:02,520 This is the, you might have heard me if you've heard my 174 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:06,240 reporting previously on libraries Sillup, which is EU KS 175 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:08,840 version of this. And all of the National Library 176 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:12,200 associations fall under IFLA. So Sillup is the Chartered 177 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:14,600 Institute of Library and Information Professionals. 178 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:17,640 They took my charter ship away from me essentially when I when 179 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:20,200 I had to resign, when I was going through my cancellation 180 00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:22,840 process. They have reciprocal agreements 181 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:26,080 with organizations like the American Library Association. 182 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:29,480 And actually, the reason that I'm allowed to be or was allowed 183 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:32,000 to be a professional librarian in the UK is because of 184 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:34,160 reciprocal agreements that kind of fall under these 185 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:36,520 international standards. So they all kind of work 186 00:09:36,520 --> 00:09:39,240 together. And the last few and current 187 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:41,960 presidents of the American Library Association have been 188 00:09:41,960 --> 00:09:45,800 Marxist, but but self declared Marxist lesbian was 1. 189 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:49,880 Emily Jervinski. There's also been the non binary 190 00:09:49,880 --> 00:09:52,520 have been the last few Ala presidents. 191 00:09:52,680 --> 00:09:55,760 So they're all right in the middle of of pushing that 192 00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:57,680 particular agenda. The things that I talked about 193 00:09:57,680 --> 00:10:00,280 related to the things that are they're being placed in front of 194 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:05,200 children. So here's what Ifla said about 195 00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:10,040 Goal 16, SDG 16. The the entire name of Goal 16 196 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:12,480 is much longer than the one on the Pretty Little cartoony 197 00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:15,560 graphic. Promote peaceful and inclusive 198 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:18,880 inclusive societies for sustainable development, Provide 199 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:22,760 access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and 200 00:10:22,760 --> 00:10:26,040 inclusive, again, inclusive institutions at all levels. 201 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:29,080 And this is to realize access to information fully. 202 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:32,040 Everyone needs both access and skills to use information 203 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:34,000 effectively. As outlined in the Lyon 204 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:36,480 Declaration on Access to Information and Development, 205 00:10:36,480 --> 00:10:38,600 which is another separate but related document. 206 00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:41,840 Libraries have the skills and resources to help governments, 207 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:45,640 institutions, and individuals communicate, organized structure 208 00:10:45,880 --> 00:10:48,800 and use information effectively for development. 209 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:52,040 Now, when I became a librarian 25 years ago, I thought I was 210 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:54,480 just going to help organizations, people, etcetera, 211 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:56,440 find and access and use information. 212 00:10:56,440 --> 00:10:58,240 I didn't know I was going to be doing it on behalf of the 213 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:03,320 globalists. So this was, I'm gonna just go 214 00:11:03,320 --> 00:11:07,000 into a little bit of the history of showing how IFLA has been 215 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:10,960 instrumental for the past 10 years, actually a bit longer 216 00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:15,800 around developing Agenda 2030. So this goes back to 2015 when 217 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:20,600 they were working on the 2030 agenda saying the new, the 2030 218 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:23,680 Agenda is an inclusive. How many times if we had, if we 219 00:11:23,680 --> 00:11:25,600 had drinks in here, if your drink every time I said 220 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:27,400 inclusive, you guys would be on the floor by now. 221 00:11:28,680 --> 00:11:32,040 Integrate a framework of 17 goals, spending economic, 222 00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:33,680 environmental and social development. 223 00:11:33,680 --> 00:11:36,320 By achieving this agenda, no one will be left behind. 224 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:40,040 Libraries are key institution to help achieve the goals. 225 00:11:40,040 --> 00:11:43,560 So there's that inclusivity, there's the everyone ends up in 226 00:11:43,560 --> 00:11:46,120 the same place. That's the the idea of, you 227 00:11:46,120 --> 00:11:49,200 know, what they're doing of kind of spreading things around and 228 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:50,600 and so on. So we're we're kind of seeing 229 00:11:50,600 --> 00:11:53,040 what's what's going on there sort of politically. 230 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:55,600 And they talked about access to information as being an 231 00:11:55,600 --> 00:12:00,040 important part of SGG 16, which of course I believe in access to 232 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:02,840 information of any type, not just misinformation. 233 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:06,000 I am the antidote to Mariana Spring, by the way. 234 00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:10,560 So what what they said as an example, in this 2015 report of 235 00:12:10,560 --> 00:12:14,680 what libraries can do to promote SGG 16, they talked about 236 00:12:14,680 --> 00:12:18,640 helping the World Bank, The World Bank Group's strategy to 237 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:21,640 extreme poverty by 20-30. The World Bank Group provides 238 00:12:21,640 --> 00:12:24,080 both staff and the global community with access to 239 00:12:24,080 --> 00:12:27,240 relevant information and services in order to foster 240 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:29,640 knowledge transfer, good governance, and economic 241 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:33,800 development. This was not about helping, you 242 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:35,960 know, illiterate adults learn to read. 243 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:38,200 This was not about helping children learn to read. 244 00:12:38,200 --> 00:12:40,960 This was not about helping people use a computer for the 245 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:43,280 first time. The the kinds of things that I 246 00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:45,320 thought that I was going to do when I became a librarian. 247 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:49,640 So this was the example that they showed of how they're going 248 00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:52,920 to contribute to Agenda 2030 is by helping the World Bank. 249 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:55,200 That was kind of their case study example in this report. 250 00:12:56,800 --> 00:12:59,520 So these are some slides that I just want to bring you back to. 251 00:12:59,920 --> 00:13:02,640 These are from Monday's news, so forgive me if you've seen these 252 00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:05,160 already, but just as a reminder of how this is actually playing 253 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:08,440 out now, like currently, this is from the University of 254 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:10,400 Strathclyde, which is where I used to work. 255 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:14,760 And they have this, every UK university has one of these sort 256 00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:17,840 of, they call them information portals, where all the published 257 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:21,440 research and data sets now have to be deposited legally, 258 00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:24,680 according to the UK government, that everything has to go into 259 00:13:24,680 --> 00:13:27,920 the systems when you publish, when you publish the paper, when 260 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:31,480 you get grant funding, when you have data sets, they all are 261 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:33,520 required to go into this. And it's something called open 262 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:35,800 Science, which I'm going to talk about in just a minute. 263 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:39,920 What you see here is on the front page, the home page of 264 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:43,400 this research portal is the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, 265 00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:44,640 right? You see all the little pretty 266 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:47,840 Carcini life below water, all the wonderful things we're going 267 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:52,800 to do because you have to, in this day and age when you do any 268 00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:56,280 research for university in the UK, you have to align your 269 00:13:56,280 --> 00:13:58,760 research to at least one sustainable development goal or 270 00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:02,280 you are not allowed to do the work it is required to put into 271 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:06,280 the system. So here is this was the same man 272 00:14:06,280 --> 00:14:08,760 I used on Monday, but he's a great example because he's doing 273 00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:10,880 so well. This is Professor Paul Rogers, 274 00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:12,640 who's actually professor of design. 275 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:14,480 Now, you wouldn't think that necessarily. 276 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:16,600 OK, so design sounds like a creative type. 277 00:14:16,600 --> 00:14:18,720 Maybe, maybe Ben Rubin could work with him, right? 278 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:22,680 No, He's contributed, according to his profile on the university 279 00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:25,480 research portal, he's contributed to all 17 280 00:14:25,480 --> 00:14:28,520 sustainable development goals in in wonderful ways. 281 00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:30,280 So that's. Yeah, I know. 282 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:33,560 And what they've done with some of my research that I deposited 283 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:36,280 into this system when I still worked for them, they've gone 284 00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:39,120 back retroactively and added sustainable difficult goals to 285 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:41,760 research that I did when I was not even aware of what they 286 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:44,480 were. So that's how important it was 287 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:46,400 to them that I don't even work for them anymore. 288 00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:48,840 And this was worked out, I did 5 or 10 years ago and they're 289 00:14:48,840 --> 00:14:50,280 going back just to make the point. 290 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:55,160 This was one of the, So what happens is I said you have to 291 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:58,080 put individual pieces of, of your work into the system. 292 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:01,920 This is something a book that Professor Rogers contributed to 293 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:06,160 called Chronicles of Care, a design history of the COVID 294 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:09,000 virus. So he helped, did he help design 295 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:10,920 the virus? Was that like a, was it a vanity 296 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:12,040 project? Like what was this? 297 00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:14,040 Right? So we over here you see that 298 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:20,040 he's contributed to SDGS 389 and 12 by doing this, this work and 299 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:23,280 this was a contribution and I think it was an entire book that 300 00:15:23,280 --> 00:15:27,160 he edited and contributed to. It said the COVID crisis and the 301 00:15:27,160 --> 00:15:29,880 design interventions that the authors have catalogued in this 302 00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:34,600 book proved definitively that design does care cares about the 303 00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:38,520 COVID virus. The authors documented this as 304 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:42,000 it evolved every day. Look at these dates from the 1st 305 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:46,200 of January 2020 to 31st of May 2020 inclusive. 306 00:15:46,840 --> 00:15:49,240 Now, we didn't start wearing masks until July, right? 307 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:51,920 Or they tried to make us wear masks starting in July because 308 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:54,800 part of what they talked about in this chapter is how they 309 00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:57,240 designed the masks and all the stickers they put all over the 310 00:15:57,240 --> 00:15:58,520 place. This was all part of their 311 00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:00,600 design work and they wrote about in the book, right? 312 00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:04,920 Then they looked at all of this care and caring for the point of 313 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:08,640 view of design, and by the sheer volume of design interventions 314 00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:12,960 they have documented, illustrate that design is good in a crisis. 315 00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:17,360 So 4 out of 17 goals hit. You know, there's your next 316 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:19,080 promotion case right there, right? 317 00:16:19,080 --> 00:16:22,360 That's probably why this guy's a professor, Steven. 318 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:26,320 So, so go back to libraries. And so of course, libraries run 319 00:16:26,320 --> 00:16:28,160 those systems. They manage all those systems. 320 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:30,720 I had colleagues that worked on that system at the University of 321 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:32,960 Strathclyde, including some of my former students that were 322 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:35,920 doing it for their placements and students that went to work 323 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:37,680 for them and worked for these systems. 324 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:41,000 So I know them very well. So IFLA, so we're just to 325 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:43,800 forward ahead here. This is from 2018. 326 00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:46,840 IFLA now has a yearly Green Library Award. 327 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:49,640 And at the end of this talk, I'm going to reveal the winner of 328 00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:52,400 the 2025 Green Libraries Award. I bet you can't wait for that. 329 00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:57,520 So this is a report from 2018 talking about how, once again, 330 00:16:57,520 --> 00:16:59,960 how are they now that they would have actually contributed to 331 00:16:59,960 --> 00:17:02,840 developing how libraries will contribute to the St. 332 00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:04,760 GS? What are they doing with them 333 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:08,480 now that they're in place? So this is a 2018 report talking 334 00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:11,760 about their sort of yearly work that they do. 335 00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:16,720 So this, this in 2018, they did a, a survey talking to different 336 00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:20,119 people about what they should be doing with, with the SDGS. 337 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:22,800 And they are saying that since libraries are part of the 338 00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:25,960 sharing economy, this can include purchasing books. 339 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:28,600 And as we'll see, a lot of the books that they're also 340 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:30,720 purchasing for children. I don't report on this a lot, 341 00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:33,080 but part of the books that they're, that they're buying for 342 00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:35,760 children is to scare them about the climate crisis, right? 343 00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:38,600 So if they're not already confused about what gender means 344 00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:40,520 when they're young, they're already worried that we're going 345 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:42,880 to die because the planet is going to boil and they're not 346 00:17:42,880 --> 00:17:48,160 going to make it to adulthood. So this report just to some some 347 00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:50,480 points from it. It says the green library 348 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:54,600 movement began in the 1990s with the focus on buildings, 349 00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:58,520 sustainability literacy. So it's not just about reading 350 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:00,200 literacy. It's not just about Computer 351 00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:02,000 literacy. It's all those now we have to 352 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:05,560 have be literate about sustainability, having knowledge 353 00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:08,640 and skills to advocate for resilient social, economic and 354 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:11,880 environmental systems, working with children and young adults 355 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:14,960 in order to build the habit of sustainability early in life. 356 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:16,480 Right. So now we're the kids are going 357 00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:19,960 to be terrified that they they can't open a package or throw 358 00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:21,880 something in the bin. It's going to kill the planet. 359 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:25,120 University libraries supporting the research related to 360 00:18:25,120 --> 00:18:28,080 sustainability, which we've just shown from those examples from 361 00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:31,320 my former employer. So that's 2018. 362 00:18:32,280 --> 00:18:36,160 In 2020, there was, this was published as a working group, 363 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:39,960 the European Libraries and Sustainable Assessment towards 364 00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:41,920 SDG Indicators in European Libraries. 365 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:45,480 This was a committee that fell under IFLA, the International 366 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:49,960 Association. And so this was some interesting 367 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:52,840 points that came out of this. And this kind of ties into some 368 00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:55,920 things that were mentioned in the news together with certified 369 00:18:55,920 --> 00:18:58,200 information. So we can't have that fake 370 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:01,680 information. Certified information libraries 371 00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:04,360 do store historical pieces of misinformation. 372 00:19:04,360 --> 00:19:05,760 I didn't know that was allowed, right. 373 00:19:07,120 --> 00:19:08,520 I should go back to the library world. 374 00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:11,800 Anti revolutionary or revolutionary pamphlets 375 00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:15,160 including falsehoods or overly distorted facts, Flat Earth 376 00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:20,320 conspiracies or very simply obsolete theories that were 377 00:19:20,320 --> 00:19:23,000 falsified by successive scientific advances. 378 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:24,520 Well, that's all part of history, right? 379 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:27,000 Just because somebody thought one thing and then we still need 380 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:30,400 to keep it documented. Metadata about these documents 381 00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:33,680 are offered in a neutral way by library catalogs, which cannot 382 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:37,160 be considered in any way. Weapons against disinformation. 383 00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:40,240 What does that mean? Secondly, however, information 384 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:43,000 literate they are and in libraries, information literacy 385 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:47,520 means this is how you determine what sources are useful to use. 386 00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:50,400 The actually my very first job in libraries, after I got my 387 00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:53,920 qualification, my first job title was, if I can remember it 388 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:56,520 correctly, instruction and information literacy 389 00:19:56,520 --> 00:19:59,200 technologist, and I just thought I was going to be a librarian. 390 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:01,760 So I have this job title with 20 words in it. 391 00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:06,440 So users are willing to come to a well informed and objective 392 00:20:06,440 --> 00:20:09,320 judgement about societal, political or scientific events 393 00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:11,120 should go through the following steps. 394 00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:13,360 So first, you should access a library. 395 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:16,080 Good idea. Peru's documents, including fake 396 00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:17,360 news. I thought we were throwing that 397 00:20:17,360 --> 00:20:19,120 out because we're gonna look at it now. 398 00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:22,280 Verify fake news against opposite truths. 399 00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:26,200 So as as Rosemary Jenkinson, the author that that I interviewed 400 00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:29,280 earlier this week for UK column Your Truth is the Wrong Wrong 401 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:33,480 Kind of Truth, which is the theme of her novel Verify faked 402 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:37,400 news against opposite truths or principle of falsification. 403 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:40,960 These conditions, never fully satisfied, are always time 404 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:43,120 consuming. I don't even know what that 405 00:20:43,120 --> 00:20:44,360 means but I thought it was interesting. 406 00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:48,400 So here's a connection between what an examples from this 407 00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:51,560 report of what libraries can do to put these into place. 408 00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:57,200 So we have targets for SDG 4. So for example, by 20-30, I'm 409 00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:00,040 sure all girls and boys have access to quality early 410 00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:04,120 childhood development care and pre primary education so that 411 00:21:04,120 --> 00:21:05,840 they are ready for primary education. 412 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:10,280 The library as an output has a book start, which is a program 413 00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:12,960 to help with this. They work with daycare centers 414 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:16,160 and child healthcare centers. The outcomes is that children 415 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:19,160 score higher on language tests and they have a better 416 00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:22,000 vocabulary. So you know, that would be easy 417 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:24,600 to sell to a librarian, right? Because, well, that all sounds 418 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:25,880 good, right? Like, yeah, let's help kids 419 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:27,600 learn to read. That sounds like a good idea, 420 00:21:28,120 --> 00:21:32,000 but, you know, but then that turns into, well, we're going to 421 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:34,040 tell them how to not make the planet boil. 422 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:35,840 We're going to tell them they can change their gender or 423 00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:38,360 change their species as long as we can get them to read and put 424 00:21:38,360 --> 00:21:40,920 the material in front of them. Then the librarians are 425 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:42,680 thinking, oh, it's all part of the same plan. 426 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:44,880 It's all great and we're all going to be what we need to be 427 00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:48,480 by 2030. So here's the online Computer 428 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:52,120 Library Center, which is OCLC is one of the major library 429 00:21:52,120 --> 00:21:55,000 providers around the world. They actually own the rights to 430 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:57,160 the Dewey Decimal System, if that's what you think of when 431 00:21:57,160 --> 00:21:58,880 you think of libraries. They actually own the Dewey 432 00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:03,000 system now. They did a a survey in 2021 433 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:06,600 asking librarians around the world which SDGS they thought 434 00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:09,280 they understood and which ones they could contribute to. 435 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:16,200 And they found for the most part 4810 and 16 and 17 were the top 436 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:18,280 ones. So that includes education, work 437 00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:22,240 and economic growth, reduced inequalities 16 which includes 438 00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:24,520 the access to information and partnerships for the goals. 439 00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:27,880 And here's just some of the survey results of the 440 00:22:27,880 --> 00:22:31,520 percentages of both public and academic librarians who thought 441 00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:34,480 that they would be able to contribute to these SDGS. 442 00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:36,240 So the the scores are actually pretty high. 443 00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:40,280 And in the conclusion, they said whether explicitly or 444 00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:43,040 implicitly, libraries are contributing to all 17 of the 445 00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:45,560 SDGS. And in some cases, library 446 00:22:45,560 --> 00:22:48,680 activities are associated with strategic planning for the 447 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:50,560 libraries. But for the most part, they are 448 00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:53,080 just taking as part of their mission as library that 449 00:22:53,320 --> 00:22:56,560 libraries themselves are contributing to Agenda 20-30. 450 00:22:56,760 --> 00:22:58,640 But they should continue to plan for it. 451 00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:03,080 IFLA has an Environment, Sustainability and Libraries 452 00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:05,320 section. This is a large group within 453 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:09,560 IFLA itself, and they are the ones really focusing on showing 454 00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:11,520 how libraries on the world are putting this into place. 455 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:16,440 Here's one example. June 2025, the Biblio Green High 456 00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:19,480 School library in Italy. So what other imagery do you see 457 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:21,840 in there? Along with being green, we see 458 00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:23,520 the rainbow, don't we? Right. 459 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:29,320 So that's a wonderful example. That is actually Greek 460 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:31,080 divinities. That was their way of teaching 461 00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:34,320 Greek divinities to high school students was with the rainbow. 462 00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:36,320 I don't know what that relationship is. 463 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:39,960 Seeds have changed environmental education resources from Spain. 464 00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:43,560 So we see things like picture books, selling a a guide to 465 00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:45,920 children's literature, the environment and the SDGS. 466 00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:49,320 So we're teaching SDGS and and climate crisis to young children 467 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:52,480 through picture books, Climate change resources guide for ages 468 00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:56,720 3 to 18. So on a little bit more recently 469 00:23:56,720 --> 00:23:59,080 we have the tool Kit for Libraries development and the UN 470 00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:01,520 20-30 agenda. Again, just telling libraries 471 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:04,440 exactly how they can do these things and put these little 472 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:06,360 programs into place within their libraries. 473 00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:13,640 And this was just published last month, June 2025, an entire book 474 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:17,600 on libraries driving education for sustainable development. 475 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:21,200 So this is specifically promoting the UNESCO Agenda 476 00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:23,520 2030. So that's the education part of 477 00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:26,200 the UN. And there's an there's a 500 478 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:29,920 page book of ideas of how libraries can do these things. 479 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:33,680 So I just thought we would take a look at the table of contents. 480 00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:36,840 Some of these chapter names are really interesting. 481 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:39,560 Empowering communities sustaining the planet. 482 00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:42,960 The role of libraries of the introductory chapter library LED 483 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:46,200 for education for sustainable development, data information 484 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:48,760 literacy for sustainable development, arts based 485 00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:50,920 sustainability from New York to Malawi. 486 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:55,400 OK, incentives for open science and advancing sustainability. 487 00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:57,800 A German perspective. So what open science means is 488 00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:00,600 that we're trying to make research available for free, 489 00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:03,280 which is what what the UK universities are doing with 490 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:05,360 putting things into their repositories means that we don't 491 00:25:05,360 --> 00:25:08,000 have to pay publishers to access a lot of things. 492 00:25:08,120 --> 00:25:10,200 However, it's all agenda driven, right? 493 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:13,160 So if you do something really interesting or off the wall, 494 00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:15,320 you're not allowed to share it because it doesn't align with 495 00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:17,680 the SDGS, which means you literally cannot put it on the 496 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:21,080 repository. So it's free, but it's all 497 00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:24,320 driven by whatever the government will fund, which 498 00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:26,000 aligns with the SD, GS and so on. 499 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:29,960 Or other things that are talking about the climate crisis or 500 00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:33,720 information needs of LGBT people in libraries, which is funded 501 00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:37,200 all over the place right now. For example, public and school 502 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:40,600 libraries nurturing young environmental stewards, a 503 00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:43,320 citizen science corner in an Australian school library. 504 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:45,520 So they're teaching children they can be scientists without 505 00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:47,640 any scientific training. But only if it's going to 506 00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:50,520 promote the green agenda. Creating green libraries in 507 00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:53,640 Colombia, cultivating sustainability in Hungary. 508 00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:56,720 Libraries striding towards a sustainable society in India. 509 00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:00,120 Green libraries as catalyst for sustainability in Slovenia. 510 00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:02,600 Green libraries meet the arts in Spain. 511 00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:05,320 Sourcing it everywhere. Academic libraries empowering 512 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:08,120 students for sustainable future. Information literacy and 513 00:26:08,120 --> 00:26:11,080 academic libraries championing sustainable development and 514 00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:12,920 academic libraries in East Africa. 515 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:16,000 Sustainability agenda. And this is a university in 516 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:17,480 Germany. Gottning University. 517 00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:20,560 Inspiring a new generation and Spanish university library 518 00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:23,640 sustainability education. Cultivating change student 519 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:27,000 driven sustainability projects leveraging open educational 520 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:29,040 resources from sustainable educational built in 521 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:30,720 Switzerland. Same thing over and over again 522 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:33,640 for 500 pages. And finally how we do education 523 00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:36,840 for library information science students in the Philippines. 524 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:39,560 Are you all ready for the big reveal? 525 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:44,360 The 2025 winner of the Ifla Green Library Grand Scale 526 00:26:44,360 --> 00:26:47,000 Project award. Everyone ready for it? 527 00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:50,040 It was just announced last week in Kazakhstan, which is where 528 00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:52,600 the annual conference was, right? 529 00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:54,280 Who? Like I had all these former 530 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:55,640 friends of mine all over Facebook. 531 00:26:55,640 --> 00:27:00,880 I had to go into Kazakhstan. I'm so excited we have the James 532 00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:05,800 Baldwin Library SD GS inside a sustainable project in Paris. 533 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:11,040 It was the exemplified sustainable and inclusive urban 534 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:15,080 renewal located in a hybrid eco design facility shared with the 535 00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:17,600 refugees home. It serves as a vibrant community 536 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:20,560 hub promoting reparative justice, which is that whole 537 00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:23,920 idea of apologizing for who we are as as people in certain 538 00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:26,600 countries. So that's that's important in 539 00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:29,480 France and supporting marginalized groups, including 540 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:32,680 refugees. It's environmentally conscious 541 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:35,840 design features green roofs, solar panels and biosource 542 00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:38,920 materials, earning labels such as I don't know what this means. 543 00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:41,880 E plus, C minus and renovation. BBCA. 544 00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:46,160 The library offers inclusive take a drink inclusive programs 545 00:27:46,360 --> 00:27:48,080 for diverse communities. Take another drink. 546 00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:52,640 Diverse, including deaf and LGBTQIA plus people. 547 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:56,240 Partners with organizations. While further operational 548 00:27:56,240 --> 00:27:59,440 improvements are possible, the library stands as a model of low 549 00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:01,680 carbon design and social engagement. 550 00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:04,840 So that is the Green Library of the Year. 551 00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:07,400 Yeah. The build. 552 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:09,280 Sorry. Yeah. 553 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:11,480 Such a beautiful building. If you like dystopia, it's 554 00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:12,200 great. Yeah. 555 00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:15,400 Yeah. So just to bring us back to the 556 00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:19,960 UN once again, and I don't know, not sure if we've reported on 557 00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:21,720 this or not, but we probably should if we haven't. 558 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:25,440 The Sustainability Development Goals Report 2025 from the UN 559 00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:29,040 was just released in July. So that's the latest update on 560 00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:33,320 what we've been doing to promote SDGS worldwide, according to the 561 00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:35,600 UN. At the bottom, without, we can 562 00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:38,160 ignore all the language at the top, but at the bottom, Antonio 563 00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:41,760 Guterres, who's the Secretary General of the UN says with just 564 00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:44,440 five years to reach the Sustainable Development Goals, 565 00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:48,400 we need to shift into OverDrive. Right. 566 00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:54,360 So this is from again the UN page key message. 567 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:57,920 A decisive 5 year countdown starts now. 568 00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:01,720 So as I've reported previously, we're really not doing very well 569 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:03,760 with them though, because it says here, just like I've 570 00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:08,480 reported a few months ago, only 35% of SDG targets with 571 00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:11,840 available trend data are on track or show moderate progress. 572 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:14,800 Nearly half are moving too slowly or making only marginal 573 00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:16,960 progress while 18% have regressed. 574 00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:20,320 So even though there's this huge push, I think the only positive 575 00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:22,680 message I can bring out of this is that we're not doing very 576 00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:23,760 well. But I think that's quite a 577 00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:27,480 positive message actually. But they're still trying. 578 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:30,720 And this is just my last slide here and then I'll I can take 579 00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:32,760 some questions. This is again there. 580 00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:35,720 The which is interesting about this is that from that 2025 581 00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:41,080 report on on SDG 16, which is the the 16-10 about the access 582 00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:44,680 to information, peace, strong justice, strong institutions. 583 00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:46,880 If you read the bullet points here, it talks a lot about 584 00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:51,680 violence and conflict and access to justice and urgent action is 585 00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:54,240 needed to protect lies and restore trust through peace 586 00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:55,920 building justice reform and account. 587 00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:59,240 So you know, it's all, it's all a lot of fear mongering 588 00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:00,800 language. I don't really see anything in 589 00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:03,480 there too much about access to information, although some of 590 00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:06,560 the, the, the things I've read about this is that they're 591 00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:10,800 talking about access to information includes stopping 592 00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:13,280 the murdering of journalists, which really terrified me. 593 00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:16,280 I don't know. I don't know if that was, you 594 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:18,400 know, but I thought it was interesting to say, well, if we 595 00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:20,640 don't do this, we're going to the, the journalists are going 596 00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:24,760 to be killed. So I don't know, I don't know 597 00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:28,120 what that means. But anyway, so that's just my 598 00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:31,240 overview of this topic. I know it was really quick. 599 00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:33,840 I hope it was helpful to see because I think it's good to 600 00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:37,840 take a specific example of 1 industry, the library industry 601 00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:40,880 and show exactly how these things are being put into place 602 00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:43,560 in one area. And I'm sure that we could do 603 00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:45,000 1000 more because it's everywhere. 604 00:30:45,320 --> 00:30:47,800 But with that, thanks for your attention and I'm happy to take 605 00:30:47,800 --> 00:31:04,690 any questions. Thank you, Diane. 606 00:31:04,690 --> 00:31:07,880 Very informative. Language is clearly very 607 00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:12,680 important and I've noticed the Joe public start using words 608 00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:14,800 like misinformation, malinformation. 609 00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:16,440 And you've mentioned inclusivity. 610 00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:19,840 Sustainability is one that's really struck with me walking 611 00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:23,320 years ago through streets of London and every restaurant or 612 00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:25,800 every advert seems to have that word sustainable. 613 00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:31,840 Do you know how these keywords get into the system so quickly? 614 00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:35,040 So they seem to go from nothing to everybody is talking about it 615 00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:38,280 like a buzzword, sort of where it comes from and who's driving 616 00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:40,880 that. I mean if it were me, I would 617 00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:43,480 actually look to Brian. I know Brian is not until 5:00, 618 00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:46,040 but I think it has a lot to do with these behaviour change 619 00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:48,600 plans that, you know, the starting with the Mindspace 620 00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:52,200 document and Behavioural insights team is that they have 621 00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:55,280 found ways to use language to change behaviours. 622 00:31:55,800 --> 00:31:58,600 And obviously the word sustainable sounds great, but 623 00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:01,680 actually when you look at it, it's, it's, it's nothing to do 624 00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:04,120 with that. And, and, and so I think using 625 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:06,640 these words over and over again, especially when they mean the 626 00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:09,800 opposite of what they're saying and inverting the language, but 627 00:32:09,800 --> 00:32:11,720 we hear it all the time. It's kind of like how we, you 628 00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:13,800 know, we were hearing stay home, save the NHS. 629 00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:16,840 This is, I think it's the same program, honestly. 630 00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:20,720 It's just different words and and a different way to terrify 631 00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:23,560 us and to submission. Yeah, makes sense. 632 00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:24,360 Thank you. Yeah. 633 00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:31,640 Good question. Up to a few years ago, the 634 00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:35,000 libraries were a scene of Drag Queen Story hour. 635 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:37,880 Yeah, going on like every 5 minutes. 636 00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:42,840 Oh yeah, suddenly over the last, I'd say 1 1/2 years, a sudden 637 00:32:42,840 --> 00:32:46,520 stop just before the election, Actually before the general 638 00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:49,400 election here last year. Nothing really. 639 00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:55,000 Not during the general election, not I think there was one or two 640 00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:58,480 after the general election, but then nothing at all. 641 00:32:58,960 --> 00:33:01,680 And the libraries have not been a focus for that. 642 00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:06,800 And I think it's because they, they've probably done, they've 643 00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:10,720 probably got that programming in quite successfully by it being 644 00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:15,080 able to have those drag queen story hours in the beginning. 645 00:33:15,280 --> 00:33:19,880 They knew not many will turn up. It's probably the people, I, I 646 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:22,920 think it was parents who were paid to turn up to, to actually 647 00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:25,200 bring their kids to that and and so on. 648 00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:29,240 I think it was is part of a a wider agenda of just getting the 649 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:33,600 message out and programming that way. 650 00:33:33,840 --> 00:33:36,560 I, you know, I wonder if it was a bit of trying to normalize the 651 00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:39,840 whole thing, like the, the, the wider issue, because I work 652 00:33:39,840 --> 00:33:42,920 consistently with, I hear from parents who are concerned. 653 00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:45,720 I work with groups like the Scottish Union Free Education, 654 00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:49,200 which I'm on the board for Protect and teach, who's worked 655 00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:51,640 Kathy Mudge with Protect and Teach has been on with me on 656 00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:56,360 the, on the channel and, and we still meet every couple of weeks 657 00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:59,280 because we're working on these Fois to see what the libraries 658 00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:02,720 are admitting to. But we also have some, some 659 00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:06,360 moles that are coming in and leaking us book lists of the 660 00:34:06,360 --> 00:34:08,360 books that are still in the libraries. 661 00:34:08,639 --> 00:34:11,000 And that doesn't seem to be stopping. 662 00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:13,280 I think parents are not aware of it. 663 00:34:13,880 --> 00:34:16,719 And, and when a parent does become aware of it, they usually 664 00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:19,360 get in trouble with the school. That happens frequently, right? 665 00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:22,080 Like you don't have the right to say what your child is reading, 666 00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:24,040 right. And the other thing that's 667 00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:27,880 happening is, I think with say, the increase of electronic books 668 00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:29,960 and how they're accessing books, that they're not going to be 669 00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:32,760 sitting on the child's kitchen table, right, Because they're, 670 00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:34,639 they're in their iPad or whatever they are. 671 00:34:34,639 --> 00:34:37,960 So it's it's more more difficult and a lot of the free books that 672 00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:40,920 are on Amazon Kindle, for example, a lot of these are 673 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:44,679 books are available for free, including I always use the 674 00:34:44,679 --> 00:34:47,320 example of the boy who wanted to be a deer, which says it's a 675 00:34:47,320 --> 00:34:49,719 picture book saying, oh, look, he decided he wanted to be a 676 00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:52,400 deer and he told his family and his parents were happy for him. 677 00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:55,000 And now he's a deer and life is so much better. 678 00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:59,720 And they're so inclusive, right? So it's, you know, maybe that 679 00:34:59,720 --> 00:35:03,960 was a way to, you know, kind of get that internalized within 680 00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:07,320 parents minds. And I mean, you do see the 681 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:09,760 videos of the smiling parents who think it's great that their 682 00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:12,760 kid is twerking on the stage with these people and you like 683 00:35:12,760 --> 00:35:14,840 what's what is going on in their minds, right? 684 00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:18,560 But yeah, I think it's it's something that now that it's 685 00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:21,280 kind of been accepted and rainbows are everywhere and 686 00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:25,600 every month is Pride month now. And it's now acceptable to put 687 00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:30,160 this in front of your children. So. 688 00:35:41,720 --> 00:36:03,640 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. 689 00:36:20,720 --> 00:36:28,880 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so. 690 00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:40,800 No, absolutely the and and and she's talking about the just 691 00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:43,920 repeating, but as Charles asked, the gradual does that decline of 692 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:47,760 civil society that has happened over the past several years. 693 00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:51,040 And I would actually say that, and I, I mentioned this to 694 00:36:51,040 --> 00:36:53,160 Charles in a meeting a few days ago when I was working on this 695 00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:55,520 talk. This idea of openness and open 696 00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:58,040 science, I think contributes to it as well. 697 00:36:58,040 --> 00:37:00,800 Like it sounds great once again. Oh, let's let's have access to 698 00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:03,280 information that's wonderful, that sounds great. 699 00:37:03,280 --> 00:37:06,560 But on the other hand, the information that is accessible 700 00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:08,800 is controlled and captured, right. 701 00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:11,920 So that means that if you can't, if you can't literally put your 702 00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:14,800 work into the system and you work at a university and you do 703 00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:16,640 the kind of research that I would do if I was still back 704 00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:19,400 there and it wasn't allowed, it wouldn't be open, wouldn't be 705 00:37:19,400 --> 00:37:21,800 available to anybody because I wouldn't be allowed to do it. 706 00:37:22,120 --> 00:37:25,520 So it's very disingenuous. And but that's, that's how 707 00:37:25,520 --> 00:37:28,840 they're controlling language and controlling access to, to shape 708 00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:31,440 this narrative that they want. Absolutely. 709 00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:39,760 I've overwhelmed everybody. I'm sorry, Charles. 710 00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:45,240 I'm going. To ask you a question, Dan, a 711 00:37:45,240 --> 00:37:51,480 quick one in the well, no, OK, let's put it the other way 712 00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:53,160 around. In terms of predictions. 713 00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:57,880 If, if we consider that the course is not being stuck to 714 00:37:57,880 --> 00:38:03,840 now, how do you anticipate 2030 panning out in terms of the PR 715 00:38:04,120 --> 00:38:07,080 splurge on what's happened and and why? 716 00:38:07,080 --> 00:38:09,560 I know it's a big one, but perhaps just pick out the 717 00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:11,480 specifics from this. How? 718 00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:15,480 How will it be marketed, right? Well, I, I think that's an, 719 00:38:16,080 --> 00:38:19,080 that's a really interesting question because this open 720 00:38:19,080 --> 00:38:23,840 agenda, they're using technology and, and, and I guess Mike would 721 00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:26,480 use the word technocracy to promote this openness. 722 00:38:26,720 --> 00:38:30,040 And as the technology increases, the, the more control that we 723 00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:31,440 get. And I think that's what we're 724 00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:34,160 getting to is we're going to have five more years of, of more 725 00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:36,720 control. If we look at, I always say, 726 00:38:36,720 --> 00:38:39,520 like if you look at what happened in 20-20, that would 727 00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:41,960 not have been possible even 10 years prior because we didn't 728 00:38:41,960 --> 00:38:43,640 have the technology in place to do that. 729 00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:47,320 So five years later, they've advanced it even more with all 730 00:38:47,320 --> 00:38:50,280 of this because now we've had five years of what we've had the 731 00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:53,600 last five years. And now Antonio Gutierrez saying 732 00:38:53,600 --> 00:38:56,520 we're going to accelerate for the next 5 years. 733 00:38:56,840 --> 00:38:59,800 So I think it's going to be, it's going to be control in the 734 00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:02,240 name of openness, right? So again, they're inverting 735 00:39:02,240 --> 00:39:04,120 language. And what we're seeing at the, 736 00:39:04,120 --> 00:39:06,440 what I've been speaking about in, in different talks about 737 00:39:06,440 --> 00:39:09,400 libraries I've done in different places over the summer is that 738 00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:11,680 we see this with children, how they're, they're, they're 739 00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:13,680 putting this in front of children in the name of 740 00:39:13,680 --> 00:39:16,200 inclusivity. Well, the decolonization stuff 741 00:39:16,200 --> 00:39:19,120 that I talked about frequently means that they're destroying 742 00:39:19,120 --> 00:39:22,120 and, and getting rid of the Western history and civilization 743 00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:25,080 and culture and, and putting these other things into place in 744 00:39:25,080 --> 00:39:27,960 the name of inclusivity. So they're doing all of this 745 00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:29,520 too. And, and they can use other 746 00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:32,640 digitization products and technologies and advances in 747 00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:36,040 computing and faster Internet speeds to put this all in front 748 00:39:36,040 --> 00:39:38,520 of us. So I think the next five years, 749 00:39:38,520 --> 00:39:41,480 if they do accelerate, I mean, I still think that even though if 750 00:39:41,480 --> 00:39:43,600 they're going to accelerate, they're still going to fail 751 00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:45,600 because we saw how badly they're doing. 752 00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:47,000 But they're certainly going to try. 753 00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:49,120 And I think it's on each and every one of us who are here 754 00:39:49,120 --> 00:39:53,040 today to do something that you can, however small it is, talk 755 00:39:53,040 --> 00:39:56,320 to your school, talk to your local university, see what your 756 00:39:56,320 --> 00:39:57,880 children or grandchildren are reading. 757 00:39:58,040 --> 00:40:00,400 And if you don't like it, you have to say something. 758 00:40:00,920 --> 00:40:03,440 Because if we don't, they're going to just continue to run 759 00:40:03,440 --> 00:40:05,200 over us. But we're we're, we are much 760 00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:08,120 larger in numbers than they are. And I always say that's strength 761 00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:10,680 in numbers. So I think we just have to spend 762 00:40:10,680 --> 00:40:12,440 the next five years pushing back. 763 00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:14,400 I don't know if that answers your question, Charles, but 764 00:40:18,040 --> 00:40:21,480 yeah, can we get the mic back there, please? 765 00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:24,440 Because I'm not sure I can hear over the over the techno beat. 766 00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:34,080 Hi, I've noticed over this summer they've been ramping up 767 00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:37,560 the climate change narrative with the amount of heat we've 768 00:40:37,560 --> 00:40:40,760 been having recently. I noticed on like a day like 769 00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:43,360 this may be a bit cooler. They don't ever mention it. 770 00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:49,440 It's always for in 20, three, 2425° we're in the heat wave. 771 00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:54,560 So what I wanted to ask was, do you think that they've been 772 00:40:54,560 --> 00:40:58,200 successful with this propaganda that you're getting from the BBC 773 00:40:59,120 --> 00:41:01,760 day in, day out about? It we, Brian and Ben and I were 774 00:41:01,760 --> 00:41:03,680 just talking about that a couple of weeks ago in the news about 775 00:41:03,680 --> 00:41:06,040 the red heat maps. You know, when it's 23 and it's 776 00:41:06,040 --> 00:41:09,000 bright red or it's, you know, verging on purple, whatever it 777 00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:12,240 is. The thing is though, is that I, 778 00:41:12,400 --> 00:41:14,800 I think if they're trying to get to the children, which clearly 779 00:41:14,800 --> 00:41:18,480 they are, which we can see through the libraries that the 780 00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:21,840 children don't have, the memory that we have is that they will 781 00:41:21,840 --> 00:41:24,600 think 23, Oh my God, bright red. We're going to, we're going to 782 00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:27,760 boil because they don't remember that it's actual, you know, as 783 00:41:27,800 --> 00:41:30,640 as Charles has said before, an actual summer day in Britain. 784 00:41:32,080 --> 00:41:34,280 That's, you know, that's what we expect this time of year. 785 00:41:34,280 --> 00:41:37,800 But if we can get to the younger generations, which are the ones 786 00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:42,040 who are getting to the most terrified, they don't have that 787 00:41:42,040 --> 00:41:44,840 history to remember that that that's what it's supposed to 788 00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:47,840 feel like in July. So that's what I'm afraid of. 789 00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:50,000 And now that we're starting them with, you know, age 3 and 790 00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:52,600 younger with these picture books about sustainability and climate 791 00:41:52,600 --> 00:41:56,000 change in addition to the LGBT agenda, then this is what 792 00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:58,640 they're growing up with because they, as you know, Patrick was 793 00:41:58,640 --> 00:42:00,440 saying earlier, they don't remember anything different. 794 00:42:02,520 --> 00:42:06,600 Sorry, yes, Brian says. Home education. 795 00:42:06,640 --> 00:42:09,600 Yeah, I don't have children, but if I did, I would certainly do 796 00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:12,320 that myself because I wouldn't put my if I had children, I 797 00:42:12,320 --> 00:42:14,800 wouldn't put them through that. I guess I do home educate my 798 00:42:14,800 --> 00:42:17,600 children because I have two dogs and they never leave the house 799 00:42:17,600 --> 00:42:19,720 without me. Does that count? 800 00:42:22,040 --> 00:42:24,600 I think that will have to be the note upon which we end. 801 00:42:24,600 --> 00:42:27,040 But it's a very +1. And Brian's quite right to bring 802 00:42:27,040 --> 00:42:30,160 out the the value of home education, which of course, is 803 00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:33,840 the way to get round all of what Diane I think is talking about. 804 00:42:33,840 --> 00:42:36,920 But Diane, thank you very much indeed, not just for a wonderful 805 00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:38,080 talk. It's coming all the way here 806 00:42:38,080 --> 00:42:39,560 from such a long a long way away. 807 00:42:39,960 --> 00:42:40,280 Thank you.