Innovation and Development Fund Awards

Four library projects across Scotland have been awarded a share of £34,000 from SLIC’s Innovation and Development Fund, subject to terms and conditions. The National Library of Scotland, Robert Gordon University Library, the University of Dundee and the University of Strathclyde iSchool will receive funding for projects focusing on creative service delivery and development.

Administered and financed by SLIC, the Innovation and Development Fund is aimed at those who do not benefit from other annual funding programmes, such as Further Education, Higher Education and specialist libraries and information centres. All projects link to SLIC’s strategic pillars of Standards, Leadership, Information and Collaboration.

The National Library of Scotland received just over £9,500 for their project ‘Read tae rise: Scots language and library learning with Scotland’s prisons’. The project will see the co-creation of a new Scots language course and accompanying resource pack which draws on the library’s historic and contemporary collections and champions libraries as lifelong learning resources.

Meanwhile Robert Gordon University Library received just under £5000 to carry out a student-led library design concept. The project will engage students from the School of Law & Social Sciences and the Scott Sutherland School of Architecture & Built Environment to gather data and create draft design concepts to inform future Library redevelopment.

The University of Dundee project aims to deliver a journal publishing programme through Scottish Universities Press. The pilot initiative which received £12,500 will offer a high-quality, sustainable alternative to existing journal publishing arrangements which are becoming increasingly expensive.

Strengthening shared understanding is the focus of the University of Strathclyde iSchool project ‘Decolonising Academic Libraries in Scotland: From Principles to Practice’. The project received £7,200 to develop and deliver practical, accessible guidelines and infographics.

Alison Nolan, Chief Executive of SLIC, said: “Our Innovation and Development Fund helps our Higher, Further and Specialist Library members explore new ideas and innovations within the library sector.“Every year we are inspired by projects which not only develop service delivery but do so in creative and comprehensive ways which can then be expanded throughout the sector.”