Leighton Library 2026 Geraldine Goddard Memorial Lecture presented by Professor Katie Halsey

Professor Halsey will depict the broad landscape of books and reading in Scotland between 1750 and 1830, based on research findings from the award-winning Books and Borrowing 1750-1830: An Analysis of Scottish Borrowers’ Registers research project.

Professor Halsey will talk in particular about the Leighton Library’s particular patterns and trends of borrowing records, identifying the books, genres and authors that were most influential in Scotland in the long eighteenth century.Katie Halsey is Professor of Eighteenth-Century Literature at the University of Stirling, and Co-Director of its Centre for Eighteenth-Century Studies.

She has published several books, including Jane Austen and her Readers, 1786-1945, The History of Reading (with Rosalind Crone and Shafquat Towheed), and Shakespeare and Authority (with Angus Vine), and more than forty articles and book chapters.

She is the Principal Investigator of the Books and Borrowing 1750-1830 research project, and is currently writing on a book on libraries and library use in Scotland in the long eighteenth century.This is the third annual lecture, commemorating the kind bequest of Geraldine Goddard.

With her generosity, the recent Leighton Library Restoration was able to be started.

The fabric of the building had been in need of restoration for some time.

As a result of Geraldine's bequest, and further grant funding from Historic and Environment Scotland and numerous other bodies and individuals, the restoration commenced just over three years ago.

The summer of 2024 saw the Leighton Library reopen with record numbers of visitors.There will be light refreshments provided so that there will be time to mingle and chat.

The Leighton Library will also be open on request following the lecture for those who would like to revisit "Dunblane's hidden gem."