 The final item of business today is a member's business debate on motion number 1-078, in the name of James Dornan, on 100 years of Langside Library. This debate will be concluded without any questions being put, and I'd be grateful if those members who wish to speak in the debate could press the request to speak buttons as soon as possible. Colin James Dornan, to open the debate, seven minutes please. Thanks very much, Presiding Officer. I'd also like to thank those who have signed a motion and those who are going to take part in the debate tonight. I'd also like to take this opportunity to welcome to the Parliament Lauren Macnaught, the cultural services officer, and Marquis de Livey, from Langside Library, who travelled through this afternoon, after an incredibly busy day, to listen to the debate. Presiding Officer, I've been privileged to have a number of members' debates since my election in 2011, but I can honestly say that I don't think that there's one yet that gives me the personal satisfaction that this one does. You see, I have a secret obsession, although it's not that secret for those that know me well. I'm obsessed with libraries. Something I'm sure I share with my colleague ex-librarian and acting minister for children and young people. Ever since there was a child, reading has been my pleasure or anything in the house. My mum was an avid reader and so there was always something, normally Agatha Christie. And then when I was old enough, seven or eight maybe, I went to the library for the first time. Don't speak, stop shuffling, coughing, sneezing, all these rules yet it was like Alibaba's cave of treasure and I never looked back. I was fortunate to live close to a number of libraries Cooper Institute, Govan Hill, Kings Park and of course Langside Library and that was my favourite. This library was the last library built with funds from Andrew Carnegie, nearly all of Carnegie's 2,509 libraries, which were built between 1883 and 1929 were built according to the Carnegie formula. In determining where to build a library, the town or area needed to fulfil four key requirements. Demonstrate the need for a public library, provide the building site, annually provide 10 per cent of the cost of the library's construction to support its operation and provide free service to all. Like me, Carnegie had been greatly influenced by his local library and the opportunity that it gave for working boys, who some believe should not even be entitled to books to better themselves. Carnegie's personal experience as an immigrant to America, who came by his wealth with the assistance of others, helped him to believe that society should be based on merit and that those who worked hard could become successful. This philosophical tenet ran through all his charitable works, but it is his libraries that is the best-known expression of this philosophy. Langside was able to meet the requirements necessary and after George Simpson won the competition to design it, what commenced on building it in 1913, opened in 1915. Whilst we now take whiling hours away browsing the shelves of our local library for our latest book for granted, it was not always this way. Langside library was the first library in Glasgow to allow folk to pick their own books instead of requesting them from the staff. This was an enormous innovation and gave ownership and freedom to the members of the public to select whatever they saw that took their fancy. Although I suspect that, if they still had to order them, 50 shades of grey would probably be slightly less popular than that appears to be. Langside is famous for being the site of the Battle of Langside, the last battle fought by Mary Cwne of Scots. It was defeat in this battle that led to her fleeing for sanctuary with her cousin Elizabeth I in England, and we all know how well that turned out. The battle is commemorated in a large painting inside the library designed by Maurice Gryffinhagen and painted with students at the Glasgow School of Art. It was exhibited at the Royal Academy of London in 1919 and presented to the library in 1920. This stunning painting is now being assessed for restoration. I want libraries to continue to inspire people young and old, as much as it inspired me when I was younger. Langside library is just one example of a library that has had a stellar history but that is also modernising to ensure that it has a strong future ahead of it. One of the ways that it is doing this is by making it into a social hub in an area for the community to go get help and advice on a number of different issues. Citizens' advice have a drop-in service, as well as McMillan cancer, which are helping people in different ways in utilising the space that the library has. It also hosts a weekly coffee morning, storytelling sessions and bounce and rhyme sessions for parents with toddlers. The library service appreciates that by getting people involved in the local libraries that they will continue to use them for generations to come. This morning, I attended an event in Langside library to celebrate the 100 years since it opened, 3 February 1915. Among the people speaking at it were local resident actor Gary Lewis. Gary told us that he used to work in Easterhouse library and when they get requests for books they did not stop, they sent to Langside for it. Honestly, libraries are just like Google come to life. I am one of those sadists who would get excited when they came across a library they had never been in, who could not walk past one in the off chance that they had got new books in since the last time I was there, which would probably have been less than a week beforehand. Libraries have changed, but they are no longer that a stear, serious, studious place they used to be. Everything goes on in the libraries now, from toddler singing to the more mature, discussing old memories when the reminiscent box comes out. Another thing that I have noticed is that the staff seem much younger now. That is just me getting the young policeman syndrome all the same. However, the most important thing about libraries remain the same. They are a place of wonder, hidden treasures for people of all ages, incredible knowledge just waiting for you to turn their page and find it, but also fun, exhilarating and hugely rewarding. When Lord Provist opened the library back in the day he said that this was as important to the working man as lighting or sanitation. Why? Because where else could the ordinary working man get access to what we have here? He also said that the library was about more than just books and lending but could and should be the centre of the community. Interestingly, I was talking to a number of higher anchors from Glasgow Life today who remarked on how 100 years later their purpose is exactly the same. I know Glasgow Life from the process of a review to strengthen further those links with the community. I have said in this motion that those changes to Langside library that has made the library more accessible utilised the space and offered more than just the opportunity to borrow books as vital as that service is. I am looking forward to hearing from colleagues across the country about the great example of other local libraries working in their communities. If their libraries are half as beautiful or half as welcoming as Langside library is then this will be a very enjoyable debate indeed. Thank you very much. We now turn to the open debate, speeches of four minutes or so. I call Liz Smith to be followed by Drew Smith. I commend James Dorn for bringing this debate to the chamber. I apologise on two counts. First, I was given extremely short notice that I was taking part in this debate. Secondly, I have another engagement in about half an hour, so I am afraid that I have to leave before the end of the debate. I do not think that I can say that I am obsessed with libraries, but I value them hugely. I think that libraries are perhaps one of the greatest assets in any community for a whole variety of reasons. Celebrating their work is an important duty of any elected member, not least because they are so preciously regarded by the majority of our constituents. As is indicated in the motion, Langside library is one of the last to be built with the funds from Andrew Carnegie. The first Carnegie library in the United Kingdom was built in the constituency area that I represent in his hometown of Dunfermline and that was in 1883. His legacy of philanthropy in this particular area can be felt in somewhere over 2,500 locations across the world, from Langside to Louisiana, from New York to New Zealand. He was clearly a Scot who conquered the business world and then used that success, undoubted success, to bring community learning to those who needed it most. It is a legacy of which I think Scotland can be immensely proud. The revolution that Carnegie created has clearly changed over time, but it is just as important as ever, as libraries have transformed from silent spaces of reading to bustling hubs of activity covering all aspects of community living. As James Dornan has pointed out, I think that activity is so incredibly important for those local communities, because libraries now host free classes and events for local people, some of which would obviously not have been available when they first began. James Dornan also referred to the fact that there were four criteria on which those libraries had to receive their funding. I think that that is absolutely vital. I think that perhaps the two most important things were the fact that they had to be free for access and that they had to demonstrate that community was greatly in need of a facility, which probably was a little easier to do in 19th century Scotland than it might be now. Revolutionary, though he was, not even Carnegie could have predicted the seismic shift that has been brought about by the internet. However, the proliferation of digital communication has been braced wholeheartedly across Scotland and by the Scottish library system, with many people's first interaction with the internet actually taking place in a library. Today, the majority of us carrying the entirety of human knowledge in our pockets and bags. Smartphones and tablets mean that we have instant access to information, and, therefore, the increasing role that libraries have to play is a difficult one for them, because they are obviously competing with those new changes. However, I have to complement libraries, at least the ones that I know, in a thing about. I think that they have been absolutely outstanding in the way that they have approached this, because I think that the nature of our interaction and the need for libraries is on an ever-changing basis, but they have responded to that, as have communities that have a vital role when it comes to developing our facilities. I think that the Parliament can rightly congratulate Langside library today. 100 years is truly a milestone worth making, and for a century, the people of Langside have obviously been extremely well served. I just end by wishing their staff and visitors the very best as they embark on the coming week of their celebratory events. I now call Drew Smith to be followed by Christine Grahame. I begin by declaring my interest as a card-carrying member of Glasgow's library services. Like Liz Smith, I thank James Donan for securing this debate, and I congratulate the staff and the regular readers over the years at Langside, as we mark the centenary of Langside library. I was pleased to support Mr Donan's motion when it was lodged, and I read with interest some of the information that he contained within it. He mentioned, of course, the battle of Langside. It is such an important event, but I think that not that many people know that much about the detail of the battle. We know much more about the flight to Dunbarton and the exile that followed after Langside, but it seems fitting, given that connection, to be marking the centenary of the library in Holyrood. I have no doubt that the generations of schoolchildren in that part of the city will have learned about Langside's connection with many Queen of Scots through the local library, but they have also learned many other things beside it. Importantly, they will have gained, as Mr Donan himself indicated, a love of learning for its own sake through their reading and the work of the library staff over many years. It is important that we thank not just the staff who are currently working in the library, but the generations of staff who have worked in that library, and no doubt loved it very much indeed. I was also interested to read another point that Mr Donan highlighted, that it was the first library in the city that allowed readers to take their own books off their shelves. I am intrigued by that, and there must have been so many interesting discussions about allowing that to happen for the first time. Again, there is something very fitting about that, given that the history of learning in Glasgow, in particular, is so much the history of self-taught learning. The generations of people who have used the city's library services to understand more about the world, to understand their place in the world and, particularly in Glasgow's history, to understand how to change the world in our municipal libraries will appear to be an absolutely crucial role in that. The library has undergone significant change. Some have been lost altogether, as it is out of technology, cheaper books and other forms of entertainment. We have to acknowledge that another driver of that negative change is the pressure on local government budgets. I understand that, across Scotland, 22 public libraries have closed since 2008. We need to reflect on the modern libraries that are succeeding and have reinvented themselves as demanding expectations upon them. The motion makes a number of points about the services that are now offered at Langside. The one that I know best is the partnership between the city's library service and Macmillan cancer, which provides a one-stop shop for advice and information for those affected by cancer in a community rather than a health setting. Like Mr Donan, if I reflect on my own learning as a child and possibly along with the BBC, my library was pretty much my primary exposure to new information and the regular visits, which both my parents encouraged me from a young age, led to a lifelong love of earning and a wide interest in both local and Scottish history and, inevitably, of course, politics. One of my fondest memories of my library was as a child being taken by my grandfather, who was an ex-miner, to visit the wonderful model that we had in the library there of the local colliery, which was set up in the library. It had intricate details of the pit windings and you could press buttons that lit up different parts of the pit in the underground railway. It was quite a contrast to the decline of the real mine, which sat behind my school and had fallen into disrepair, fallen the closure at the end of the strike. In that same library, I read a copy of Margaret Thatcher's Memoir, The Downing Street Years, which would certainly price beyond my means and was unlikely to be a welcome edition in my house if any of us had sought to buy it. I read it with interest. I also read Robert Tressall's The Ragged Trousers' Philanthropists in my library. I have got my own motion down, marking the centenary of that book's publication, and no doubt it would have been one of the books that was regularly taken off the shelves in Langside library over the years. However, there was much other lighter material, too, the back catalogue of Enid Blyton. Of course, the three investigators were the detective series for boys, which I have worked my way through. I am a local library and many other things besides. Liz Smith mentioned this, but it was in my local library that I first used the internet. You were able to withdraw VHS films and even CDs at one time in the local library, which was a boon if you lived in a small town without a record shop. You could take the CDs home and tape them, but I would never encourage that now as a supporter of the right of artists to be paid. I would certainly deprecate that crime now, but it was a huge part of my life. I should wind up. I would do so just by saying that libraries are precious things. Although they face real challenges, it is right that we mark the success when it exists in somewhere like Langside, because they continue to provide a real hub for the local community as well as, crucially—I think that the motion says this—a gateway to learning local history, culture and even health improvement. I am grateful to you, Presiding Officer, and I am grateful to Mr Donin for ensuring that that important motion is debated in Parliament this evening. I now call Christine Grahame to be followed by Hans Alamallek. I congratulate my colleague on securing this debate and, indeed, Langside Library on its centenary, and prefaced my remarks by confessing that I have not had the opportunity to visit Langside Library, but I recognise the diverse services that it provides for the community, reflecting the services in my constituency. Early visits to libraries in my youth-involved crossing the threshold of quite forbidding place had the silence of a sanctuary where you felt even a sneeze was heretical. As a working-class girl, I had no idea where to look, what to look for, and was too inhibited to ask—can you remember me being inhibited?—but it was there that I first stumbled across critiques of Shakespeare plays. I had no idea that they existed until then, and I passed my higher English with an A pass, self-taught, by those library books. As an English teacher, however, my experience at the school library at Woodmild and Firmland, under the formidable oversight of librarian Dorothy Devlin, was indeed eye-opening. That was the 60s, and she ensured her library, though respected, was a place of interest where conversations, albeit sort of voce, could take place. We even shared lessons on teaching children how to use the library, something that I had never known, particularly those who were not academically inclined and felt like a fish out of water. I have had regards for librarians ever since particularly, as I recall, she fought for so-called unsuitable books to be available. Freedom of expression and thought was her mantra, and she won't be the first or the last librarian to take on that fight. Today, I do surgeries in Newton, Grange and Gorebridge libraries in both the most approachable and enthusiastic staff work there. This is not just because I'm greeted with a cup of coffee and a biscuit, but because of all that they do to make the libraries inviting and diverse. There is a computer room, kiddie's corner, seasonal displays of books and pictures. They both go to town at Halloween and Christmas. There are charity events and competitions and newspapers to read. Flowers on the counter, even me, it's all go. There is the surprise parcel enticement. A batch of books is bundled up in brown paper and string with a category labelled romance or thrillers. You pick your parcel and off you go to unwrap it home and perhaps find a book or two you would never have thought of choosing. The last time at Gorebridge while waiting for customers, I was perched among the autobiographies and to pass the time, I picked up David Jason's autobiography, being a fan of both fools and horses and Frost. It's a laughter page and I mean an out loud laughter page. Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to finish it, but after telling a few friends I managed to get a copy for Christmas. I recommend it on a Greek day by the fire, possibly with a malt to hand. I thank James Dornar for praising Langside Library and recognising that Langside and many other libraries have evolved into a really exciting place, very amenable, very approachable over the centuries and make a diverse contribution to our communities and indeed the librarians who are the personalities who make them so worthwhile to visit. Can I just say, Presiding Officer, I like the touch and feel of a book. You'll never get me reading an e-book. Thank you very much. Finally, on the open part of the debate, I hand to Alan Malick. Thank you very much and good evening Presiding Officer. I would like to thank James Dornar for bringing this debate today and to also congratulate Langside Library on its 100th anniversary. I particularly want to thank James because I think that James has got the essence of the whole concept about libraries. I would have never imagined James going into libraries as regularly as he suggests he does and that's wonderful. That's very positive because I think that growing up as a child, my family took me overseas and I didn't really experience libraries overseas because they weren't any there and when I came back to Glasgow, I first time experienced a library because I was taken by my local school and I said to myself, my God, look at all these books and I can get them for free. I can actually take them home. I couldn't believe my eyes and my mind so I took some home and I began to read them and it amazes me even today that the value that those libraries have for our youngsters as well as others in our community and when I used to go to the library in the early days, it was always I felt everybody was elderly. It's just I was young and so everybody looked elderly to me but as time went on, I felt the library's value was greater and greater as time went on particularly when I went to university. I was unemployed at the time before I joined university so I was not particularly wealthy and I needed to buy books for my course and I said to myself, I'm never going to be able to afford these and I sat back and I was told by one of the lecturers, well you can go to the university library and get some there and which I did but what was amazing was when I wanted to do the research, it was the libraries that came to my rescue in my local area. It's amazing about the information that's available in libraries. People can't even fathom that. My grandson thinks that tutor is better than a dictionary and I tried to explain to him but he need to know how to learn how to use a dictionary just in case you go somewhere in the world where there isn't, but they call it Google and he said to me, granddad, if they don't have Google, they won't have a dictionary either. So there are challenges that face libraries today. One of the things that I've felt and I've noticed is the populations are moving around and some libraries find themselves out of space, out of gap. There is a gap between where the community lives and where the library is and that's a challenge for the libraries as well as us in the community because there's a danger of us actually losing some of those libraries and I would very much hope that the cabinet secretary might make a comment about trying to encourage schools to house some of those libraries so that we don't lose those libraries and that they would then be hand in glove in the sense that the school children would be able to use a library as well as the local community. I'm happy to do so. James Dornan. It's very interesting to say that because one of the local primary schools today, Mount Florida Primary School, told me that they were installing or reinstalling, I suppose, a library in their school with the help of Langside Library. Gonzalo Malek. That's a fantastic example and that's exactly what I'm trying to suggest as well because I've seen, when I became the chair of lifelong learning in the Glasgow City Council, one of the things I wanted to introduce was computers and I started off with a small pilot project in five libraries in Glasgow and everybody said to me, you know, you're wasting your time, everybody's got a PC in the house but you know there was a phenomenal hit. It just brought home the message that no people do use technology, people do want to use the facilities in the libraries if they have the opportunity. So therefore we rolled the whole program out and I think Glasgow City Council have been very good in trying to support that type of innovation but I think what I would like to see more of is libraries being placed closer to the communities that I can actually use them. Presiding Officer, I know I'm running out of time. There was a lot I wanted to see about libraries because I genuinely feel and believe that this is a service that we can do without and I think that we need to reflect the time and the challenges that libraries face and once again I thank James Dorman for bringing this because hopefully it will encourage the cabinet secretary to take on some of the ideas that are being suggested today and encourage the continuation of building on the heritage that we already have in Scotland. Thank you very much. I invite Fiona Hyslop to respond to the debate cabinet secretary around seven minutes please. Thank you Presiding Officer. Firstly I'd like to congratulate James Dorman for securing this member's debate. The motion highlights the long history of libraries in Scotland and the most immeasurable impact they have on our lives. There's an opportunity to see wonderful buildings, experience works of art and perhaps most importantly in providing access for all to a timeless treasury of great literature and it's for these reasons and many more that I believe that this is an important issue to debate in this Parliament. James Dorman referred to the battle of Langside as the MSP for Langside, the last battle of Mary Queen of Scots. I reply as cabinet secretary but I am the MSP for Langside on this school where Mary Queen of Scots was born so perhaps I'm bookending this debate rather suitably. I would also like to take this opportunity to wish Langside library a happy 100th birthday. It is wonderful to see that after a centenary the library is still going strong, bringing new services and sessions to its community, ranging from as we've heard practical support, from Macmillan cancer support and citizen advice, local political engagements via surgeries with councillors and MSPs to more leisurely pursue such as storytelling sessions, coffee mornings and a knitting group. The ethos of libraries has always been a quality of opportunity and this is as relevant today as it was 100 years ago. Libraries offer crucial support to help people help themselves, to support literacy, digital participation, learning, employability, health, culture and leisure, to improve the quality of people's lives and support them to engage in the democratic process. Indeed only yesterday at the sports arts and culture working group, I co-chair with COSLA, councillors from across Scotland, Glasgow are not currently participating so they weren't there, but those councillors talked with passion about their belief in libraries and their transformational role, but also the transformation they are themselves undertaking for the 21st century to maintain their role at the heart of the community. As we were discussing at that meeting yesterday how national and local government can best work together to support libraries, I caution members that, as much as it is easy to reminisce about libraries, it is really important that we refer to libraries of the here and now in the 21st century. We in the Scottish Government are supporting the Scottish Library and Information Council to offer leadership to the sector, recognising that they have a role in providing services, wider services but their responsibility for libraries lies with local authorities. We have supported SLIC as it works with partners to develop a strategy for public libraries in Scotland. The strategy group is chaired by the CEO of the Carnegie UK Trust, Martin Evans, and is an opportunity for local authorities and other partners to agree a clear vision for the future of public library services. That was what we were discussing only yesterday. Libraries play a key role in supporting government policy in many areas. I will highlight two on the digital agenda. We are committed to increasing digital participation and libraries play an important role in providing equipment and internet access for those who do not have it, training and ensuring that those can get online and who need to get online. We have provided SLIC with £300,000, which is supporting 138 libraries to install or improve Wi-Fi in their building. That is in addition to the £500 million annual public library improvement fund that we provide to SLIC to support various projects across Scotland, ranging from World War I projects to lego reading clubs for young readers. The second area where libraries make a significant impact is in the development of good literacy skills. The Scottish Government recognises that we need those skills, and the Literary Action Plan highlights the importance of reading as a valued activity from an early age and the benefits in the home. Obviously, a lot of those issues are about equality and opportunity. That has been a theme of many of the speeches today. Obviously, tackling areas with the lowest levels of literacy and breaking the well evidence link between poverty and deprivation and poor literacy skills. The plan's delivery and impact has been overseen by the Standing Literacy Commission, who met for the final time in December, and they will produce a final report on the literacy action plan in the spring. Obviously, we also have a key role for libraries in the read-write count literacy and numeracy campaign for primary 1 to 3s, and the campaign will build on the success of play-talk read and, of course, book bug in the early years. Book Week Scotland promotes reading to all ages across Scotland and libraries, delivering much of the activity during the week. In 2014, Book Week Scotland saw approximately 481 events in libraries across all local authorities, 17,000 people attending them. There's a real vibrancy amongst the activity in libraries, and we must recognise that. During Book Week Scotland, the Scottish Book Trust invited everyone to send a love letter to the library, and the message was one of love and appreciation. As one young reader put it, I quote, I thank you for helping my brain to grow, for opening up my imagination and giving me dreams, helping me to learn to read and find out new things. We're better to encourage reading than in public libraries, which remain one of the free universal services that operate at the heart of communities across Scotland. 30 per cent of adults in Scotland use their library, and libraries remain the most frequently attended cultural venue, with almost seven out of ten visiting their library more than once a month. Perhaps one thing that libraries could do better is to market themselves, remind people of all that they have to offer and what they do for people all over the country. Saturday 7 February is National Libraries Day across the country, and I think that we should all look for opportunities to promote the work of libraries on that day to demonstrate that their services are valued within our communities. As James Dornan's motion recognises, our libraries are part of our history and remain a vital part of our communities. Their offer is universal and democratic. Free access to books, reading, internet, public space, information, cultural, historical and learning opportunities are all vital in building a fairer, smarter, healthier and wealthier Scotland. I want to bring my remarks to closing in quoting Andrew Carnegie. He said, There is no such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the free public library. This republic of letters where neither rank office nor wealth receives the slightest consideration. My local library as a child was my own personal republic where I felt empowered and first independent as an individual. I see the light of liberation in my 10-year-old son's eyes when he talks about his experience with the library. Libraries are not just about the history, they are about the present and they are certainly about the future. Although yes, libraries are about the physical buildings and yes, the books, they are also so much about the people who serve and continue to serve in them. In closing, I salute all the people who have worked in Langside library over those hundreds of years and I salute those who still work in Langside library. Many thanks. That concludes James Dornan's debate 100 years of Langside library and I now close this meeting of parliament.