Community Walking and the National Library of Scotland

In this chapter the author describes his experience with an outreach method called “community walking” in towns across Scotland. Whilst at a conference in 2005 in the UK, he heard the then American Library Association President Michael Gorman describe the actions of two librarians in Chicago; disappointed with the failure of strategic initiatives to attract new users to the library, one day they left their library desks, locked the door, and walked through their neighborhood to talk to potential users. This radical idea for outreach stayed with the author and he subsequently developed a community walking project for the National Library of Scotland, which he has conducted in 11 towns since 2022. He explains the practical considerations of undertaking this outreach, and details the benefits of this relatively low-cost approach to community outreach.