28th September 2020 | SLIC News

Applications for the School Library Improvement Fund (SLIF) 2020/20201 open today. 

The Fund is open to all state nurseries, primary and secondary schools in Scotland with an established library. It is administered by the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) on behalf of the Scottish Government.

Introduced in 2017, The School Library Improvement Fund has had an enormous impact on school library services throughout the country. It aims to support activities which meet key education priorities, including literacy and numeracy development, information and digital learning and health and wellbeing.
John Swinney, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, said: "School libraries continue to play a central role from early learning through to secondary school as we move through the education recovery process.
"Our investment in the School Library Improvement Fund will allow school libraries to continue to develop their services, supporting learning across the curriculum as well as health and wellbeing – something we know is crucial for young people in the current challenging circumstances.”
Transforming School Libraries

SLIF was launched in 2017 as a three-year £1 million fund to transform school libraries. Following its success, the Scottish Government has injected a further £100 into the fund to inspire more pioneering programmes in school libraries across the country.

Earlier this year 19 projects based in nursery, primary and secondary schools throughout Scotland shared £170,000. All projects were assessed to meet the aims of Scotland’s national school library strategy Vibrant Libraries, Thriving Schools: The National Strategy for School Libraries in Scotland. 

Pamela Tulloch, Chief Executive at SLIC, said: “We have been blown away by the diversity, ingenuity and creativity of the projects that have applied to SLIF over the past three years. School libraries have fully embraced the opportunity to develop new ways of engaging pupils and the wider school community in the school library, enhancing the learning experience and attainment levels. We are thrilled that the funding has been further extended to allow this vital work to continue and it really cements the Scottish Government’s commitment to the Vibrant Libraries, Thriving Schools national strategy. 

“We know from research that a well-run school library can impact positively on attainment and attitudes to learning so having extra resource for creative programmes helps further this. It has been a challenging year for schools as pupils have had their education disrupted. This funding potentially offers them the chance to develop some creative programmes and initiatives to re-engage pupils and help overcome any lasting barriers as a result of the disruption.”

The Fund closes at 12 noon on Friday 13th November 2020. For more information on the School Library improvement Fund visit our SLIF pages.