High Life Highland’s libraries are set to benefit from a £32,000 investment that will help to develop library services for communities and schools through innovative projects.
Administered by the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) on behalf of The Scottish Government, High Life Highland has been successful in securing Public Library Improvement Funding for a climate engagement initiative.
The initiative ‘Cultivating Climate Champions’ will see 10 libraries throughout the Highlands become vibrant spaces for climate conversations, youth-led activities, and community-driven sustainability projects.
In close partnership with colleagues across High Life Highland including The Countryside Rangers service, as well as local community partners, libraries at Culloden, Ardnamurchan, Dingwall, Caol, Ullapool, Gairloch, Fort William, Thurso, Wick and Fortrose will be building on their activity programmes to support climate engagement. 
From nature clubs, nature talks, plant swaps, seed libraries and grow your own food workshops to make and mend workshops, and other sustainability themed activities. There will be something for everyone to get involved in! There will be opportunities for communities take part in climate conversations at their local library or to join an eco-book group.
Head of Libraries at High Life Highland, Julie Corcoran said: “We are delighted to have been successful in securing Scottish Government Funding for this innovative project. Our libraries will serve as vibrant hubs where individuals can come together to learn about the environment, get involved in climate conversations, and find simple ways that they can make a difference, such as reusing, recycling, swapping, and sharing resources.
“Communities will be able to get involved by coming along to any of our events or if you would like to run a climate engagement activity at one of our libraries we would also love to hear from you!
“We hope to attract all different age groups through this project but there will be a particular focus on getting young people aged 12-25 years involved through High Life Highland’s leadership programme.
“By helping to run climate engagement activities at their local library through volunteering, young people can learn important life skills, including customer care skills, which can help them into employment at a later stage. Volunteering hours can also go towards nationally recognised qualifications such as Saltire Award.
“We want our libraries to be recognised as trusted spaces for learning and for community conversations to take place- this funding will help us in achieving this”
The Highland Council, in partnership with High Life Highland have also been successful in securing funding for school libraries.
Administered again by SLIC on behalf of the Scottish Government, School Library Improvement Funding supports creative initiatives in line with Vibrant Libraries, Thriving Schools, the national strategy for the development of school libraries.
The ‘Reading Is For Everyone’ initiative will be delivered across Culloden Academy and five feeder primary schools within the Inverness area – Balloch, Cradlehall, Croy, Duncan Forbes and Smithton Primaries.
The project will focus on encouraging reading for pleasure and will create equitable opportunities for pupils to engage with books and reading, whether they enjoy reading, struggle with reading due to an Additional Support Needs identification or are disengaged from reading.
Each school will be receiving high quality collections of books that will be appealing and appropriate for pupils’ reading levels and the collections will include dyslexia friendly texts. Primary school children will have the opportunity to become reading champions through the project and paired reading opportunities will be created between Culloden Academy Pupils and primary school pupils.
School library staff will benefit from specific dyslexia awareness training to enable them to support pupils more effectively with their reading skills and the project will make significant use of digital technology to allow pupils to create and share their views on books that they’ve read on Google Classroom through creation of short videos and podcasts.
Chair of Highland Council’s Education Committee, Councillor John Finlayson, said: “I’m pleased that this funding will support the ‘Reading Is For Everyone’ initiative in a number of our primary schools, to encourage children to engage more with reading and to support our library staff with vital training. Libraries are important spaces in our communities, especially in schools, and I look forward to seeing the positive impacts of this funding on young readers.”
The ‘Reading is For Everyone’ initiative will closely align with The National Year of Reading in 2026. The campaign will aim to foster a love of reading for pleasure in children and young people. Reading for pleasure is linked to a range of benefits including stronger writing skills, increased vocabulary, improved wellbeing and confidence, and even higher future earnings with improved occupational opportunities.
