Annual Review 2022 to 2023
Welcome
We have had an amazing year engaging with our readers and visitors and it has been wonderful seeing so many people returning to our buildings after the difficulties of lockdown.
An extensive programme of audience development work is under way to ensure we become more of an inclusive and audience-focused organisation, while our newly revamped multimedia room, now called the Discovery Room, provides a more welcoming space to access our digital and online collections in Edinburgh.
The Library's current strategy, 'Reaching People', is more relevant now than ever before and underpins our drive to attract new and diverse audiences.
Newspaper archives have always proven to be very popular. Our newspaper collections include millions of pages from all over the country, capturing Scotland's social history over the decades and centuries. Our latest appeal to save our historic newspapers has been an overwhelming success. We would like to thank everyone for their contributions. The funding has already supported the conservation, preservation and digitisation of hundreds of newspapers.
The launch of our map transcription project has been an outstanding achievement. More than 400 people volunteered their time to transcribe the names on the Roy Military Survey Map of Scotland (1747 to 1755). These can now be found online.
Moving Image Archive colleagues based at Kelvin Hall in Glasgow have been busy preserving the Library's audio-visual magnetic tape collections. The project spans numerous formats to ensure images and sounds are saved for future viewing and listening, capturing the people and voices of Scotland.
A growing number of new and returning visitors have been enjoying our permanent exhibition, 'Treasures of the National Library of Scotland'. The collections on display are rotated twice a year so there is always something new to discover and enjoy. Over the past year we added the complete working manuscript for 'Rob Roy' in the hand of Sir Walter Scott, the first edition of 'The Scotsman' newspaper and a selection of photographs depicting the construction of the Forth Bridge (1882 to 1892).
Our 'Pen Names' exhibition closed in April 2023. The displays focused on authors who work under other names and the various reasons why they choose to do so.
It was an honour to include Sir Ian Rankin's collection of literary archives and manuscripts, along items on display, as part of our 'Rankin Files' exhibition. Visitors have really enjoyed the insights into the crime writer's processes and inspirations that can be gained from his archive, which Rankin donated to the Library in 2019.
We could not possibly include all the Library's projects and initiatives during 2022 to 2023, but hope you enjoy the snapshot included here. We would like to thank you for your continued support, which allows us to keep collecting, preserving and sharing Scotland's stories, now and in the future.
Amina Shah
National Librarian and Chief Executive
Safeguarding collections
Acquisitions
'Wealth of Nations', 1866
We acquired the second translation of Adam Smith's 'Wealth of Nations' by P.A. Bibikov (1832 to 1875), who went on to translate Smith's 'Theory of Moral Sentiments'.
The first translation of 'Wealth of Nations' into Russian was published between 1802 to 1806 and is virtually unobtainable.
In his preface, Bibikov states: "The works reinforce each other. That is why, having published in Russian Adam Smith's great work of political economy, I decided to translate and publish his other work, which is no less remarkable, and yet known even less to Russian society than the first."
This is a major addition to our extensive holdings of translations of Scottish Enlightenment authors and there are no recorded copies of this work in UK libraries.
This acquisition was made possible with assistance from the Friends of the National Libraries, with thanks.
'The Musical Companion', circa 1672 to 1673
'The Musical Companion' consists of two books of songs, collected and published by London's John Playford (1623 to 1686). This is a fine example of block type music printing in table book format.
The publication was very influential and instrumental in disseminating the best of English song at the time.
Moncreiffe and Trinity Gask estate plans, 1826 and 1867
The Moncreiffe and Trinity Gask estates in Perthshire were owned by the Moncreiffe family, who commissioned two volumes of 20 maps.
The earlier plans were skilfully created by local land surveyor John Douglass. The later volume was compiled by Archibald Sutter from large-scale Ordnance Survey maps trimmed to the shape of each farm, pasted on linen-backed paper and then hand-coloured and annotated.
This is an unusual, transitional technique, making the most of the newly available survey while retaining the traditional land surveyor's artistic skills.
'Thaddeus of Warsaw', 1803
This important first edition is by influential author Jane Porter (1776 to 1850), who moved to Edinburgh at the age of three or four and lived there until 1785.
Set during the Second Partition of Poland in the 1790s, 'Thaddeus of Warsaw' is one of the earliest examples in English of the historical novel, introducing the new stock figure of the noble exile.
Despite being commercially published, this work did not have a large initial print run. However, it became enormously popular and successive editions were rapidly produced.
This book was acquired with financial assistance from the Friends of the National Libraries and the Elizabeth Soutar Charitable Trust, with thanks.
The 'Insulted Pedlar' and other working-class voices
This volume of 11 poems and chapbooks from the late 18th and early 19th centuries was printed in Scotland and contains at least four unrecorded printings of popular Scottish poems and songs, including one (Glasgow, 1791) of the 'Insulted Pedlar' by Paisley weaver Alexander Wilson (1766 to 1813).
The poem tells us, in amusing detail, about an altercation between a pedlar and a wealthy landowner whose land he is deemed to be trespassing on. It raises issues about land ownership being concentrated in the hands of a few powerful landowners and the lack of rights of the working man.
Wilson's political beliefs led to conflict with the authorities and he emigrated to America in 1794, forging a new career as an ornithologist.
His poem was originally published anonymously, then under his own name as part of an 1844 collected edition of his works.
Papers of John 'Jock' Murray
We are delighted to have acquired the papers of John 'Jock' Murray (1909 to 1993), the sixth Murray to run his family's publishing house, also named John Murray.
John Murray VI, born John Grey, was the nephew of John Murray V and changed his surname when he joined the firm in 1930.
The John Murray Archive chronicles the history of the publishing house, from its founding by Scotsman John McMurray in the 18th century to the early 2000s.
The collection contains the papers of authors closely associated with John Murray VI, including Patrick Leigh Fermor, Freya Stark, John Betjeman, George Mackay Brown and Dervla Murphy.
Smillie Archive
Robert Ramsay 'Bob' Smillie (1916 to 1937) was a volunteer member of the Independent Labour Party's (ILP's) international military brigade during the Spanish Civil War. His letters to his parents serve as a detailed diary of his time spent on the front line fighting Franco's forces in Spain, between November 1936 and his imprisonment in May 1937.
This archive also contains his family's correspondence with the Spanish authorities and members of the ILP following Bob's imprisonment and his death in custody in June 1937, plus original photographs, political ephemera and the literary manuscripts of Bob's father and grandfather.
This acquisition was made possible with support from the Magnus and Janet Soutar Trust and the Friends of the National Libraries, with thanks.
The 'Eiger Direct' Archive
This archive adds to our significant collections about mountaineering and provides fascinating insight into a historically important ascent of the Eiger, in the Swiss Alps, in 1966 by a team of British and American climbers (John Harlin, Dougal Haston, Chris Bonington, Mick Burke, Layton Kor and Don Whillans).
Radio communications between the support team and those climbing the north face of the mountain form part of the archive relating to the challenge and a subsequent book, 'Eiger Direct', by Scots climber Haston and author Peter Gillman.
Other items include photographs, route descriptions, invoices (such as one showing the purchase of a rope that would later break and cause the death of climber John Harlin), correspondence and manuscripts.
The records were recently purchased by the Library through the Graham Brown Fund.
Glasgow Lads novel series by Avery Cockburn
We have acquired several books by American author Avery Cockburn – the pen name of Jeri Smith-Ready – about the exploits of a fictional Glasgow LGBT+ football team, the Warriors. Although most of the titles focus on the relationships between the footballers and the challenges the team faces, there are spin-off titles that stray into curling and Christmas holidays.
Correspondence of George Mackay Brown
This collection's 337 letters are between George Mackay Brown (1921 to 1996), one of Scotland's best-loved writers of the 20th century, and fellow Orkney resident Renée Simm, and were exchanged from 1978 until his death.
Also included is Simm's own explanatory calendar of the letters, 15 acrostic birthday poems, manuscripts of seven poems, typescripts of 'The Magi: Three Stories', 14 Christmas cards, letters written to Brown, an autographed shopping list, photographs, cassettes, a watercolour miniature portrait and two woolly hats and scarves.
Artists' books
More than 30 Scottish and international book artists were invited by Edinburgh's Upright Gallery to create works responding to the climate crisis, against the background of the COP26 conference in Glasgow. We have now acquired 21 of these artists' books, which cover a range of environmental themes and concerns, and use a wide range of techniques.
This thought-provoking collection also provides prompts for future workshops and discussions about the climate emergency.
Conservation and digitisation
Partnership aids work on MacKinnon Collection
Our Conservator Claire Thomson visited the conservation studio at National Galleries of Scotland to observe and learn from Lisa Cumming, a Conservator at National Museums Scotland. Lisa had been commissioned to work on the MacKinnon Collection daguerreotypes after a survey identified glass disease.
Claire learned how to separate the intricate parts of these extremely delicate objects, treat the glass disease and reseal them. Without this treatment, the deterioration would continue and destroy these wonderful objects.
This project was supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Scottish Government and Art Fund for MacKinnon.
A lighter kind of dusting
Our conservators have been looking at innovative methods of preventative conservation and cleaning, to protect our collections while they are in storage, on display and in use.
We're using light to measure how much dust gathers on our collections. A small machine called a glossmeter is used to shine light on surfaces, such as shelves or tops of cabinets, and measures the amount of light reflected back. The less light coming back, the dustier the surface.
After taking a baseline reading and repeating over a few weeks, we were able to form a picture of how much dust is falling on our collections. This monitoring was successfully trialled during recent building works at our Causewayside building.
The year in numbers
2,484,183 additions to our collections
96,977 hidden collections catalogued
59,726 items from our collections digitised
133,654 bibliographic records created
112,733 records upgraded for ease of access
2,631 newspapers digitised
5,200,000 website visits
35,320 Reading Room visits (excludes Kelvin Hall)
30,186 General Collections Reading Room visits
4,862 Special Collections Reading Room visits
845 people attended our in-person events
'Save Scotland's Newspapers' appeal a success
Our appeal for help to save our vast collection of historic Scottish newspapers was a huge success thanks to the generosity of the public, with more than £100,000 raised within six months.
Our 'Save Scotland's Newspapers' campaign launched in December to raise funds to protect and preserve nearly 1,000 titles from across the country – some copies nearly 400 years old.
Hundreds of people contributed, which is enabling our conservators to carry out repairs and prepare these fragile pages for digitisation.
Newspapers offer an invaluable window into our collective past and are one of the few, if not only, chronicles of both major events in our history and the everyday moments.
The pages provide a vital connection to our past and identity and are especially useful for people exploring their genealogy and local history.
We have been collecting newspapers since 1925 but our collections date as far back as 1641 with the earliest newspaper printed in Scotland, 'The heads of several proceedings in the present Parliament', which reprinted news from London. We also have a copy of the first edition of 'The Scotsman', from 25 January 1817.
However, newspapers are not designed to be kept and are printed on cheap, fragile paper that degrades quickly. Much of this vast collection has suffered significant deterioration due to the inherent instability of the paper. The demand for use of our newspapers also results in unintentional wear and tear.
An estimated 65 per cent of our newspapers – and the unique stories they tell – risked being lost.
Many of the older papers came to us in an already poor condition. Our climate- and PH-controlled storage can only slow their degradation, not stop it outright.
However, thanks to the generosity of our donors, our conservators can carry out repairs and prepare pages for digital scanning, so that the stories can be saved for people now and in the future.
Improving access
Maps digitisation
We have made more than 13,000 additional online maps of Great Britain available, including several important Ordnance Survey (OS) series, as our scanning programme steadily expands in its geographic scope.
We've also added new LiDAR (Light Detecting and Ranging) coverage of Glasgow, Edinburgh and the Sherwood Forest.
All can now be viewed online on our Maps website.
Millions learn about our rare manuscripts
In 2022 we digitised more than 240 rare manuscripts and released the news to the media.
The results were outstanding and this became one of the year's biggest media stories for the Library, with a reach of more than three million people in the first day of coverage.
The entire collection contains many medieval Scottish and international items from the 9th to the 16th century, which can be viewed on our Early manuscripts page.
With thanks to Alex Graham, who committed the funds for this ambitious project in 2017 following a tour of the manuscripts stacks.
Collections on tape
This ongoing project is preserving the Library's audio-visual magnetic tape collections. The aim is to preserve 10,000 video and 3,000 audio items.
Magnetic tape is vulnerable to degradation, obsolescence and a range of diseases with interesting names and acronyms, such as Sticky Shed Syndrome and LOL (Loss of Lubricant).
Various formats have been preserved so far – from one-inch open reel and U-matic to Betamax and VHS – and the content includes amateur films, television programmes and even official publications for the opening of the Scottish Parliament, with soundtracks in English and Gaelic.
More than 500 digitised moving image records have gone online, with a focus on the MG Alba Gaelic broadcast collection. Highlights include teen magazine series '@ ÌRE' and current affairs flagship 'Eòrpa'. There are also recordings of communities expressing voices that may not have been heard much before.
This project has been supported by ScottishPower Foundation, Bòrd na Gàidhlig for Cinema Sgìre and the Gaelic Language Promotion Trust, with thanks.
National Bibliography of Scotland
We have updated the National Bibliography of Scotland (NBS) dataset, which now has more than 400,000 records.
This was the first time we had created a new version of a dataset and it posed challenges around the best practice for use of Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs). However, we now have a system in place for future updates and for updates to other datasets.
The NBS dataset will be updated annually.
Maps transcription project
This project, in collaboration with the British Library, set out to transcribe all the names on the Roy Military Survey Map of Scotland (1747 to 1755).
Some 415 volunteers registered an interest and, within the first four weeks of the project, all 33,522 names had been transcribed.
All names and related text entries from the Roy Map are now fully searchable, providing a cartographic resource of huge value for local and family historians, place-name researchers and all those people who are interested in the landscape of 18th-century Scotland.
Revamped 3D map viewer
Our popular 3D map viewer has been updated, allowing any of our more than 600 georeferenced map layers to be viewed from a bird's eye perspective.
The open-source map software makes it easy to incorporate improvements, such as faster and clearer graphics rendering, plus presentations of your own height, tilt, angle of orientation and distance to the centre of the view.
While many areas of Scotland look extremely impressive and fun to fly over, the 3D viewer is also useful as an educational tool for enhancing and illustrating the different historical ways that relief has been presented on maps.
This year's intake includes:
Total intake: 2,484,183
eBooks: 96,871
eJournal articles: 2,215,182
Books: 51,065
Serial issues: 54,944
Newspapers: 18,011
Maps: 741
Other: 47,369
Supporting Learning, Research and Discovery
Bookbug sessions
Monday mornings have looked very different at George IV Bridge over the past year, since we started hosting Bookbug sessions.
There are stories, songs and rhymes for babies and toddlers, with up to 12 families taking part each time. Older siblings are also welcome.
Bookbug is a long-standing Scottish Book Trust initiative which aims to increase children's exposure to books, support bonding between parents/caregivers and children, and improve literacy and social development.
There are plans to introduce monthly Gaelic and Scots language sessions at the Library, working with partners including Comann nam Pàrant and the Scots Language Centre.
Women's archives workshop in partnership with the University of Glasgow
We hosted two hands-on workshops at George IV Bridge with postgraduate students from the University of Glasgow's MSc in Gender History course. The workshops were tailored for their dissertations, using women's lives as a lens to look more closely at gender in 19th and 20th century Scotland.
The material sourced from our collections represents the depth and variety of our archives relating to women – from political pamphlets and reports, bookshop catalogues, suffrage postcards and knitting patterns, to private diaries, letters, commonplace books and travel sketchbooks.
Workshop discussions raised insightful questions about different forms of 'silence' in the archives, the role of gender and intersectional social categories such as class, and how these determine what records were created to document women's lived experiences.
Young people and civic literacy
We welcomed 12 students from the Scottish Youth Parliament to the Library to promote civic literacy among young people. They designed bookcase displays as part of their project about Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – the right to be heard.
Interns from the John Smith Centre for Policy Studies also visited us. The centre seeks to promote careers in public service to young people from all backgrounds. The students took part in a show and tell session featuring items from the official publications collections.
We also worked with Young Scot on a successful social media campaign during Global Media and Information Literacy Week, to help young people feel more confident about identifying fake news and misinformation.
Reaching people in Scotland's towns
An initiative called 'Community Walking' took staff to Dumfries, Perth and Greenock.
Visiting the prisons, schools, colleges and public libraries in these towns, the expeditions were cemented together with a range of pre-arranged and spontaneous visits to a wide range of community centres and projects, public spaces and businesses.
Altogether, the visits have connected with around 60 organisations in these three towns. These two-day visits allowed for many things to happen, chief among them the opportunity to introduce and demonstrate how much of the Library is freely available to people in the towns without having to come to our buildings. Our staff also heard about the information and inspiration needs of particular projects, community organisations and potential new audiences.
It was also a great opportunity to collect local publications and ephemera that we might never have known about as part of our work to collect the recorded memory of Scotland.
Refugees and Displaced People display
We marked Refugee Week in June 2022 with a dedicated display at George IV Bridge and the screening of a documentary, 'Escape to Freedom', from our Moving Image Archive.
Other activities focused on Scotland's complex history – and present – as a home for displaced people seeking refuge from war, persecution and poverty. These included a display on Scottish South Asian Voices in Broadcasting and a one-day symposium on Scotland's Lascar Heritage, held at Kelvin Hall.
We also worked with the charity The Welcoming to offer family workshops for refugees, asylum seekers and people new to Scotland. These events featured storytelling and crafts with a 'treasures' theme to link with our permanent exhibition, 'Treasures of the National Library of Scotland'.
More than 60 people attended over three days and we welcomed women and children from Women's Conversation Space (mainly Syrian refugees), Afghan Women's Group and other people who use The Welcoming's services.
Family workshops – English and Gaelic
Working in partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council, we delivered a Gaelic engagement project for schools, which featured activities such as family workshops and a summer concert.
Pupils from Edinburgh's Bun-sgoil Taobh na Pàirce took part and the event was attended by 17 schoolchildren and 50 friends.
Touring displays programme returns
We have been working with venues across Scotland to resume our touring displays programme following the Covid pandemic.
'Lifting the Lid', about Scotland's food and drink, was at Montrose Museum for three months, while 'Going to the Pictures', about Scottish cinema, went to Irvine Library.
Repairs have been carried out on a third display, 'You Are Here', while a new display on the MacKinnon Photography Collection has been added to the programme.
Funding for the MacKinnon Photography Collection display was provided by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Engaging Audiences
Audience development programme
Our 2020 to 2025 strategy, 'Reaching People', is all about audiences. It details our ambition to take an audience-led approach to the delivery of our services and experiences, reach new and diverse audiences, deliver outstanding engagement and engage communities throughout Scotland and internationally.
To accelerate this work, we commissioned the Audience Agency – a not-for-profit group devoted to helping more people access and influence culture – to deliver an audience development programme for our organisation. This programme includes activities such as audience research. The Audience Agency is helping us get a clearer picture of who we're reaching and, equally as important, who we're not reaching. The team is also helping us to develop our skills in evaluating the impact of our activities on intended audiences.
We are also gaining a better understanding of how people engage with culture through audience segmentation – essentially, breaking the population up into specific groups that do not rely on stereotypes, for example.
This gives us a shared language to better understand audience characteristics and motivations, and tells us where these people are and how to reach them. It helps us in shaping services and activities to ensure we reach those with whom we want to engage.
It means more confidence in what we prioritise, why and for whom. It can mean prioritising activities or services that accelerate our engagement with underrepresented audiences and communities, or activities to reach even more of the people we serve quite well already.
The audience development programme involves a cultural shift in our way of thinking but one that is being embraced as we strive to provide even greater benefit for the people of Scotland.
Treasure Trove delights visitors
Our permanent exhibition, 'Treasures of the National Library of Scotland', has been hugely popular with visitors to our George IV Bridge building over the past year.
This special gallery, which opened in March 2022, provides unique insight into Scotland's history, culture and people, and this country's place in the world. The exhibition showcases innovation, ideas, creativity and social change from across the centuries and features a vast array of objects from our collections – from medieval manuscripts and maps to early printed books, videos, letters and photographs.
New items are added twice a year, so there is always something new for our visitors to enjoy.
Some of the gems displayed over the past year include:
First copy of 'The Scotsman'
This newspaper first appeared on 25 January 1817, with eight pages and a circulation of only 300 copies. 'The Scotsman' flourished and went on to establish a pioneering distribution network – by 1872, a dedicated morning train was transporting copies to readers outside Edinburgh.
Scheme for Darien, 1700
This document outlines William Paterson's (1658 to 1719) scheme for Darien, a trading colony on the Isthmus of Panama. He had hoped his plan would enrich Scotland but it ended in catastrophe.
Scots raised large amounts of money to fund the scheme but it collapsed amid disease, poor planning and war with the Spanish. The Darien scheme cost Scotland a quarter of its capital and was among the factors that led to the Union of 1707.
Devolution referendum
Material we have from the 1997 referendum includes 'Yes' and 'No' campaign pamphlets, which represent a pivotal moment in Scotland's modern history.
Building the Forth Bridge
Our collection of original photographs offers a glimpse into the construction of this engineering marvel, which began in 1882 and finished in 1889.
Photography was becoming increasingly common as a visual medium at the time, and we have many examples showing the partially completed bridge.
'Rob Roy' manuscript
This is the complete working manuscript for Sir Walter Scott's novel, written in his hand and published in 1817. Until 2022, when it was saved for the nation, 'Rob Roy' was the last remaining novel of Scott's still in private hands.
The manuscript was among the many literary treasures held in a private collection, known as the Honresfield Library, that were due to be sold at auction in 2021. Fearing that these items would be returned to private hands and possibly end up overseas, a UK-wide consortium of organisations, including the National Library of Scotland, purchased them following an international fundraising campaign. The collection was renamed the Blavatnik Honresfield Library in tribute to its majority donor.
Letter of Robert Burns to William Nicol, 1787
Burns's only surviving letter written in Scots was sent to William Nicol (1744 to 1797), a schoolmaster the Bard befriended while he was in Edinburgh from 1786 until 1787.
'The Lyon in Mourning'
The Reverend Robert Forbes (1708 to 1775) risked everything to compile these eyewitness accounts of the 1745 Jacobite Rising. The collection includes interviews, letters, first-hand testimonies and even scraps of fabric to tell the story of the rise, fall and exile of Charles Edward Stuart and his followers.
Calvin's Catechism in Gaelic
This was only the second book in Gaelic to be printed in Scotland and our volume is the only surviving copy.
The title page is missing, so we have no direct information about when and where it was printed, although there are some clues – on page 107 are the letters 'I W P', which stand for John Wreittoun Printer. He had his printing press in Edinburgh.
The translator was probably a scholar or a poet who was trained in Latin and in classical Gaelic. Calvin's Catechism first appeared in Latin in 1545.
Treasures family fun
We launched a Treasures Family Trail to help children and their families explore the exhibition in a fun and interactive way.
A programme of Treasures-related events continues to be delivered to support further engagement with the exhibition.
With special thanks to funders the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Hugh Fraser Foundation, Sir Boyd Tunnock, Dr Jeffrey Jay, Michael A.Lampert.
Curator Treasures online events
Ten curators hosted two online events showcasing items from the exhibition, including:
The trailblazing work of the explorer, botanist, artist and writer Isobel Wylie Hutchison.
A 15th century Gaelic medical manuscript, the 'Materia Medica'.
The medieval 'Iona Psalter'.
A letter from Charles Darwin to John Murray, from the John Murray Archive, which outlines chapters for Darwin's groundbreaking book on evolutionary theory, 'The Origin of Species'.
A letter that Robert Burns wrote to Agnes Maclehose, which has the words to 'Ae Fond Kiss'.
The manuscript of 'The Lyon in Mourning' compiled by Jacobite sympathiser Robert Forbes.
Exhibitions
Pen Names
This popular exhibition ran from 8 July 2022 until 29 April 2023 and explored the use of pen names by authors working in Britain from the 1800s to the present day.
A total of 68,997 people came to see Pen Names during its run. One visitor told us: "Pen Names was a really great exhibition! I really loved it!!"
We put on programme of supporting events, including creative writing workshops, a talk by Jennifer Morag Henderson about Josephine Tey (the pen name of Elizabeth MacKintosh) and a presentation by Alan Riach on Scottish authors who have used pseudonyms.
Collections in focus
The Rankin Files
Our display showcasing highlights from the literary archive of crime writer Sir Ian Rankin drew 1,476 visits in its opening week.
Material on show included personal notes, manuscripts, correspondence, awards, foreign language translations of his books and work written under his pen name, Jack Harvey. To support the display, Rankin gave a public talk at the Library to a sell-out audience. The event was also streamed live to audiences watching online.
Rankin donated his archive to us in 2019, calling it "a pretty complete author's life, late-20th century-style". The archive stretches back to his schooldays in Fife in the 1970s and offers insight into his influences, interests and innermost thoughts.
Supported by the W M Mann Foundation, with thanks.
Events
Celebrating 100 years of broadcasting in Scotland
Some of Scotland's best-known radio and television presenters joined us in March for our Festival of Broadcasting, which featured a special series of panel discussions, Q&As, talks by our curators and screenings of footage from our Moving Image Archive.
Our well-attended and free programme of events at the Library at Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, was held to celebrate 100 years of Scottish broadcasting. Scotland's first radio transmission was broadcast from Kelvin Hall on 24 January 1923 – two months before the BBC's initial wireless broadcast.
The broadcasters taking part included BBC radio presenter Shereen Nanjiani, award-winning Political Editor Colin Mackay from STV News, Good Morning Scotland's Laura Maxwell, Sky Sports journalist Eilidh Barbour, broadcaster and writer Hugh Dan MacLennan, musician and presenter Mary Ann Kennedy, and comedian and presenter Ray Bradshaw.
Our Broadcaster in Residence, presenter and writer Alistair Heather, hosted three well-attended 'Broadcast Conversations' panel discussions – on news, sport, and on the use of the Gaelic and Scots languages on-air.
All events looked back on the past 100 years of broadcasting in Scotland and how it has evolved, with discussions focusing on balanced news reporting, factual news reporting amid disinformation on social media, and how broadcasters deal with abuse online.
The Festival events also looked at diversity of voices and how Scottishness is represented on screen and radio, plus we hosted talks about women on the small screen, schools radio, pirate radio and community television. We also collaborated with theatre group Solar Bear for special screenings and discussions about Deaf heritage in Scotland.
All of the events were recorded and made available to a wider audience via our YouTube channel, @NLofScotland
The Festival of Broadcasting was supported by BBC Scotland, the ScottishPower Foundation and the William Grant Foundation.
'Discover' relaunches
Our free magazine, 'Discover', was relaunched last summer and we have had wonderful feedback from readers about both the sleek and contemporary new look and the wide variety of content.
Audience research helped us shape our new editorial policy to ensure that we appeal to readers of all ages and from across the length and breadth of Scotland.
We found that people love learning about the Library's collections, events and exhibitions, and enjoy articles about social history and hitherto untold stories. Readers told us they "love to see Gaelic" articles alongside English translations and like a mix of shorter and longer articles so they can "dip in" to the magazine when they have time. People also told us they wanted more from authors – we were glad to oblige.
Award-winning Scots crime writer Val McDermid was our first cover star and her interview discussed everything from her childhood and hugely successful career to the authors who inspire her and her gigs with the band Fun Lovin' Crime Writers.
Writers' voices have featured in all three new and improved issues of 'Discover' so far, including poet Liz Lochhead, Booker Prize-winning 'Shuggie Bain' author Douglas Stuart and Scots Scriever Shane Strachan.
Copies of 'Discover' are available at our buildings and local libraries around the country. You can also read 'Discover' online.
Scottish myths and legends
To mark Scotland's 'Year of Stories', we worked with Jordan Hunter, a young Glasgow-based illustrator, to share a number of myths and legends on our Google Arts and Culture platform. The 12 stories told are from the Borders, Orkney and Shetland, the Highlands and the Western Isles. Graphic novel-style illustrations, archive collection material and audio narration are used to create an immersive storytelling experience. The series was accompanied by an illustration workshop as part of the International Storytelling Festival.
Edinburgh Pride
Some of us attended Edinburgh Pride 2022, joining staff from Historic Environment Scotland (HES).
It was an incredibly successful day, with more than 250 people visiting our stand to learn about what the Library has to offer.
Our LGBT+ staff are helping to collect, research and promote items, and to reach out to LGBT+ readers and visitors.
Many people shared stories about their own personal items, comparing them to our collections. Some chatted to us about areas they would be interested in researching, while others asked about collections relating to specific events or locations.
People were also interested in volunteer work with the Library, donating collections from community groups and bringing school groups for visits.
The response from reaching out to communities was impactful and positive. We plan to attend similar events in the future.
Discovery room
We were pleased to open our welcoming and inclusive new Discovery room at George IV Bridge in October 2022. Formerly our multimedia room, the space was revamped following audience research, with user feedback shaping the design.
We improved the facilities, with generously sized working spaces, larger microfilm screens, power and data points, task lamps, and a seating area with a selection of 'quick reads' chosen from Scottish Book Trust reading lists.
We introduced a group/family working space for those who want to consult collection items together, or for parents or carers accompanying a child, and this area includes a children's book box and bean bag.
Highlights from our Moving Image Archive are promoted on a screen and can be accessed via a specially curated app. There are also large images of book covers in the wall niches and these can be changed to showcase different themes and collection items.
A visitor to the new revamped space tweeted: "Last week I had to check a book at @natlibscot but I had to have my kid with me. I phoned to check before & thought I'd manage a 15min skim and make do. When I arrived they showed me to a new room with a section specifically for families. It was transformative."
Library's reach
245 villages, towns and cities across Scotland
113 places in other parts of the UK
117 towns and cities in other countries worldwide
'Discover' magazine reaches 223 places in Scotland and 106 areas in the rest of the UK.
Reach across Scotland:
Discover: 223 areas
Donors: 213 areas
Events: 40 areas
Other (business/ digital): 18 areas
Reach elsewhere in the UK:
Discover: 106 areas
Donors: 113 areas
Events: 4 areas
Other (business/ digital): 15 areas
Reach elsewhere in the world:
Discover: 12 countries
Donors: 19 countries
Events: 6 countries
Other (business/ digital): 8 countries
Developing the Organisation
Shane Strachan, Scots Scriever
Writer and performer Shane Strachan, based in Aberdeen, works across creative disciplines to explore stories connected with the North East of Scotland and beyond.
Our one-year Scriever residency was created to celebrate the richness of Aberdeenshire Scots, or Doric, as it is known locally. Shane developed creative work in Doric and worked with communities locally and nationally to explore the Scots language and what it means to them.
The role was supported by funding from the National Lottery through Creative Scotland.
Dr Gustavo Candela, National Librarian's Research Fellowship in Digital Scholarship
Dr Candela joined us from the University of Alicante in October 2022 for a research fellowship. He has hosted training sessions for staff on linked open data and Wikidata, with a Wikimedia UK representative also taking part.
Dr Candela has carried out linked open data projects around the Moving Image Archive dataset, NBS and BOSLIT. His publication, 'Towards a semantic approach in GLAM Labs: The case of the Data Foundry at the National Library of Scotland', Gustavo Candela, 2023, is now available. Jupyter Notebooks will be available on the Library's Data Foundry for other researchers to explore and build upon.
Christian Drury, Mountaineering and Polar Collections placement
Christian, a student at the University of Durham, was on a Leverhulme Trust-funded six-week placement. His research has included British travel writing about the Arctic (between 1875 and 1940) with DurhamARCTIC, a research centre for training and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Christian looked at our mountaineering and polar collections for items reflecting Scotland's relationship with the Arctic, including identifying indigenous Arctic voices in our collections and creating a book list of works relating to the Arctic and climate change.
Joe Nockels, Transkribus placement
PhD student Joe explored how Transkribus – an AI-powered platform for text recognition, transcription and searching of historical documents – is changing library and archival practices. He joined the Archives and Manuscripts team initially, to learn about the digitisation process, before moving to Digital Scholarship to train staff and users. He has compiled a report on his findings about possibilities for integrating Transkribus into the Library's digitisation workflows.
Emily Shepherd, Conservation placement
Former Library volunteer Emily returned as an MA student for a five-week placement, working on rehousing collections, preventative conservation measures, repairing tears and rebinding pamphlets. The Northumbria University student also gained experience in handling and surveying.
New Board members
Emily Drayson is a Highlands-based research consultant and experienced not-for-profit board member who has worked in the charitable sector for more than 15 years.
Michael Muir has worked in a wide range of publishing and communications roles across Scotland's private, public and third sectors. He has nearly 25 years' experience of leading projects and programmes in these areas.
Justin McKenzie Smith is a senior diplomat with nearly 30 years' experience, working in UK and Scottish Government roles at home and internationally.
Funding our work
Income 2022/2023
Grant in Aid: £17,505,000
Donations and legacies: £1,091,000
Charitable activities: £752,000
Investment income: £222,000
Spending 2022/2023
Staff costs: £13,639,000
Depreciation: £3,659,000
Other running costs: £1,976,000
Building maintenance: £1,380,000
Other property costs: £1,087,000
Other trading activities: £98,000
Collection purchases: £686,000
Balance Sheet highlights
Further additions to collections: £461,000
Library infrastructure: £716,000
Value of donated collections added in the year: £1,962,000
General reserves at year end: £597,000
Thank you
We are grateful to everyone who donates cash or collections to the National Library of Scotland. Those who have made larger donations to the Library in the past year are listed below. We would also like to thank our majority funder, the Scottish Government, for its continued advocacy and support.
Patrons and Benefactors
Mrs Margaret Alcorn
Mr Campbell Armour
Dr Keith Bailey
Mr Geoffrey Bond OBE
Professor Sir Drummond Bone
Mr Richard and Mrs Catherine Burns Professor
Graham Caie
Professor Sir Kenneth Calman
Rt Hon Lord and Lady Cameron of Lochbroom
Lady Coulsfield
Sir Sandy and Lady Crombie
Ms Sandra Cumming
Ms Marjorie Drexler
Mrs Helen Durndell
Professor Sir David and Lady Edward
Sir Charles and Lady Fraser
Dr Robert and Dr Sheila Gould
Dr and Mrs Gray
Ms Dianne Haley
Ms Rosie Hay
Mr Shields and Mrs Carol Henderson
Professor David Hewitt
Mr Edward and Mrs Anna Hocknell
Rt Hon Lord and Lady Hope of Craighead
Mr Charles and Mrs Rosemary Hutchison
Mr Dermot and Mrs Miranda Jenkinson
Dr Richard Kimberlin OBE and Mrs Sara Kimberlin
Professor James Laidlaw
Mr Stuart Leckie OBE
The Leckie Family Fund
Mrs Christine Lessels
Dr John Macaskill
Dr Morag MacCormick
Mr John McAslan CBE and Ms Dava Sagenkahn
Professor Alexander McCall Smith CBE and Dr Elizabeth McCall Smith
Dr Warren McDougall
Mrs Lynda McGrath
Dr Karina McIntosh
Sir Neil McIntosh CBE DL
Professor Keith McLay
Harry and Nicola Morgan
Dr Henry Noltie
Mr James Pirrie
Professor Murray Pittock
Mr Charles and Mrs Ruth Plowden
Professor David Purdie
Mrs Fiona Reith QC
Ms Judy Riley
Dr James Robertson
Sir Muir and Lady Russell
Dr Susan Shatto
Professor Melissa Terras
Professor Sir Iain and Lady Torrance
Sir Boyd and Lady Tunnock
Mr Max and Lady Sarah Ward
Mr Eric Wishart Professor
Charles and Mrs Anne Withers
Alma & Leslie Wolfson Charitable Trust
Donors
Ms Catherine Adair Professor
Michael Anderson OBE and Ms Elspeth MacArthur OBE
Baillie Gifford
Mr John Ballantyne
Mr Andreas Bechtler
Bòrd na Gàidhlig
Lord Lieutenant of Midlothian and Lady Mary Callander
Sir Donald and Lady Cameron of Lochiel
Conference of European National Librarians
Mr Hugh Croll
Dr Neil Dickson
East Kilbride Historical Society Edinburgh Old Town Association
Edinburgh Trades Fund
Miss Julia Elton Ettrick Charitable Trust
Mr Bruce and Mrs Dorothy Field
Sir Charles and Lady Fraser
Mrs Morag Fyfe
Gaelic Language Promotion Trust
Mr Alex Graham
Sir Angus Grossart CBE
Mr Gary Heffernan
Professor William Johnstone
Mr Hugh and Mrs Pippa Lockhart
Professor Emeritus John McCutcheon CBE
Sheriff Norman McFadyen CBE
National Lottery Heritage Fund
Mrs E Anne Norman
P F Charitable Trust
Penpont Charitable Trust
Dr Richard Perren
Mr James Pirrie
Mr Charles Rigg
Mrs Sylvia Robertson
Scottish Genealogy Society
Scottish Library and Information Council
ScottishPower Foundation
Mr Dennis and Mrs Jenny Smith
Mr Ian Souter
Professor Michael Stewart
Stichting Teuntje Anna (TA Fund)
Sir James Stirling of Garden CBE
Mr Stuart Swales
Mr Philip Sykes
Dr Michael Taylor
Ms Susan Tritton
Mr Angus Tulloch
Viewforth Trust
Ms Jane Watkinson
Mr David Watts
Wellcome
Miss Sarah Whitley and Mr Graham Whyte
Mrs Fiona Wild
William Grant Foundation
Ms Martha Young
American Patrons of the National Library and Galleries of Scotland
Dr Hilary Beattie
Mr Patrick Calhoun Jr
Cunning Charitable Fund
Driver Family Foundation
Lady Bettina and Mr Peter Drummond-Hay
Francis K Finlay OBE
Mr James and Mrs Jane Fraser
Mr Martin J G Glynn
Ms Lisa Gold
Mr Michael Lampert
Charlotte Lyeth Burton
Mr John and Mrs Bridget Macaskill
Professor Robert and Mrs Fulvia McCrie
Mr Thomas Richardson
Ciannait Sweeney Tait
K.T. Wiedemann Foundation, Inc.
Ms Jenny Young du Pont
Zachs-Adam Family Fund
And all who chose to donate anonymously