Zoom into South Ayrshire

Collated by Elaine Brown South Ayrshire came into existence as a unitary authority in 1996 and comprises the south western corner of the historical county of Ayrshire.  It ranges from built-up in the north, where it is home to Glasgow International Airport at Prestwick, to rich agricultural land in the south.  Where to find local collections:   Scottish […]

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Zoom into East Dunbartonshire

Collated by Veronica Bell. East Dunbartonshire was formed in 1996, from the former Bearsden and Milngavie district, and most of the former Strathkelvin district.  Situated to the north of Glasgow, it contains many of the city’s suburbs and commuter towns. Its county town of Kirkintilloch has a rich industrial heritage, partly due to its rail links and […]

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Hay's Map of Musselburgh and Environs

Zoom Into East Lothian

East Lothian, known as Haddingtonshire until 1921, sits to the east of Edinburgh. Local Government Reorganisation in 1975 saw it gain the coastal burgh of Musselburgh from neighbouring Midlothian. That town is now the largest in the county, closely followed by Dunbar and its county town of Haddington.  Its situation between Edinburgh and England has seen it witness some of Scotland’s most […]

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Zoom into Moray

Collated by Moray Teale. Moray is situated in the north-east of Scotland and borders the Aberdeenshire and Highland council areas. Until 1996 Moray was also part of the Grampian Region. Moray has a varied landscape from the Moray Firth and largely flat coastline, to the hilly interior and several lochs. The River Spey runs through much of the area, which is famous for its whiskies and contains more […]

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Map of East Renfrewshire

Zoom into East Renfrewshire

Historically, East Renfrewshire formed part of the larger Renfrewshire county. In the 1970s, most of the area broke away to become a new council district called Eastwood. The area was later renamed East Renfrewshire after gaining a part of Renfrew District (namely Barrhead) in 1996. Neighboured by the City of Glasgow to the northeast and […]

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Image of books by Kimberly Farmer on Unsplash

Reading list: In reflection of Black History Month

In reflection of US Black History Month, the cohort of interns here at the National Library of Scotland have curated a reading list of titles from the Library’s ever-expanding print and digital collections relating to Black history.   Our internships are as follows:  Access and Outreach  Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion  Climate Crisis  Gaelic Translation  Rights and Personalisation  Creating Media Content  This small selection of material comes from a larger pool of […]

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Zoom into Stirling

Collated by Jamie McIntosh. The Stirling authority area is at the heart of Scotland and spans the traditional boundary between the lowlands and highlands. To the west of the region sit the Campsie Fells and the Fintry Hills, which eventually give way to Loch Lomond. The boundary of the authority runs up the east side of the loch, taking in the Trossachs and Ben Lomond. The northern area of the authority is generally […]

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Startled woman's face

Don’t Have Nightmares… When archive films get scary

Dr Emily Munro, National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive Watch our Halloween video This compilation was made for Halloween and, inspired by the footage we have in the moving image archive, references American ‘B’ movies from the 1950s. The compilation includes extracts from many different films and, in particular, work by Wishaw filmmaker Enrico […]

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