SCDA script library to be homeless by Easter
Council needs Infirmary Street building back
By Thom Dibdin
The Scottish Community Drama Association’s script library has been given notice to leave its current home at the South Bridge Centre, Infirmary Street, by Easter.
The library houses over 20,000 scripts and is a major resource for the Scottish amateur dramatic scene. The SCDA is looking for new premises for the library and would welcome any offers of assistance or ideas of places to look.
SCDA Logo
SCDA Edinburgh District secretary Susan Wales told the Annals: “We are also looking for storage boxes to pack books in and fit bodies to do your actual packing and carrying. Please ask around – we will be flexible re location. The main concern is finding somewhere to store over 20,000 scripts and still keep them easily accessible to continue providing this excellent service to SCDA members.”
The library contains scripts for one-act and full length plays, for single sex and mixed-sex casts. There are plays for young people, monologues, reviews, pantos andbooks on all aspects of theatre. There are sets of scripts donated by member clubs, as well as compilations and classic plays. The library can be visited in person at the Top Floor, South Bridge Centre, Infirmary Street, Edinburgh on Tuesdays, 2.30-7pm.
Anyone who can help, whether it is with boxes for the scripts, time and energy to help pack and move them, or who has ideas of where this invaluable resource could be housed, is urged to contact the Susan Wales through the SCDA Edinburgh and District website: www.scdaedinburgh.org.uk
ENDS
Thanks very much Thom.
I have used the SCDA script library over a period of some 60+ years and found it, in company with many others throughout Scotland,invaluable in finding and studying plays for production. It is a facility that should be preserved at all costs. I have no doubt that Edinburgh Council thinks it has good reason for rendering it homeless, but it should be using its powers to take the opportunity to rehouse the library in a more accessible place than the remote top floor in which it has struggled to exist in Infirmary Street. The easy way out is for the Council to avoid responsibility by withdrawing support for this voluntary gem. The difficult way is to take positive not negative action risking oblivion for a unique cultural resource, reminiscent of the loss of the former Newhaven Museum. Keep up the good work, Thom.