National Library of Scotland Launches Centenary Celebrations

‘Scotland will have a national library where everyone will get access to any book they desire.’
– Sir Alexander Grant, Founder of National Library of Scotland
National Librarian Amina Shah announced plans to mark the National Library of Scotland’s 100th birthday with a year-long programme of events and initiatives. The National Library was established by an Act of Parliament in 1925, and since then has amassed and cared for a collection of more than 50 million items spanning many centuries on behalf of the people of Scotland – all of whom are entitled to free access to the collections.
Amina Shares,
“We increased our efforts to reach more and new people with the collections in recent years with great success, and our intention is to accelerate this during the year of our 100th birthday by working in partnership with Scotland’s network of amazing libraries. And so, I’m delighted to announce our centenary programme – a nationwide libraries campaign, our major exhibition, our national tour – all of which have the potential to connect with every individual across the country. It is our ambition that the impact our centenary programme will have on communities throughout Scotland will continue far beyond 2025.”
Angus Robertson MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, said:
The National Library of Scotland has been a cornerstone of our nation’s cultural life for a century, preserving and sharing Scotland’s remarkable and complex history. For 100 years, through successive Acts of Parliament and the continued support of the Scottish Government, it has safeguarded our written and recorded heritage, from ancient manuscripts to the digital content of today.
Speaking about the importance of Libraries, author, broadcaster and Centenary Champion Damian Barr said:
“I believe that stories are for everybody and everybody has a story. My local library saved my life – it gave me a warm, safe place to be and the books were my passports to other worlds. These books helped me change my own story. I was encouraged and supported in my reading by skilled librarians who always found me the right book at the right time. I was a reader long before I was a writer – that’s how every writer starts. The National Library is the home of Scotland’s stories and everybody is welcome, whatever their story.”
Fellow Centenary Champion, author Val McDermid, said:
“My parents couldn’t afford books but they understood they were the passport to better life chances than they’d had. But it’s not just writers who have their doors opened to the wider world by libraries. Engineers, lawyers, builders, artists, geographers, mathematicians, musicians… the list is endless. Libraries open windows that let us all fly.”
The National Library will be hosting celebrations at its home on George IV Bridge in Edinburgh, beginning on 28 March 2025 with a Curtain Raiser event. This will see Centenary Champions Damian Barr and Val McDermid in conversation about their love for libraries with National Librarian Amina Shah, who will make further announcements of what’s to come throughout 2025. An audio building trail and displays exploring the history of the Library and its collections will help people find out more about the main library building in Edinburgh, before a special Centenary exhibition opens in June. To find out more about what’s on at The National Library of Scotland in its centenary year, please click here.
To mark the Library’s centenary with communities around the country, selected treasures from the collections will be leaving Edinburgh to go on display outside of the central belt in a project titled ‘Outwith: National Library around Scotland.’ If you’d like to find out where ‘Outwith,’ will take the collections and how you can contribute then please click here.
The Centenary Programme has been kindly supported by the Garfield Weston Foundation, the NLS Foundation, The William Grant Foundation, CILIPS Research Fund and Alex Graham.
Consultation on the National Library’s 2025–2030 strategy, called ‘The Next Chapter’, has begun and will run until the end of March. If you’d like to contribute to the consultation please find out more here.