National Library of Scotland Facility to Receive £2m External Facelift

From The Scotsman:

The National Library of Scotland’s storage site at Causwayside in Edinburgh, home to more than two million maps, atlases, reference books and periodicals, is to get a £2 million [approx. $3.2 million/USD] external overhaul.
The Scottish Government has pledged cash to transform the site into a low-energy space, significantly reducing energy consumption, and extending its capacity to safeguard more resources for the nation to 2020 and beyond.
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Culture secretary Fiona Hyslop said: “Our National Collections are a rich resource for promoting Scotland’s unique heritage and distinctive culture, as well as enhancing our learning.
“The NLS provides free access to over 14 million items, and around two million maps, atlases, gazetteers, and cartographic reference works and periodicals are stored in the Causewayside Building, which opened in two phases, in 1989 and in 1995.
“The collections continue to expand, but this investment will avoid the need for new storage until at least the 2020s.

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See Also: Safeguarding Scotland’s national collections (Official News Release)

Martyn Wade, National Librarian and Chief Executive of NLS, said:
”This funding support is very welcome in helping to meet our future plans on collecting and safeguarding the knowledge of Scotland. As Scotland’s only legal deposit library we are entitled to claim a copy of all printed material in the UK. This means we take in more than 4,000 new items every week, requiring three kilometres of new shelving a year.
“Our Causewayside building currently houses half the National Collection. This will allow us to store more material there and, by making the most of the building’s low energy potential, reduce expenditure in the long term.”
The announcement comes ahead of this week’s Stage 3 Parliamentary Debate on the National Library of Scotland Bill (Wednesday 16 May).
The Bill is designed to modernise for the 21st century the functions and governance arrangements of the NLS, strengthen its role in safeguarding and sharing its collections and support its work in bringing the nation’s history and culture to life.
The £2.25 million for NLS comes from the 2012-15 Barnett consequentials, as part of the Spring Budget Revision and additional capital spending, the deployment of which was announced in February as part of the Budget Bill which received Royal Assent on 14 March 2012.

Filed under: Funding, Libraries, Maps, National Libraries, News