Orkney Library has been successful in being awarded funding of £5,800 from The Public Library Improvement Fund (PLIF) for portable library kits containing specially curated collections – Booky McNooks.
Booky McNooks will see three portable library kits created that can be stocked up with specially curated collections (neurodiversity, dyslexia friendly, LGBTQIA+, Climate, health and wellbeing, as well as general fiction/short stories). Across Orkney, people will be able to loan the portable library kits and take them to where people gather, making it easier for residents to access books and library information. The project will champion literacy, promote all the benefits reading can bring, and reduce inequalities for those who cannot easily access reading materials, especially children and teenagers.
Alison Nolan, chief executive of SLIC, said:
“PLIF enables library services to test new approaches, build partnerships and respond to local priorities, and this year’s projects demonstrate the breadth of innovation taking place across Scotland’s libraries, from reading and community engagement to digital inclusion and skills development.
“We want to support libraries to build on what works and share learning across the sector. These projects will provide valuable insight into how new ideas can deliver lasting impact for library users and communities.”
13 public library services (14 projects) across Scotland were awarded a share of £230,000. The Fund is administered by the Scottish Library & Information Council (SLIC) on behalf of the Scottish Government.
This year’s fund prioritises reader development and reading for pleasure, diversification of collections, reducing inequalities, sustainable living, and support for refugees and people seeking asylum, in line with the Scottish Government’s new Scots Refugee Integration Strategy and national community cohesion goals.
Cabinet Secretary for Education, Culture and Gaelic in the Scottish Government Màiri McAllan said:
“Libraries are at the heart of our communities and this investment shows the breadth of what they can achieve when given the chance to innovate. From encouraging a love of reading in our children to welcoming New Scots and helping people navigate AI and misinformation, these 14 projects demonstrate how libraries are adapting to the changing needs of their communities.
“We know how much libraries mean to the people who use and work in them, offering books, group activities and digital access that can make a real difference to daily life, particularly for those who might otherwise struggle to access services.
“As we look ahead to Wee Read – the campaign to promote reading – this funding is a fantastic reminder of the vital role our public libraries play in building stronger, more connected communities across Scotland.”
The Public Library Improvement Fund 2026-27 grant awards –
- Aberdeen City Council, Abdn Book Fest: Once upon a Silver City, £32,000: Aberdeen City Libraries will upskill young people, staff and the wider community by providing opportunities to co-create and develop a city-wide children’s book festival. The project will see young people will work with Library staff to organise and manage mini-festivals for fellow pupils and families; using their newly developed skills and knowledge to actively contribute and help deliver a larger festival programme for schools and community partners in the city during the Autumn. This is about bringing author events to communities and ensuring that the cost of travel is not a barrier to young people and families accessing literacy-focused events.
2. Aberdeenshire Council, How Fiction Becomes Fact: Taking Trusted Information into Communities, £28,250: How Fiction Becomes Fact: Taking Trusted Information into Communities will build on previous work on public resilience against misinformation, disinformation, scams and AI-generated content through library-based events, workshops, pop-ups and digital content. This next phase will shift the delivery model from bringing the public to the library to taking trusted information into communities. Working in partnership, the project will deliver adult-focused outreach sessions in local venues and trusted community spaces across Aberdeenshire.
3. ANGUSalive, AI For Everyone: Building Community Artificial Intelligence Literacy Through Scotland’s Libraries, £16,500: AI for Everyone will develop open access resources and train library staff to answer questions about Generative AI, creating opportunity for the community to become better informed about the opportunities and challenges associated with Generative AI tools. The aim is to ensure ANGUSalive’s seven public libraries are a resource for the community to learn more about these tools and to lay a foundation for further development.
4. Culture Perth and Kinross, Reading Beyond Words – Storytelling and Sensory Literacy Experience, £11,200: Reading Beyond Words will engage children, young people and their families, and families with children who have Additional Support Needs (ASN), using creative storytelling and sensory-led experiences to foster a culture of reading for pleasure. An ESOL-focussed programme will also be delivered within key libraries to support engagement with diverse communities to promote language development through storytelling and shared reading experiences. The project aims to inspire a lifelong love of reading and learning through accessible inclusive, and engaging library-based activities.
5. Dumfries and Galloway Council, Green Halloween: Wear, Share, and Scare Costume Rail, £2,120: Green Halloween will deliver a Wear, Share, and Scare Costume Rail at library branches in Sanquhar, Stranraer, Dumfries, Lockerbie and Dalbeattie. Working in partnership with Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Poverty and Inequalities Team, the project will provide free Halloween costumes for children and families through dedicated costume swap rails located in participating libraries. The rail will be available for costume swaps, donations, or just to take free of charge.
6. Dumfries and Galloway Council, Making Creative Connections: Co-designing Creative Wellbeing Library Services for Community Outreach
Users, £15,000: In partnership with OutPost Arts, Making Creative Connection will engage library outreach users in a co-designed research programme exploring their creative interests, wellbeing needs, barriers to participation and preferred methods of engagement. Findings will inform the creation of a pilot set of creative wellbeing resources which may include colouring materials, creative journals, guided activities and online content. Outreach service users will test these resources and a second evaluation survey will measure the pilot’s impact on wellbeing, confidence, social connection and engagement with library services.
7. East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture, New Scots – New Skills, £26,000: This project aims to transform an underused former café within William Patrick Library into a permanent, inclusive Makerspace and Creative Learning Hub. Developed in partnership with East Dunbartonshire Council’s Resettlement Team and shaped through community engagement, the project will bring together New Scots and established residents to share skills, develop confidence and build meaningful social connections through creative learning. The Makerspace will provide a flexible programme of activities including textiles, sewing, digital making, Cricut design, arts and crafts, repair workshops and enterprise opportunities. It will recognise New Scots not only as participants but as contributors, creating opportunities for them to share their knowledge, skills and lived experience while learning alongside the wider community.
8. East Lothian Council, Many Voices, Shared Stories: Building Belonging Through Libraries, £12,000: Many Voices, Shared Stories will make the library offer more inclusive, representative and accessible for people whose first language is not English. Through engagement with communities, East Lothian Libraries will develop multilingual collections, create translated information resources, design welcome and induction sessions, establish volunteer opportunities supporting multilingual cataloguing and collection development, and deliver creative storytelling activities celebrating language, culture and heritage.
9. Glasgow Life, A Warm Glasgow Welcome, £26,383: A Warm Glasgow Welcome is a pilot to develop a library welcome and progression model for New Scots across selected Glasgow libraries. It will support refugees, people seeking asylum and other New Scot communities to access and benefit from library services as trusted spaces for learning, reading, digital inclusion, family support and community connection. The model will have five linked strands: Targeted welcome visits and induction sessions; ESOL Connection and Progression Pathways; Bespoke family and early years provision; Translated materials and online information; and Digital support for staff and participants. By the end, the project will have tested a scalable model co-produced with New Scots and partners that can be embedded into operational practice.
10. High Life Highland, Words of Welcome: Enhancing High Life Highland’s Library Services for New Scots, £14,850: Words of Welcome will engage New Scots families to welcome new arrivals. High Life Highland Libraries will celebrate cultural diversity, while supporting their literacy, learning and information needs. It will provide participants with opportunities for social connection and will ease transition into a new community. This will be achieved by enhancing bi-lingual book collections and ESOL support resources for families and collaboratively working to tailor New Scots specific event programmes that celebrate diverse cultures, such as ‘Words of Welcome’ family days.
11. Leisure and Culture Dundee, Community Audio Heritage Hub, £4,447: Community Audio Heritage Hub will create a brand new community resource through the purchase of audio recording and digitisation equipment and the repurposing of a currently unused room adjacent to the Local History department. This will allow people to listen to and engage with oral history collections much easier than possible at present, but also makes equipment available for Dundee’s communities to record new oral histories, podcasts and other spoken word, as well as an accessible option for digitising any personal or community material held on cassettes.
12. North Ayrshire Council, Library Buddy Scheme, £8,500: Working with North Ayrshire Community Learning and Development, Library Buddy Scheme is an exciting new volunteering initiative that will offer support to New Scots in three libraries. Volunteers will be recruited to provide one to one support helping participants access library services, improve digital skills, practise English, build social connections and navigate local services. In addition, a bespoke training programme will be developed for library and ESOL staff to support the New Scots and the volunteers.
13. Orkney Council, Booky McNooks: Portable Orkney Library Kits, £5,800: Booky McNooks will see three portable library kits created that can be stocked up with specially curated collections (neurodiversity, dyslexia friendly, LGBTQIA+, Climate, health and wellbeing, as well as general fiction/short stories). Across Orkney, people will be able to loan the portable library kits and take them to where people gather, making it easier for residents to access books and library information. The project will champion literacy, promote all the benefits reading can bring, and reduce inequalities for those who cannot easily access reading materials, especially children and teenagers.
14. South Ayrshire Council, South Ayrshire Book Festival: Books for the Beach, the Bus, and the Back Garden, £26,715: South Ayrshire Libraries aims to deliver the first South Ayrshire Book Festival. SA Book Festival will enable the service to ‘festivalise’ the libraries experience, and showcase South Ayrshire’s libraries to the public and visitors to the region. It will run across two flagship venues in Ayr, The Carnegie Library (SAC Libraries HQ), and The Cutty Sark Centre (town-centre cultural venue, led by cultural service Destination South Ayrshire – DSA). It will be a platform to advocate for the importance of libraries, and a means to encourage under-represented groups to become active users of libraries.
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