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Chamber and committees

Libraries Week Highlights Lifeline Services

  • Submitted by: Beatrice Wishart, Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats.
  • Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 October 2020
  • Motion reference: S5M-22958

That the Parliament welcomes UK Libraries Week, which takes place between 5 and 10 October 2020; understands that this is to celebrate the pivotal role of libraries in communities across the UK; acknowledges the Shetland Library, which is relied upon by people throughout the islands for free and friendly access to learning, connectivity and entertainment; considers that the value of these services has been underlined by the pandemic, which illustrated that access to learning, connectivity and entertainment must be understood as a necessity as opposed to a luxury, and that libraries should therefore be recognised as lifeline services; recognises the tremendous effort by staff to develop a safe system of working in the midst of a pandemic, and thanks the staff for their work; notes that, since reopening, it has continued to loan thousands of books every week; further notes the Shetland Library’s thoroughly successful Twitter account @ShetlandLibrary, which boasts a following that is almost equivalent to the whole population of Shetland; recognises the light-hearted sparring against the Orkney Library equivalent, and commends the Shetland Library’s efforts in that contest.


Supported by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, John Finnie, Kenneth Gibson, Bill Kidd, Ruth Maguire, Liam McArthur, Edward Mountain, Maureen Watt