2. We make it easier for people to access the collections.
2.1 We will deliver outstanding digital engagement, helping people to use the collections in the most creative ways possible.
2.2 Joining and using the Library will be simple and seamless, opening up a personalised world of knowledge, learning and entertainment.
2.3 People will have access to more than 10 million of the Library's items in digital format as we complete our 'One Third Digital' initiative.
2.4 It will be easier to discover the Library's special and hidden collections through our programme of online listing, cataloguing and discovery work.
2.5 We will provide a safe and trusted environment for informal learning and activity that promotes wellbeing.
Priority in focus
Bringing the content to you
Since lockdown, the Library has experienced a 40 per cent jump in visits to our websites – this includes record-breaking visits to our world-renowned maps website, and a huge jump in visits to our Moving Image Archive online and digital gallery.
But we knew we could do more to help keep people informed and entertained during this time, so we developed an online programme of events, workshops, family activities and an increased focus on our educational material for children and young people.
Highlights include moving our planned summer exhibition for George IV Bridge, 'Her Century: Scottish Women on Film', online. Curated by our own Dr Emily Munro in partnership with Film Hub Scotland, 'Her Century' is an archival film documenting the role of women in Scottish society spanning Edwardian era to the Thatcher years.
Despite the cancellation of the physical exhibition, we launched the online exhibition on Monday 20 July with the Library's first-ever You Tube premiere. The live premiere was watched by 160 people, and more than 5,000 people viewed the film over the two-month period.
We also commenced an online programme of events to replace the twice-weekly offers at our George IV Bridge building in Edinburgh, and we were delighted to reach more people both in Scotland but also around the world – people tuned in from more than 50 countries. We enjoyed a 466 per cent increase in attendance in comparison to the same time last year, and 38 per cent of attendees had never been to a Library event before.
Personalisation for all
Our collections are huge and diverse, containing something for everyone. We are committed to making it easier for people to access, use, connect and enjoy our collections.
We will develop services that offer every resident in Scotland a personalised and welcoming introduction to the Library and its collections, whether they visit us digitally or in our buildings.
As people join the Library, we will offer them an engaging overview of our collections and services, and the option to receive a selection of items from our collection, that are tailored and relevant to them.
Our personalised service may share a historic map of the town they live in, a video from our Moving Image Archive on a topic that interests them, a page from a 100-year-old newspaper in the month of their birth or a page from a book whose author shares their name.
We will work in collaboration with our existing and new users to learn their needs, ambitions, and goals, so that the services we develop are useful and relevant to them. Where we collect personal data to support these services, we will do this responsibly and with permission.