A national school library strategy for Scotland

Category: News

Photo: Scottish Government Flickr – reproduced using Creative Commons

Deputy First Minister (DFM), John Swinney, has given the clearest signal yet that, in recognition of the key role that school libraries have in supporting educational outcomes, it was his intention to formulate a national school library strategy. He made the statement during a meeting of the Petitions Committee held on 20th April in relation to the Save Scotland’s School Libraries petition, initiated by CILIPS Trustee Duncan Wright.

Earlier in the year, the DFM met with CILIPS trustees and staff to discuss the role of librarians in schools and it was clear from his comments regarding the link between professional library staff and acquisition of information literacy skills, that he had been persuaded by this aspect of the role together with the contribution school librarians make to literacy in learning. He revealed that when the next How Good is our School is released in time for session school session 2017/18 it will include guidance which focuses on the contribution to be made by library staff to cross curricular outcomes. You can view John Swinney’s contribution to the Committee meeting here (46 minutes in) and read a report of the meeting here.