Faceless, Nameless Numpties - Scotland's National Library

I submitted a second FoI request to the National Library of Scotland asking for any written submissions from the NLS LGBTQI+ staff in support of their call for 'The Women Who Wouldn't Wheesht' to be excluded from the library's centenary exhibition.

Turns out there is nothing - nada, zilch, diddly squat - beyond the juvenile unsupported assertion about the book being 'exclusionary' made by anonymous trans activists. 

So it seems this tiny, tinpot group who are accountable to no one, were able to persuade highly paid, senior NLS managers to ban a book with absolutely zero evidence to back their case.  

Astonishing behaviour - and now I hear these same clowns are trying to get TWWWW banned again over some baloney claim about the book creating an 'unsafe environment for library staff!

  

Dear Mark, 

Reference number: FOI 2025-2026 3001 

Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) received by the Library on 8th October 2025. In accordance with FOISA I am replying to your request within the statutory time for compliance. 

In your request you asked: "I would like to make the following request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. 

1) Please provide me with any written submissions/representations made by the NLS LGBTQI+ network in connection with the decision to include and subsequently withdraw 'The Women Who Wouldn't Wheesht' from the NLS centenary exhibition? 

I note from the answer to my previous FOISA request that various meetings and/or discussions took place with the LGBTQI+ network in May 2025 - referenced by NLS emails dated 14 May 2025. 

The information I am seeking relates to written representations made by the LGBTQI+ in putting their case that the book should be excluded." 

The Library’s interpretation of your request is that you are looking for any formal written submissions or representations made by the LGBT+ Network in connection with the decision surrounding the inclusion of the book ‘The Women Who Wouldn’t Wheesht’ in the Dear Library exhibition. If this interpretation is incorrect, please do submit a new request stating exactly what you are looking for.  

This is notice under Section 17 of FOISA that the Library does not hold the information you are looking for. In response to your previous request, and as you have referred to, the Library provided emails and information from other documentation which note discussions held and the views of the LGBT+ Network surrounding the inclusion of the book in the exhibition. Although the emails are out of scope of your request as they do not constitute as formal written submissions/representations, they are the only recorded information the Library holds related to the subject area noted in your request.  

The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) provides a framework for further assistance to your request. If you are dissatisfied with this response, you may ask the Library to conduct a review of this decision. To begin a review please contact us in writing (including by fax, letter or email) or in some other recorded form (for example, audio or video recording) and describe the original request, explain your dissatisfaction, and provide an address for correspondence. You have 40 working days from receipt of this notice to submit a request for review. We will respond within 20 working days of receipt of your request. 

If you are still dissatisfied after a review you may ask the Scottish Information Commissioner to intervene. You may launch an appeal with the Commissioner online at: www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal. For more information about FOISA please visit: www.itspublicknowledge.info. 

The supply of information through FOISA does not convey any right to distribute, copy, adapt or use material in such a way as to infringe any rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. 

I hope that this response fully satisfies your request, however please don’t hesitate to contact me if you require any further information about the Library. 

My contact details are provided below. 

With kind regards,  

NLS

Information and Records Specialist