Celebrate spring with the Santa Barbara Public Library System’s Green @ Your Library programs, focusing on environmental issues.

Saturday, March 10, will bring Green Transportation Day to the Central and Goleta libraries. BiCi Centro, the Coalition for Sustainable Alternative Transportation (COAST) and Traffic Solutions, part of the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments, will participate in a bike clinic and information workshop from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the Central Library lawn, 40 E. Anapamu St., and from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Goleta Library courtyard, 500 N. Fairview Ave.

On Saturday, March 17, BiCi Centro and COAST will be on the Carpinteria Library lawn, 5141 Carpinteria Ave., from 2 to 4 p.m. These workshops are open to all ages. Individuals and families are invited to enjoy a program presenting hands-on help and useful resources.

During all three clinics, BiCi Centro will bring its mobile bike repair clinic to the libraries. Bici Centro, a project of the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition, is a community do-it-yourself bicycle repair shop and education center, with the goal of facilitating skill sharing and increasing reliability and safety for Santa Barbara bicycle riders.

COAST will provide information on safe bicycle and walking routes with an emphasis on its Safe Routes to School (SR2S) program, focusing on traffic problems associated with access to schools. SR2S is designed to decrease traffic and pollution and improve the health of children and the community, promoting walking and biking to school. SR2S also addresses the safety concerns of parents by encouraging greater enforcement of traffic laws, educating the public and exploring ways to create safer streets.

Traffic Solutions will provide free information on commuter options. Traffic Solutions promotes and encourages alternatives to driving alone, with the goals of reducing traffic congestion, air pollution and vehicle miles driven as well as improving the quality of life for employees, visitors and residents of the Santa Barbara County.

Green @ Your Library events will take place during March and April at all Santa Barbara Public Library System libraries. Programming is supported by a Library Services and Technology Act book-to-action grant, in conjunction with the 2012 Santa Barbara Reads book by Donovan Hohn, Moby Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea ….

These events are free and open to the public. Click here for more information about the Santa Barbara Public Library System. More Green @ Your Library programs are planned for other library branches during March and April.

— Leah Watts is a librarian for the Santa Barbara Public Library System.