Ceanglaichean Gun Chrìch: Community walking with the National Library of Scotland (360G-BNG-MPG-2026-02007)

Since 2022, the National Library has been undertaking “Community walking” an initiative where small groups of staff (from 3-6) spend time in a location, connecting with it as a geographic community, and with a wide variety of groups within that location. We have so far visited 11 towns across Scotland. The aim of this work is to take collection engagement directly to people we may otherwise never have met. We are now seeking funding to help us reach Gaelic-speaking communities we are currently not engaging with. The Library is in the process of appointing a full-time Assistant Curator post to work with our Scottish Gaelic collections (spanning the centuries). Through this new appointment, we think there is an incredible opportunity to make both our collections and community walking central to our work with Gaelic-speaking communities. We plan to visit, ask and listen to what is important to people, from a Gaelic-first perspective; we will work with them to identify Library collections that are most meaningful to them; and like the story collectors of old such as John Francis Campbell, together we will identify and gather local publications and material to add to the national collections. In this way we build a meaningful two-way dialogue that helps the Library becomes more responsive and benefits the Gaelic-speaking communities that we become more connected too. This community walking will help us develop the collections to make them more representative of contemporary Gaelic communities.