Alison Nolan MSocSc hDLIS ALAI has been appointed as the new Chief Executive of the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC). Ms Nolan is a senior leader with 25 years of experience delivering cultural, learning and library services across public, education and specialist libraries, both in Ireland and Scotland. She succeeds Pamela Tulloch, who announced her plans for retirement earlier this year.
Alison is a strong advocate for library services. She held the role of Vice Chair of the Association of Public Libraries in Scotland in 2022-23, presenting on a wide range of initiatives, both nationally and internationally. This included detailing the contribution Scottish libraries make to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the progress of Forward: Scotland’s Public Library Strategy 2021-2025 and implementing national library strategies and initiatives in a local context.
Extensive Knowledge
While gaining extensive knowledge of membership needs, priorities and the organisation’s offerings, Alison helped raise the profile of the contribution of Scotland’s public libraries to the circular economy to an international audience. She was named CILIPS ‘Scottish Library and Information Professional of the Year 2024’ for spearheading a strategic approach to supporting the health and wellbeing of Inverclyde communities through focussed library programming. Alison was also highly commended in the ‘Library Service Excellence’ category at the annual SLIC Awards last year for her team’s commitment to the local community.
Ms Nolan will join SLIC in August, after five years as team leader at Inverclyde Libraries. Speaking of her appointment, she said: “I am thrilled to have this opportunity to build on the achievements of my predecessor Pamela Tulloch and the significant strengths of SLIC’s membership.
“Libraries are at a critical juncture with issues such as responsible AI, rising inequality, political polarisation, geopolitical instability and deteriorating climate at the fore. These larger social trends are not within our control, but how we respond is, and information, knowledge, and data are at the core of these transformations.
“I will continue to reinforce SLIC’s ability to deliver meaningfully and respond effectively to key policy objectives for government.”
“To this role I bring a knowledge of our community and the urgent issues we face, a commitment to wider library sector and enthusiasm for facilitating the strategic agenda on behalf of our members and celebrate libraries and their place in a healthy democracy.”
