Thursday June 19th 2025
'Dear Library' exhibition at The National Library of Scotland
Written by Midlothian View Reporter, Liam Eunson
The National Library of Scotland is celebrating the importance of libraries and books in their new annual exhibition. Sending a love letter to libraries they are hosting a new exhibition, ‘Dear Library’ at the National Library in Edinburgh exhibition space at George IV Bridge.
Celebrating their 100th anniversary, the library is hosting a free entry major exhibition that focuses on the celebration of libraries across Scotland and people’s love and appreciation towards books and library spaces. Running from Friday the 20th to April 2026, the exhibition was named ‘Dear Library’ after a poem by Makar Jackie Kay, whose literacy archive was acquired by the Library last year.
Unlike previous exhibitions where the Library displayed items behind glass cases, they are now encouraging visitors to get involved with the exhibition, allowing people to pick up and examine items that piques their interest. The exhibition displays sample’s of books recommended by both members of the public and celebrities, including Alan Cumming, Sir Ian Rankin, Gemma Cairney, and the Library’s Centtenary Champions Damian Barr and Val McDermid. Selecting books that changed people’s lives through a public call out, highlighting the importance of libraries in people’s lives.
Beyond the books, Dear Library also features libraries and librarians in popular culture, protest banners, vintage film footage bringing past libraries back to life, alongside badges reflecting libraries that are under threat, and much more. Alongside these items, library cards collected by former Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho during his Library Marathon, a library Lego model and a makerspace for the public to create their own library card will be on display, aswell as a Bookbug trail for children visiting.
'Dear Library' exhibition at The National Library of Scotland
National Librarian Amina Shah explained, “Developing this exhibition has been a labour of love for us as we have chosen to use our centenary year to shine a spotlight on the power of libraries. Libraries change lives. They empower individuals and the communities they belong to.”
Formed in 1925, 100 years ago, the National Library was created out of a collection of advocates who decided that Scotland needed their own national library. Hosting yearly exhibitions, the National Library team thought it was a great opportunity to celebrate all things library in their centenary anniversary.
Speaking to the Midlothian View, Amina Shah highlighted the significance of celebrating libraries on their 100th anniversary, “While we are celebrating being 100, we thought it was a really good opportunity to celebrate all things libraries and celebrate the concept of libraries in general.”
“We don’t stand alone, we are part of a network, which is local community libraries, school libraries, university libraries, hospital libraries, prison libraries, all sorts of different libraries, and libraries are important to people in different points of their life. Whether you are at college or university or a baby going to a Bookbug session or an older person learning computer skills, we just want to say that all these things are important, all of these are part of a library journey, and they are valuable as a network.”
Culture Secretary, Angus Robertson agreed, explaining the significance of the exhibition he said, “The National Library has been a cornerstone of our nation’s cultural life for generations. This exhibition is a direct reflection of the impact libraries have had, bringing together some of the books and objects that have helped to shape our country and the people who live here.”
In the attempt to highlight the importance of libraries, Amina and her team gathered book recommendations from both the public and famous Scots. Featuring books that changed people’s lives, the exhibition team received over 500 recommendations from the public alongside recommendations from a handful of celebrities.
Amina explained, “We know that loads of authors, celebrities and politicians that often tell us that the library for them was something that opened doors when they were young. It changed their life. We wanted to grasp some of those stories.”
Amina explained how lucky they are to have Val McDermot and Damien Barr as their Centenary Champions for 2025 who have provided huge support to the library alongside book recommendations for the exhibition. In addition to them, Alan Cumming, former footballer Pat Nevin, DJ Gemma Cairney, and Sir Ian Rankin have also provided book recommendations to Dear Library.
Dear Library attempts to show appreciation for libraries aswell as encourage more people to get involved with their local libraries, highlighting through the items on display, how important libraries are to people’s lives and the overall community.
“I have four children myself and I know that in our increasingly digital world, children want to sometimes shut off from that”, Amina explained, “That’s not to say libraries aren’t digital but I do think there’s something about the physical experience, the connection, the events.”
“Sometime’s it’s really important just to have a space, just to have a quiet space to study or read, which isn’t always possible in a busy household. Sometimes if you are actually physically sitting down and reading, it’s a really mindful experience compared to being online. This [The National Library of Scotland] is actually quite an intimidating building but it’s really important to get people through the doors and let them realise that all the resources belong to them.”
Explaining that we need to exercise more of just concentrating on one thing, Amina is hoping that the ‘Dear Library’ exhibition will encourage more people to get involved with local libraries alongside filling a gap in appreciation for libraries.
Talking to her, she explained financial issues libraries can face.
“Finances are tough at the moment”, she explained, “I think often libraries can be squeezed out of budgets but in actual fact, we feel passionately that for a very small investment, they are part of a preventative spend agenda.”
“If you invest in libraries, which they already are and we have these community assets and staff and resources to run them, it reaps huge rewards for communities and society as a whole.”
Running yearly exhibitions, such as the last that centred around Scotland in Renaissance Europe, this year is one of the first to take up the whole exhibition space. Usually having rotating smaller exhibitions in a smaller space that is collection focused, ‘Dear Library’ has transformed the exhibition space, filling the room with items, activities and images that show appreciation for libraries around the world.
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