High Life Highland Libraries recognised for community work as shortlist for Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) awards is announced to mark UK Libraries Week
The library service in the Highlands is in the running for a top award for its outstanding contribution to local communities.
High Life Highland Libraries is among six library services shortlisted in the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) awards.
It is one of four contenders for the service excellence award in recognition of its commitment to community outreach work.
The nomination states: "Reaching out to new Scottish populations, reconnecting with former library members, and developing new ways to engage with communities, have enabled High Life Highlands to show an outward facing library service. This entry was characterised by a willingness to make and to offer connections."
The category shortlist, announced during Libraries Week, also includes Shetland Libraries, Inverclyde Libraries and East Lothian Library Services.
Four library services – Inverclyde, East Lothian, Aberdeen City and Falkirk – have been shortlisted in the project excellence awards.
The winners will be announced at the SLIC Showcase and annual general meeting on October 28.
SLIC chairman, Ian Ruthven, said the quality of entries for the 2022 competition had been exceptional.
"We have been hugely impressed by the sheer range of activities being introduced into Scotland’s Library Services again over the past year," he said.
"The entries share common values of community-mindedness, empathetic decision-making, and passion for what a library service can offer.
"They show the ability of libraries to respond to the critical issues of modern life through events, new collections, tailored services, and new ways to interact with literature and people.
"Each of those nominated speak to libraries as being critical to communities and one of our common reactions to reading the nominations was ‘only a library could do this'."
