Learn more about the staff and board of the Scottish Poetry Library.
Our people
Our Staff
Asif Khan
Director. Contact Asif about strategic partnerships, sector advocacy or becoming a patron.Aly Barr
Deputy Director/Head of Operations. Contact Aly about events, projects or matters related to the running of the Library building.Jill Mackintosh
Head Librarian. Contact Jill about the collection, both new stock for adding to the library and old stock for withdrawal; enquiries and requests.Toni Velikova (MCLIP)
Assistant Librarian. Contact Toni about cataloguing and indexing, work placement and internship opportunities, tours of the library, the SPL's periodicals collection and copyright enquiries.Samuel Tongue
Projects Co-ordinator. Contact Sam about National Poetry Day, Tools of the Trade, publications or new project ideas.Rod Hunt
Enquiries, volunteering and Library Services. Contact Rod with ideas or for information.Ross Jamieson
Administrator. Contact Ross about the Library's shop, both within the building and online.Marcas Mac an Tuairneir
Service Development Coordinator (Scottish Gaelic). Contact Marcas if you have questions about the Gaelic language and literature or if you would like to find out about integrating Gaelic into a project.Alistair Heather
Marketing Manager. Contact Alistair about SPL media, marketing and communications.
Our Board
The board, as the charity trustees, have overall responsibility for the organisation. The Board is responsible for setting strategic direction, approving policies, for employing staff and overseeing SPL performance and finances. Aiming for best practice, the Board has formally endorsed the Scottish Governance Code for the Third Sector.
Board members have a range of skills, experience and different perspectives. Board members are elected by members, but the Board can also co-opt individuals for limited periods.
More information is available here.
Gordon Munro (Co-chair)
Re-elected 2020. Councillor, City of Edinburgh Council.Charlie Roy (Co-chair)
Appointed 2019. Publicist, linguist and former teacher.Dr James Ripley (Company Secretary)
Appointed 2018. Academic Librarian.Patrick Corbett
Appointed 2019. Academic.David Forbes Rutherford
Appointed 2019. Accountant.Laura Fyfe
Appointed 2021. Writer and teacher.Chris Wardhaugh
Appointed 2021. Company Director.Claudia Daventry
Appointed 2021. Writer and teacher.Join
Become a Borrower or support our work by becoming a Friend of SPL.Our Honorary Presidents
From time to time, the Board of the SPL asks distinguished poets to become Honorary Presidents of the Library.
Previous Presidents have been George Bruce, Seamus Heaney, Norman MacCaig, Sorley MacLean, Naomi Mitchison, Edwin Morgan, Iain Crichton Smith, Derick Thomson, and Tessa Ransford