Gaelic Resources

Gaelic as the mother tongue in the Western Isles plays a significant role in the literature and religious, cultural, social and educational life of the community.

We aim to provide access to all aspects of Gaelic in its printed and recorded form.

Language, literature, folklore and religion are the traditional subjects of Gaelic books but the range is expanding. The largest growth area is in children’s books and contemporary fiction.

Gairm, TGSI, Scottish Gaelic Studies and Guth are available for consultation, together with a number of older series such as An Gaidheal and Guth na Bliadhna. There is a lot of useful historical material in these magazines.

Alba and Mac-Talla from yesteryear make fascinating reading. Sruth from the late 1960s was billed as Scotland’s bilingual newspaper. Today the Stornoway Gazette and West Highland Free Press regularly carry Gaelic features.

Gaelic songs and music on CD may be borrowed from all libraries.

Language learning courses are available, many with accompanying audio and video CDs. These may be borrowed initially for 8 weeks but the loan can be extended depending on demand.

You may also wish to check out GRD (Gaelic Resource Database) .