Policy formulation for public library provision in the Highlands of Scotland

Policy formulation for library provision in the Highlands of Scotland was largely the product of outside intervention and was, initially, part of a policy of introducing an Anglicized Calvinism into the Highlands as a means of radically altering the habits and customs of the natives. The basic policy guidelines were not seriously altered until the coming of secular educational values after the Disruption, when the Free Church of Scotland was founded. The lack of adequate numbers of secular titles in Gaelic was reflected in the holdings of libraries and contributed to the decline of Gaelic culture. No large public collections of Gaelic literature were ever formed.