Following his unfortunate death, to ensure continuity in the Library project, Reginald Fairlie was succeeded as the Library’s architect by one of the partners in his architectural practice, Alexander Ritchie Conlon. Conlon’s fledgling career had been interrupted by the Second World War, during which he served as an Officer with the Royal Engineers’ bomb disposal. […]
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Doors Open Day: The Sculptors
“While he chips away with his chisel the rest of the work on the building goes on round him. The rickety noise of cranes. The sharp rattle of drills. The clattering of bricks. And the clang of steel girders…” – The Edinburgh Evening Dispatch, 14th July, 1954. For several months in 1954 and 1955, the […]
Zoom into Na h-Eileanan Siar
Time to step into the rich history and culture of Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles or Outer Hebrides). Na h-Eileanan Siar is an island chain off the west coast of Scotland. The inhabited islands of the Western Isles include: Lewis and Harris, South Uist, North Uist, Benbecula, Barra, Great Bernera, Berneray, Vatersay, Baleshare, North Grimsay, […]
#LetterstotheLibrary
I miss my library. Don’t we all? I’m a school librarian at Preston Lodge (PL) High School in Prestonpans, East Lothian, so my days are usually hectic (in a good way). Don’t get me wrong, they can still be hectic: my partner and I are working from home while homeschooling our children, age 4 and […]
#LetterstotheLibrary
From the time of Shetland’s first known coronavirus cases on 9 March, something strange happened to time. We’d get to Wednesday and Monday would have seemed like weeks ago. Every service change we tried was overtaken by events. I decided to close the Library on Tuesday 17 March, whereas on the Monday I’d woken with […]
#LetterstotheLibrary
Hi, Amy here. I work part-time in Reference Services (as well as at Edinburgh University and The National Galleries of Scotland). I’m at my parents’ house in Glasgow. My sister, Eve, who normally lives in London, is also here. We don’t treat the place like a hotel, but we aren’t perfect (see image below). I […]
Politics, publicity and potatoes: Scotland’s tattie howking films
Dr Emily Munro, National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive Watch our video ‘Tattie Howkin’ Today commercial potato crops are usually gathered by machines but, in the past, the job of lifting potatoes from the soil was done by hand. The Scottish potato harvest once employed thousands of men and women (often migrant workers from […]
#LetterstotheLibrary
The Library of The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh has been in existence since the late 17th-century. Our staff of three look after the clinical information needs of around 27,000 members in over 100 countries. In addition, our archive serves as the College’s “memory”, conserving manuscripts from throughout our 515-year history and answering enquiries […]
#LetterstotheLibrary
Dear National Library, It’s Lois here. In case you’ve forgotten me, I work in the General Reading Room and can occasionally be found in the Special Collections Reading Room too. Right now, I’m staying with family in the north east of England, and doing various pieces of Library work from home, including answering online enquiries […]
#LetterstotheLibrary
Week seven of university online and cabin fever is on the up. I’m a full time Information and Library Science student at the University of Strathclyde. Strathclyde shut down and moved all teaching online one week before the official government lockdown started. Now, at the end of the semester with no more classes but many […]