Improving access
Library's catalogue now searchable in Gaelic
Our search service – Library Search – is now available to use in Gaelic. The translated search service – Lorgaire Leabharlainn – has incorporated several hundred terms and phrases to allow Gaelic speakers to navigate the Library's catalogues in their chosen language.
Library Search brings together, in a single search, details of our printed, manuscript and archive, moving image, and digital collections, as well as e-resources and databases from a range of publishers.
The Library's Associate Director of Digital, Gill Hamilton, said: “We are pleased to make our Library Search service available in Gaelic. We hope it will make a significant contribution to the sustainability of the Gaelic language and the esteem in which it is held.
"This builds upon our long history of collecting, preserving and promoting our Gaelic collections. We are proud to hold what we believe is the largest collection of Gaelic material in the world, and so it makes sense that people should be able to navigate our online search facility in that language."
The translation of Library Search was made possible by a grant from Bòrd na Gàidhlig's Gaelic Language Act Implementation Fund.
Shona MacLennan, CEO, Bòrd na Gàidhlig, said: "This is a hugely welcome development by the National Library of Scotland, which holds many resources used frequently by Gaelic speakers and researchers.
"The provision of a search service in Gaelic will greatly contribute to the National Gaelic Language Plan aim that more people use Gaelic more often and in a wider range of situations."
Catalog na Leabharlainn Nàiseanta a-nis ri fhaighinn sa Ghàidhlig
Tha seirbheis-luirg Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba – Library Search – a-nis ri fhaighinn ann an Gàidhlig. Tha an t-seirbheisluirg eadar-theangaichte – Lorgaire Leabharlainn – air grunn cheudan fhaclan is abairtean a ghabhail a-steach airson leigeil le luchd-labhairt na Gàidhlig rùrach tro chatalogan na Leabharlainn anns a' chànan aca fhèin.
Tha Lorgaire Leabharlainn a' toirt cruinn còmhla, ann an aon lorg, fiosrachadh mu na cruinneachaidhean clò-bhuailte, làmhsgrìobhainne is tasglainn, deilbh ghluasadach agus didseatach aig an Leabharlann, a bharrachd air goireasan-dealain agus stòran-dàta bho iomadh foillsichear.
Thuirt Gill Hamilton, Co-stiùiriche Eadar-amail Didseatach, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba: "Tha sinn toilichte ar seirbheis Library Search fhoillseachadh ann an Gàidhlig.
"Tha sinn an dòchas gun cuir i gu mòr ri seasmhachd na Gàidhlig ann an dòigh a tha brìgheil, agus ris an spèis a th' ann dhi.
"Tha seo a' togail air an eachdraidh fhada againn de bhith a' cruinneachadh, a' glèidheadh agus a' brosnachadh nan cruinneachaidhean Gàidhlig againn. Tha sinn moiteil gur ann againne, nar beachd, a tha a' chruinneachadh as motha san t-saoghal de stuth anns a' Ghàidhlig, agus mar sin, tha e a' dèanamh ciall gum biodh e comasach do dhaoine an goireasluirg air-loidhne againn a chleachdadh sa chànan fhèin."
Chaidh an eadar-theangachadh de Lorgaire Leabharlainn a chur an comas le tabhartas bho Mhaoin Buileachaidh Achd na Gàidhlig (GLAIF) aig Bòrd na Gàidhlig.
Thuirt Shona NicIllInnein, Cathraiche, Bòrd na Gàidhlig: “Tha sin a' cur fàilte chridheil air a' ghluasad seo le Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, aig a bheil mòran ghoireasan a bhios luchd-labhairt agus luchd-rannsachaidh Gàidhlig a' cleachdadh gu tric is minig.
"Cuiridh seirbheis-luirg sa Ghàidhlig gu mòr ri amas Plana Nàiseanta na Gàidhlig gum bi barrachd dhaoine a' cleachdadh na Gàidhlig nas trice agus ann am barrachd shuidheachaidhean."
Digital Collections
Over the past year we have digitised more than 26,700 items from our collections, ranging from videos, films and sound recordings at Kelvin Hall in Glasgow, to books, manuscripts, photographs and maps in Edinburgh.
Maps
This year we completed a significant long-term objective – to scan and put online all our single-sheet maps of Scotland (131,000 maps in total). Our online Scottish map coverage now spans more than 400 years and includes complete sets of all our various map series.
We next moved on to scan very detailed Ordnance Survey Victorian town plans of England and Wales (more than 10,000 maps covering 400 towns). These were the most detailed maps ever surveyed by Ordnance Survey of these towns and are excellent for local and family history.
Europeana Sport
We have been a partner for more than a year on the Europeana Sport project, with 10 other cultural heritage bodies from across Europe. This was primarily a digitisation project, but new writing has been added and website visitors have been encouraged to add their own content. We identified digitised sport content from the Moving Image collections to upload, with 166 films adding great value to the project. We also identified 236 books, pamphlets and leaflets for new digitisation.
A sportswriter, Dr Irene Reid, joined our team and engaged with Scottish Disability Sport and Street Soccer Scotland. Working with sportspeople from those organisations, we added six stories to the platform about the positive impact of sport on their lives. The project was funded by the European Foundation and has now ended.
You can view the results at europeana.eu/en/sport.
Moving Image
We pushed ahead on digitisation from our Moving Image Archive at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow, capturing more than 2,600 items.
Highlights of the year included digitally preserving vinegar-affected film and prioritising deaf heritage material from various formats for preservation.
We released 583 titles online for the first time, from the 'Crowning of the Peebles Beltane Queen' (1926) to a video about Barrhead Women's Centre (1999).
Map transcription projects
We are extremely grateful to several hundred enthusiastic volunteers who worked with us to transcribe names and features from our historic maps. Over four months, more than 60,000 names and 50,000 footpaths were successfully recorded.
Through these new collaborative initiatives, we now have a detailed gazetteer of Edinburgh streets and urban features (1890s). Of great value for local and family historians as well as for machine-learning, we have recorded all the names from the famous Roy Military Survey map of Scotland (1747–55). We also now know the routes of footpaths and tracks across Scotland from a century ago, which will be of great value in assisting ScotWays in safeguarding rights of way today.
This new way of working with the people who use our collections is something we want to take forward. We are grateful to Iain Allan, who funded the Community Data Harvester and coordinated this work.
'Lyon in Mourning' partnership
We partnered with Canada's Simon Fraser University in November 2021 to digitise, research and promote the manuscript 'Lyon in Mourning' – Robert Forbes's collection of accounts of the 1745 Jacobite rising and rebellion.
The manuscript includes Forbes's collection of interviews, letters and first-hand accounts of the rising and eventual defeat and exile of Charles Edward Stuart. These have also been digitised and will shortly be published online, along with supporting tools and transcriptions.
We produced a recorded talk by Simon Fraser's Dr Leith Davis, titled 'Networking Jacobites and 'The Lyon in Mourning' Manuscript of Robert Forbes'. It examines the context and content of the manuscript and presents results from the 'Networking Jacobites' project, a Digital Humanities collaboration between the Library and Simon Fraser University's Centre for Scottish Map transcription projects Studies. In addition, Manuscripts Curator Dr Ralph McLean delivered an online talk – the 'St Andrews and Caledonian Lecture 2021' – which explored our archival resources and how they could be used to support research and improve access to Jacobite materials held at the Library.
Visualisers aid virtual access
In 2021 we bought two new visualisers to pilot a virtual reading room service. This was to help us widen access to the collections, including to people around the world.
One is a large ceiling-mounted visualiser located in our Maps Reading Room at Causewayside in Edinburgh. We have used this larger visualiser to relay images from a large atlas (which could not be scanned) to a reader in California. We also used it to show our maps to a family history group based in Queensland, Australia.
The smaller, portable desktop visualiser is kept at our reading rooms at George IV Bridge. This enabled us to facilitate access to manuscripts and rare books for readers in Hong Kong, Australia, the USA and France, who were unable to visit Edinburgh due to Covid travel restrictions.
We will continue to explore ways to increase access to our collections using this exciting technology. This purchase was made possible by a donation from the Stichting Teuntje Anna (TA Fund).
Digitisation – medieval manuscripts, funded by Mr Alexander Graham
At the end of 2021, more than 240 unique medieval and early modern manuscripts were added to our website. Although the collection is international in origin, it includes a substantial number of Scottish medieval manuscripts, which we are particularly pleased to make widely available. The project was made possible by a generous donation from Mr Alexander Graham. You can view the collection online at digital.nls.uk/early-manuscripts.
High praise from a self-described 'amateur genealogist'
"Warm greetings from New Jersey, US. Since my retirement five years ago I have taken on, with abounding enthusiasm, the genealogical work started by my father, who passed away in 2008. I still consider myself an amateur genealogist but am doing my best to undertake careful and considerate research.
"My father, who married a Frissell in 1942, was always very Mayflowercentric in his genealogical research – a focus that kept him climbing the paternal branches of our family tree. I, however, decided to explore my mother's side, which has led me to learn about the considerable history of Clan Fraser.
"Of special interest to me has been two ancestors – James Fraser [Frizzell] and Philip McIntire – who, to the best of my knowledge, were engaged in the 1650 Battle of Dunbar and were subsequently sold, as prisoners of war, into indentured servitude in Massachusetts, U.S.
"My research led me to a discovery of your Library's online resources, which I consider nothing short of a gold mine. I especially appreciate that you've made it possible to capture a customised selection of pages, rather than requiring the download of entire volumes.
"I'm writing this to express my deepest appreciation for your efforts in making online resources so accessible. I'm thrilled to have discovered your website and anticipate spending a great deal of my future years browsing through your amazing virtual collections.
"If I'm ever fortunate enough to be able to visit Scotland, I'll make it a point to visit you in person. Please keep up your excellent work!" – Bill Woolley.
This year's intake includes:
- Total intake: 2,030,789
- eBooks: 128,895
- eJournal articles: 1,695,256
- Books: 50,949
- Serial issues: 93,698
- Newspapers: 26,095
- Maps: 1,089
- Other: 34,807
Supporting learning, research and discovery
Conservation science project
Dr Sara Öberg Strådal and Dr Flavia Fiorillo from The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge visited us in July 2021 to undertake non-invasive scientific analysis to our copy of Peter Apian's 'Astronomicum Caesareum' (1540).
They compared the types of pigments and colourants used for the decorations of the illustrated pages and volvelles in the Fitzwilliam and Library volumes. Highlighting differences in colour application techniques and use of materials provides an invaluable way to understand Apian, and early printed books in general, plus workshop printing practices and processes. By compiling a list of pigments and colourants used in the volumes, the study also contributes to outlining the colour palette used in 16th-century printed volumes – an unexplored area of study with important implications for conservators, heritage scientists, curators and book historians.
The use of non-invasive and non-destructive diagnostic analysis in the study will also help contextualise the production, diffusion and ownership of both copies.
'Fresh Ink' – supporting new writing
To support artists and provide a platform for the diverse voices that make up 21st-century Scotland, we invited emerging writers to respond to the year 2020 as part of our 'Fresh Ink' initiative.
Ten writers were awarded £1,000 to develop work which was then added to our literary archives. Responses encapsulated the personal and the political, the private and the public, the sadness and isolation of lockdown, but also those new and different moments of contact and empathy. The series of 10 brilliant evocations of living through a time of unique change illuminate, challenge, comfort and intrigue. During the online launch event, hosted by poet and creative practitioner Nadine Aisha Jassat, the writers spoke passionately about their work and experience of creating the commissions.
Thanks to the supporters of our 2020 New Writing Appeal who made initiatives such as this happen.
Survivor Arts project
We collaborated with Glasgow-based charity the Survivor Arts Community to develop a six-week online project inspired by the collections in our 'Petticoats and Pinnacles' exhibition. The charity supports the artistic practices of survivors of sexual violence and domestic abuse.
The group took inspiration from the themes and women highlighted in the exhibition about Scotland's pioneering mountain women – such as Jane Duncan, who was the first European woman to travel through the Chang La, Ladakh; rock climber Jane Inglis Clark; and botanist and explorer Isobel Wylie Hutchison, who is also highlighted in the 'Treasures of the National Library of Scotland' exhibition.
Survivor Arts participants worked with different techniques, such as creative writing, visual art and animation
MacKinnon outreach project
We commissioned freelance artists Morwenna Kearsley and Ashley Mackenzie-White to develop and deliver a programme of outreach workshops – focusing on the MacKinnon Collection of photographs – for schools and communities. Sessions were inspired by postcards and images in the archive and participants were supported by the artists to create their own images and learn about photographic techniques. Workshops were held in Shetland, Fittie, Ullapool, Perth, Skye and Plockton.
'Library Social'
The monthly social programme of events for people affected by dementia continued online until April 2022.
Themes for these relaxed sessions have included Scottish myths and legends, poet George Mackay Brown, seasonal songs and poems and a virtual tour of the Old Town, following in the footsteps of town planner Patrick Geddes. The regular sessions have continued to support those living with dementia and their families and carers.
Focusing on a greener future
The evidence is clear – there is future a global climate crisis and the problem is not going away. The effects of climate change are being felt around the world, with raging wildfires, flooding and stronger and more frequent hurricanes.
The natural world has suffered biodiversity collapse, ecosystem loss and species extinction. Our food security, water supply and homes are all under threat in our warming world. Scotland is not immune. We have seen soaring temperatures, record rainfall and coastal erosion – the latter putting at risk many of our heritage sites.
However, more and more people are calling for bolder action by governments, businesses and organisations. Collective efforts and movements to tackle this crisis are growing. Here is how we are playing our part to help ...
The road to net zero… our efforts to be more sustainable
Our 'Climate Action Plan 2021–2025' outlines our path to becoming a more sustainable organisation. As a public body, we have a responsibility to ensure that our estate is as efficient, resilient and sustainable as possible, in line with Scotland's target to become net zero by 2045.
Our 'Climate Action Plan' will ensure that sustainability is considered in all aspects of our operations, from waste management to procurement policies. The positive, practical steps we are taking include aiming for a 72.5 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 and to recycle 70 per cent of our waste. We intend to cut the amount sent to landfill to 5 per cent and to fully decarbonise our fleet by 2025.
You can read our 'Climate Action Plan' on our climate resources webpage. Our thanks to Climate intern Henry Roberts, who helped work on the plan.
Our green ambitions go beyond our own buildings and estate. We have a wealth of information in our collections, giving us opportunities to help shape the national climate conversation – and ensure that conversation is inclusive and far-reaching. In doing so, we can help educate people of all ages and build resilience in communities as the effects of the climate crisis continue to become evident. We will continue to incorporate climate change engagement into our public programming in the coming years, ensuring that information is available to all and is presented in such a way that it can be understood by everyone from schoolchildren to PhD candidates. As well as providing journals and books on the science of climate change and related social issues, we are engaging with people in other ways.
This has included the launch in September 2021 of the film 'Living Proof: A Climate Story'. The film is a compilation of footage from our Moving Image Archive and explores Scotland's relationship with its industrial past and the connections to this modern emergency. More information about the film is available on page 22. Film, sound, maps and the written word can all help us to understand the complex climate crises and how we can help.
Working together to tackle climate crisis
We are working with a range of organisations to promote the power of the culture sector to help fight the climate crisis.
We are a member of the Climate Heritage Network, an international collective of organisations whose supporters are committed to mobilising arts, culture and heritage to address climate change and support communities.
We also began to explore how our own collections can support Scotland's adaptation and resilience to climate change. Much of this work was focused on the UN COP26 climate summit, which was held in Glasgow in November 2021. As part of this, we published a blog series, 'Our Collections and the Climate Crisis', and developed 'Preserving Pasts, Imagining Futures' for the Google Arts and Culture platform – a collection of images from our collections that highlight the climate crisis. More information about this is on page 22. We collaborated with National Galleries Scotland to invite people to respond creatively to such images and visualise how Scotland has been, and will continue to be, affected by climate change. Learn more at blog.nls.uk/tag/climate-change.
For COP26 we also delivered workshops, including 'Exploring the Climate Crisis', which demonstrated how people can use our collections to learn more about climate change, organise a campaign, or discover climate fiction (cli-fi). Additional sessions will be offered to schools and community groups.
We partnered with Creative Carbon Scotland and other national agencies and cultural institutions to produce a short film, 'Climate Action Needs Culture', which premiered for COP26. The film focuses on the role of culture and cultural heritage in responding to the climate crisis. This group also organised a discussion event, 'Is Culture the Untapped Ally for Climate Policy?', as part of the 'Scotland's Climate Ambition Zone' programme. This featured Helen Vincent, the Library's Head of Rare Books, Maps and Music, talking about the role of libraries.
'Climate Action' resources
Having access to information about the climate crisis – and learning how we can help tackle this emergency – is more important than ever. Our many sources of such information include eResources – millions of pages of journals, reports, newspapers and databases. These eResources include 'Climate Change and Law', a collection of material from organisations worldwide focusing on the implications of climate change on human rights and laws. There is also GreenFILE, a database of nearly 300,000 records covering environmental concerns. All of our eResources can be accessed by our members.
The 'Preserving Pasts, Imagining Futures' feature (pictured top) on the Google Arts and Culture platform offers information on rising sea levels, snow melt, energy and agriculture, while our online map collections can be used to illustrate and understand climate change in a number of ways. Visit nls.uk and search for 'Researching Climate Change with our Maps'.
Our 'Climate Action' resources at nls.uk/climate-action/ also offer access to reference material, webinars and video. Our full range of resources is available at Kelvin Hall in Glasgow or at our Edinburgh reading rooms.
Looking through the lens
The feature-length archive documentary, 'Living Proof: A Climate Story', focuses on Scotland's role in contributing to climate change. The documentary (inset) was directed by Dr Emily Munro, a Learning and Outreach Officer at the Library. 'Living Proof' features footage from our Moving Image Archive and explores Scotland's relationship to its post-war industrial past and the connection to the ongoing global climate emergency.
More than 80 films are included in the documentary, such as wartime propaganda and educational, amateur and corporate public relations footage. We funded the project with Film Hub Scotland and the film was produced during the pandemic, with Dr Munro researching and editing at home, with assistance from colleagues online. Critics described 'Living Proof' as "a unique take on environmental history” and “an inventively told and textured portrait of Scotland".
Edinburgh College of Art student project
This annual project with first-year illustration students from Edinburgh College of Art focused on our collection of broadsides. The students visited the Library to learn more about the broadsides – a type of popular press street literature – and experimented with linocut techniques to create images inspired by the stories and early printed illustrations.
'Archive of Tomorrow'
A partnership led by the Library has secured £230,958 in funding from the Wellcome Trust to preserve a substantive collection of UK web resources about health, building on the work of the 'UK Web Archive Coronavirus (Covid-19) Collection'.
Clinical advice, data and scientific evidence have been contested, revised, used and misused, with dramatic and sometimes tragic consequences, yet the digital record of this is fragile and difficult to access. Our aim is to preserve this debate ethically and responsibly.
Libraries and archives have always tried to collect the stories of our times, and this is more important than ever when information is a matter of life and death. The 'Archive of Tomorrow' project aims to help make sense of events of the past two years and to promote and improve people's ability to use web archives to understand and explore health discourse online.
We started the project in February 2022 and it will run for around 14 months, preserving a broad spectrum of web-based resources related to health. We will form a collection within the UK Web Archive, which will give people access to a wide representation of diverse online sources. We're working in partnership with the University of Cambridge, University of Edinburgh and the University of Oxford, as well as the British Library. We're building an international network of expertise and investigation, including researchers from different fields and organisations. We will use the new collection to experiment with options for metadata, computational analysis, ethics and rights issues, and expect to offer recommendations to make web archives more representative, inclusive and open for research.
Other aspects will include exploring best practice in preserving and describing information online, building a research network across a range of disciplines and supporting different research approaches, including digital scholarship.