Val McDermid: 'Libraries open windows that let us all fly'

The National Library of Scotland is 100 - and the anniversary is being championed by author Val McDermid

Writer Val McDermid has spoken passionately about the impact of libraries on her young life as she launched the centenary celebrations of National Library of Scotland (NLS).

The author was in Edinburgh for the start of the anniversary campaign that marks 100 years since the library, which holds 50 millions items in its collection on behalf of the naiton, was launched.

Writer Val McDermid at the launch of the National Library of Scotland's centenary year celebrations, where she spoke passionately about the power of libraries and books to open windows to the wider world. Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire. | Jane Barlow/PA Wire

The writer and creator of the Karen Pirie detective series recalled her earliest days of being pushed in her pram to Kirkcaldy Central library, which later became a “window to the world”.

She also recalled using her mother’s library ticket to borrow her first Agatha Christie novel from the adult library when aged nine. Using the ticket became the norm as her curiosity and passion in books soared.

Ms McDermid said: “My parents couldn’t afford books, but they understood they were the passport to better life chances than they’d had.

“But it’s not just writers who have their doors opened to the wider world by libraries. Engineers, lawyers, builders, artists, geographers, mathematicians, musicians … the list is endless. Libraries open windows that let us all fly.”

Ms McDermid also recalled the “kindness” of librarians at NLS as she researched her novels and her use of the building in a DS Pirie plot line.

The writer has been appointed as a ‘Centenary Champion’ for the anniversary year, along with writer and broadcaster Damian Barr, with a calendar of events and exhibitions drawn up for the months ahead.

These will include the loan of key items to libraries around the country, including the last letter written by Mary, Queen of Scots in the hours before her execution, and a display of iconic documents such as The Glenriddell Manuscript, which contains some of Robert Burns’s most important works, and the Order for the Massacre of Glencoe.

Mr Barr said libraries had “saved his life” as books helped to “change my own story”.

He said: “I believe that stories are for everybody and everybody has a story. My local library saved my life – it gave me a warm, safe place to be and the books were my passports to other worlds.

READ MORE: Letter written by Mary Queen of Scots six hours before execution to go on display in Scottish city

“These books helped me change my own story. I was encouraged and supported in my reading by skilled librarians who always found me the right book at the right time.

“I was a reader long before I was a writer – that’s how every writer starts. The National Library is the home of Scotland’s stories and everybody is welcome, whatever their story.”

The National Library was established by an Act of Parliament in 1925. The institution cares for a collection of more than 50 million items spanning many centuries on behalf of the people of Scotland – all of whom are entitled to free access to the collections.

Sir Drummond Bone, chairman of NLS, described the library as hosting a “record of Scotland’s written and printed heritage - from the Beano to Byron”.

He said: “It is important to get the message out that anyone can find something of interest - from football programmes to 17th-century sermons, from knitting patterns to symphonies.”

NLS started life in the Faculty of Advocates building with work beginning on the George IV Bridge site in the 1930s. Due to the Second World War, most of the building work took place in the 1950s.

National Librarian Amina Shah said: “We are in a really divided and challenging world and our ancestors, our founder, Sir Alexander Grant and others, they were also in challenging times and they decided it was worth investing in ways that people could get together in joined community in the sharing of the genius of humankind. That is what we all stand for and we need it more than ever now too.”