| The first in a series of features on the Scottish Poetry Library's collections in locations round Scotland.
Bill Millar, Stock and Collections Manager for Dumfries and Galloway Libraries, writes:
Dumfries and Galloway Libraries Information and Archives were delighted to be asked to play host to an outlying collection of the Scottish Poetry Library. The proposal to have a collection based in Dumfries and Galloway had been simmering in the background for a number of years, but the appointment, by Dumfries and Galloway Arts Association, of Andrew Forster as Literature Development Officer for the region proved to be the catalyst required to bring the project to fruition.
The collection was formally unveiled in the Ewart Library, Dumfries in September 2004, when local poet John Manson, who had been calling for an SPL collection in D&G for may years, performed the opening ceremony. Dumfries-based poet Liz Niven read from her work and Douglas Mitchell read from and launched his first collection of poems, Nature and the land.
Since the launch, the collection has proved to be popular with poetry lovers both in Dumfries and in other parts of Dumfries and Galloway. In the Ewart Library itself, the collection is shelved in a specially headed section within the literature section, but that is not the only way in which the public can access the books.
Very early on, it was decided that, because of the large geographical size of Dumfries and Galloway, a proportion of the bookstock should be made into a travelling collection, which would move around from library to library. This has enabled poetry readers in many different parts of the region to access the books directly. Borrowers are also able to find out what is available by searching for "Scottish Poetry Library" in our online stock catalogues. To date, 1,010 loans have been recorded from this collection.
The links with the Scottish Poetry Library extend beyond the simple provision of the collection of books. In the two years since the launch, in partnership with DGAA, we have been happy to be involved in a number of joint ventures These have included sessions with library staff, school teachers, children and the general public and all of them have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Among the events have been Edinburgh perfomance poets Elspeth Murray and Richard Medrington enthusing librarians with the joys of poetry and entertaining primary school children, Pulitzer prizewinning poet Galway Kinnell reading from his own work and sharing his favourite poems in a special outreach ‘Selected Works’ event, and the ‘Novel Approach’, guiding fiction readers towards poetry collections they might enjoy.
Here in Dumfries and Galloway Libraries we look forward to further strengthening our links with the Scottish Poetry Library in the months and years to come.
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