A national day of celebration for Scotland’s mobile libraries


SCOTLAND’S mobile library services were out in force last month to cele- brate and promote mobile libraries. Each year on 18 November library services across Scotland join a national day of celebration of the work mobile public libraries do to engage with communities. The day launched last year by the Scottish Library and Information Council (Slic) and is now an annual event on the public library calendar in Scotland. There are 49 mobile libraries across Scotland and each of them has found new ways of working during the coronavirus crisis, helping to support users and other library services. Among them was Borders Live, which helped deliver click and collect books while library buildings were closed. Paul Brough, library services manager at Live Borders, said: “We knew when the


static libraries began to close that this would be a huge loss for many members of the local community. Due to our rural setting our mobile library was already a popular service so we quickly came up with a programme to help extend its offering to those who would usually visit libraries in person. As soon as we launched the Connect & Collect programme, we saw a gratifying spike in book requests and these have continued throughout the course of the pandemic. We receive around 500 calls a week for the service. “We’ve been told by some of our users that the service has been a real lifeline for them over the last few months.” Pamela Tulloch, Chief Executive of Slic,


said: “After launching Mobile Libraries Day for the first time last year to help highlight the vital role the services play in contributing


to achieving local and national priorities, no one could have predicted how 2020 was going to unfold. “Our aim with the national day is to showcase the service to the public, decision makers and policy makers and help show how it makes a meaningful contribution to achieving local and national priorities around learning and attainment, health and wellbeing and cultural and leisure experiences. “This year, more than ever, the value of the service has shone through as library teams throughout Scotland have quickly pivoted and adapted the mobile library service to the new normal. Feedback from users has been truly gratifying, with some praising the service for helping them tackle lockdown loneliness, giving them some- thing to look forward to each week.”


December 2020


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