Library Services teams in East Lothian and Inverclyde have been recognised for their outstanding contributions to their local communities by picking up the top prizes at Scotland’s leading sector awards ceremony.
The Scottish Library & Information Council’s (SLIC) awards for ‘Library Service Excellence’ and ‘Project of the Year’ were handed out on Friday (28 October) at a ceremony in Glasgow, with the East Lothian and Inverclyde teams pipping three other shortlisted library service teams in each category for the prestigious accolades.
The awards recognise the commitment, creativity and value libraries across Scotland offer the people and communities they serve, acknowledging exceptional innovation and service design between the period from June 2021 to June 2022.
SLIC Chair, Professor Ian Ruthven, who led the awards judging panel (which included Ruth Plowden, Writer/Fundraiser/Chair Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust and Catherine Salmond, Editor of The Herald) said the quality of entries for the 2022 competition had been exceptional.
“We were all really impressed by the range of innovations and commitment to local communities shown by the nominations. What was characteristic of each of the entries was this strong relationship between libraries and their communities; identifying local needs, working with communities to use the skills of libraries and library staff to improve people’s lives, and putting libraries at the heart of their communities.
“So often when reading the entries, we thought ‘only a library can do this’.
“Last year we found it hard to select a winner, so this year we created two awards, one for ‘Project of the Year’ and one for ‘Library Service of the Year’. This only made it harder…so for the first time, we have a winner in each category and a highly commended award. Huge congratulations to all involved.”
East Lothian’s Library Services team had been shortlisted for the SLIC ‘Library Service Excellence Award’ for their activities on the theme of ‘championing the local community’.
East Lothian is served by 12 local branches, six secondary schools, a local history centre and a Library HQ. Between July 2021 and June 2022, the service welcomed 4,584 new members and facilitated 243,538 loans (an increase of 60 per cent from the previous year) across local sites.
Their entry described East Lothian’s commitment to involving the whole community, notably through the creation of two new Community Librarian posts. The entry also highlighted clubs, events, author visits, imaginative use of digital and other activities which together delivered a thriving local library service.
Shetland Libraries (who were highly commended), High Life Highland Libraries and Inverclyde Libraries were also nominated in the category.
In the SLIC ‘Project of the Year’ category, the Inverclyde Libraries team had been shortlisted for their focus on sustainability ahead of and linked to the COP26 Summit in Glasgow.
The project aim was to stimulate long-term public engagement in the lead up to and following COP26, and it was described as ‘inspirational’ in the way in which it grew the sense of community.
It linked the ‘local’ to the ‘global’ through author events, involving members of the community, including those in the prison population who are not often included in climate conversations, and contributed to the circular economy through lend-and-mend hubs.
The judging panel felt the project was ‘a powerful and cohesive project that acts as a model for others.’
Aberdeen City Libraries (who were highly commended), East Lothian Library Services and Falkirk Libraries were also nominated in the category.
The 2022 Awards were open to all SLIC members, with the winners receiving a trophy and cash prizes for their success.
The Awards were sponsored by Innovative who provide comprehensive technology suites for public libraries.
For more information on the SLIC Awards, visit:
The SLIC Awards (scottishlibraries.org)
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