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Being Scottish: a cultural overview

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2016

Wilson Smith  and
Hilary Williamson
Wilson Smith*
Affiliation:
Edinburgh College of Art, Lauriston Place, Edinburgh EH3 9DF, UK
Hilary Williamson*
Affiliation:
Fine Art Library, Central Library, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EG, UK
*
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

There has been a change in atmosphere in Scotland since the opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. This article describes some aspects of the country’s cultural background and the route taken to get there, as well as current trends in the Scottish library world.

Type
Research Article
Information
Art Libraries Journal , Volume 28 , Issue 3 , 2003 , pp. 5 - 10
Copyright
Copyright © The Art Libraries Society 2003

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References

Bibliography

Aitken, W.A. A history of the public movement in Scotland to 195S. Glasgow: Scottish Library Association, 1971.Google Scholar
Cadell, Patrick and Matheson, Ann, eds. For the encouragement of learning: Scotland’s National Library 1689-1989. Edinburgh: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1989.Google Scholar
Devine, T.M., ed. Being Scottish. Edinburgh: Polygon, 2002.Google Scholar
Ferguson, William. The identity of the Scottish nation. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998.Google Scholar
Hassan, Gerry and Warhurst, Chris. Anatomy of the new Scotland. Edinburgh & London: Mainstream Publishing, 2002.Google Scholar
Herman, Arthur. The Scottish Enlightenment: the Scots’ invention of the modern world. London: Fourth Estate, 2001.Google Scholar
Macmillan, Duncan. Scottish art 1460-2000. Edinburgh & London: Mainstream Publishing, 2000.Google Scholar
Ross, David, ed. Scottish quotations. Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2001.Google Scholar
Scott, Paul H., ed. Scotland: a concise cultural history. Edinburgh & London: Mainstream Publishing, 1993.Google Scholar

References

1. From Devine, Tom and Logue, Paddy, eds. Being Scottish. Edinburgh: Polygon, 2002.Google Scholar
2. Brewer, Gordon, quoted in Hassan, Gerry and Warhurst, Chris, eds. The new Scottish politics: the first year of the Scottish parliament and beyond. Norwich: Stationery Office, 2000.Google Scholar
3. Section 28 (actually Section 2a in the Scottish legislation) was and is an amendment to the Local Government Act 1988 intended to outlaw the supposed promotion of homosexuality by local authorities; it became a byword for illiberality and discrimination. (See http://news.bbc.co.Uk/l/hi/scotland/800673.stm) At the time of writing, Section 28 remains in force in England and Wales.Google Scholar
4. See http://www.studentfinance.org.uk/ for the report of the Commission.Google Scholar
5. Of course there are negative connotations of Scottishness too, of which Scots are often too well aware. It was a Scottish author, after all, who invented Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.Google Scholar
6. ‘The myth of the “lad o’ pairts”, or the clever young Scot who is able to rise from lowly origins thanks to an open educational system, has only ever been a half-truth. But it is a myth that has endured not only because it has some basis in fact, but also because it continues to represent an ideal that Scots hold dear and which their leaders are prepared to pursue with more than just noble sentiments.’ Adam Fox ‘Taking the higher road: can the Scottish higher education model solve England’s university funding crisis?’ Education Guardian 21 Nov. 2002 (http://education.guardian.co.uk/universitiesin crisis/story/0,12028,844487,00.html)Google Scholar
7. National Library of Scotland. Annual report 2001-2002. Edinburgh: NLS, 2002. (http://www.nls.uk/news/annualreport/areport02.pdf)Google Scholar
8. http://scurl.ac.uk Google Scholar
9. See article elsewhere in this issue of the Art libraries journal. Google Scholar
10. http://www.uhi.ac.uk Google Scholar
11. The SLAINTE website at http://www.slainte.org.uk is the best source for information on Scottish librarianship.Google Scholar
12. http://www.scran.ac.uk/. See also article elsewhere in this issue of the Art libraries journal. Google Scholar
13. http://www.rls.ac.uk/. Dunsire, Gordon and Nicholson, Dennis. ‘Beyond the screens’. Scottish libraries vol. 17 no. 3 2002 gives a useful summary of digital library developments in Scotland.Google Scholar
14. The strategy document can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/nationalcultural strategy/docs/cult-OO.asp; the first and second annual reports are at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/heritage/ncsr.pdf and http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/culture/sncs2.pdf respectively.Google Scholar
15. Task Force report (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/digitalscotland/digital_scotland.pdf); Digital inclusion: connecting Scotland’s people (http://www.scoti and.gov.uk/library3/enterprise/dics.pdf) Google Scholar