Discover Issue 52, Summer 2025
Excerpt from 'Celebrating a century of preserving our heritage', page 3:
Welcome to the centenary edition of ‘Discover’ magazine. It was 100 years ago this August that the National Library of Scotland was formally created by an Act of Parliament. Many of you will know that the Library’s collections go back much farther than that, as we inherited items from the Advocates Library upon our creation. To them, we are indebted.
We are also indebted to the inventor of the digestive biscuit, Sir Alexander Grant. Not just because he brought us a great biscuit, but because he believed so strongly that Scotland should have its own national library that he match-funded its creation to the tune of £100,000 (that’s £3 million in today’s money), then followed that up with a further donation of £100,000 to make his vision a reality.
Scotland’s national library started life in the premises of the Advocates Library while waiting for a purpose-built home to be built on George IV Bridge, where our reading rooms are today. Following a long hiatus due to the Second World War, construction of the building recommenced in the 1950s and Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the building to the public in 1956. Read about the key she used to open the building and more on pages 11–13.
To celebrate our centenary, some of the founding collections are on display at the ‘Treasures’ exhibition at George IV Bridge. Collections items include the Order of the Massacre of Glencoe and the Glenriddell Manuscript, which contains some of the most important works of Robert Burns.
We also want to showcase the breadth and diversity of the collections, including recent acquisitions such as the archive of Beth Junor, an anti-nuclear protester who lived at Greenham Common for several years. One of our curators, Hannah Grout, interviewed Junor about her time at the world-famous peace camp and you can read this fascinating story on pages 26–29.
Also kicking off in September is our national tour, when we are sharing collections with communities around Scotland, complemented by events and outreach activities with local libraries. First stop is Aberdeen Art Gallery, where we will take a rare copy of the first book of secular music printed in Scotland, John Forbes’s ‘Songs and Fancies’.
Former Scots Scriever, author and University of Aberdeen lecturer Shane Strachan returned to the National Library’s collections to investigate the impact this book had on 17th-century Aberdeen and revisited the influential people he came across in the national collections who were part of this world. Read Shane’s piece on pages 16–17.
Last but by no means least, we are using our centenary as an opportunity to celebrate libraries – local libraries; school, college and university libraries; specialist libraries – the lot. We launched our ‘Love Libraries’ campaign on Valentine’s Day and, with the support of our Centenary Champions Val McDermid and Damian Barr, we want to start a national conversation about the impact of libraries on people’s lives.
In our increasingly uncertain and divided world, we must unleash the potential of these free, democratic public spaces and the stories they hold, to be able to serve communities, inspire connections and to build a positive collective future. Read more about our nationwide partnership to support and celebrate libraries on pages 20–25. This includes Sir Ian Rankin’s memories of libraries and a stirring piece by the Scottish Book Trust’s researcher Éadaoín Lynch on why children need to read.
The National Library was founded in the spirit of egalitarianism. Everyone in Scotland owns the collections we look after. We hope to see you enjoying them more than ever in 2025!
Thank you for your support.
Amina Shah
National Librarian and Chief Executive