Support our Libraries: In this age of white noise and information overload, libraries are places of quiet reflection - Robbie Morrison

From memory: ‘Hanged in Edinburgh on this day in 1821 (or thereabouts), Piro l’Aflo, former circus acrobat and soldier in Napoleon’s army turned thief. Leaping around the rooftops of Auld Reekie in a long black cloak, the Frenchman is thought to be the inspiration for Batman.’

Always on the lookout for a good story idea, I determined to track down this daring bandit. There was only one place to go – the library.

Libraries have played a huge part in my life, as reader and writer. As a wean in the 1970s, regular trips with my dad to Linwood and Paisley libraries were the gateway to worlds of wonder and adventure. I devoured everything from Enid Blyton to Robert Louis Stevenson, Asterix and Tintin to Raymond Chandler, sparking my imagination and setting me on the path to becoming a writer myself. In later years, Glasgow’s awesome Mitchell Library has helped me research stories ranging from science fiction in Judge Dredd to historical crime in my debut novel, Edge of the Grave.

My partner Deb and I are lifelong library users (current loans Andrew O’Hagan’s Mayflies and Edna O’Brien’s memoir A Country Girl), our love of reading passed down from previous generations, who, without libraries, would have had little or no access to books.

The public library is one of our most important and treasured institutions, founded on egalitarian principles and offering free access to books and knowledge, whether for education or entertainment, to everyone. Today, they are vital communication hubs for those who do not have access to computers or the internet. Yet, in this age of constant white noise and information overload, libraries are also places of quiet reflection. When the internet often seems designed to show you everything other than the one thing you’re actually looking for, no search engine can match a dedicated, passionate librarian.

This is why Scotland on Sunday’s Support Our Libraries campaign is vital. It appals me that successive governments hurl mindboggling sums of money into fiscal black holes, but are unable to see the unquestionable benefits of investing more funds into one of the greatest resources they already have.

As we recover from the pandemic and come to terms with changes in society and working habits, the effects of lockdown and isolation, councils and politicians are debating the future of the high street. Shouldn’t libraries – capable of bringing people together through the power of books, knowledge and the arts – be a large part of that future, if not the very heart of it?

Robbie Morrison, winner of The Bloody Scotland Debut Crime Novel Of The Year in the The Albert Halls at Bloody Scotland, Scotland's International Crime Writing Festival in Stirling on the 17/09/2021. Picture: Paul Reich

I enlisted the expert staff of the Mitchell in my quest to discover more about the elusive Piro l’Aflo. After much searching, they admitted defeat. Finally, I wrote to Jim Hewitson, the Orkney journalist who’d written the article. He rang a few days later to point out that the story had been published on April 1st.

Piro l’Aflo was an anagram of April Fool.

Robbie Morrison was winner of the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize 2021 with Edge of the Grave.

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