Sorry, I can’t return library book about St Kilda. I’m on St Kilda
As excuses for the late return of a library book go, Clare Henderson’s was one of the best.
When the archaeologist was contacted about her overdue book – The Buildings of St Kilda – she apologetically explained she couldn’t return it because she was repairing the buildings of St Kilda, 112 miles from the mainland.
Henderson, 41, borrowed the book from the AK Bell library in Perth when she was applying for the St Kilda job, and after she got the post, asked if she could have it for a bit longer.
But lockdown then caused her trip to be postponed, and libraries to shut. They were still closed in April when she embarked upon her delayed posting – so she had no way of renewing the loan.
She said: “I kept thinking I don’t know what to do with the book, I still want to take it with me. You can renew them twice, but it’s obviously only for a month at a time. The library then reopened and I started getting emails saying we will be asking people to return library books, so I emailed them with what might have been a strange reason to say why I couldn’t return it – and can I return it in October?”
Culture Perth and Kinross Libraries have accepted why the book will be nearly 17 months late by the time it is returned.
St Kilda, Scotland’s only double Unesco World Heritage Site, is more than 40 miles from the Western Isles and was abandoned by its last 36 islanders in 1930.
Today the main island of Hirta is only occupied for a few months of the year by National Trust for Scotland staff and volunteers. Ministry of Defence contractors also spend periods of time on St Kilda operating a rocket testing radar.
Henderson is working there with National Trust for Scotland ranger Sue Loughran and seabird and marine ranger Craig Nisbet.
Her job is to inspect the 1,200 cleits – stone storage huts unique to the islands, which were originally used for everything from preserving sea birds to eat in winter to drying turf for fuel – and other buildings on the islands, to ensure they are maintained in the state they were left in when the island was evacuated.
Henderson said: “It’s a varied programme of repairs ranging from ones you might have at home like plumbing issues, to collapsed dry-stone cleits.”
The work is then carried out either by specialist contractors for the more challenging work, or by volunteer working parties. The borrowed book has been invaluable as it is a detailed study of the buildings on the islands as they were around 40 years ago.
At the moment there are between 25 and 30 people working on the islands, but the number does vary.
Henderson has found the islands a captivating place to live and work.
She said: “It’s literally a place like no other. We have an office, it is set up with wifi, so you can have days where you are sitting at the computer, but then – however wild the weather – you get up in the evening and go for a walk out somewhere, walk out up to the Mistress Stone and you are just looking out across miles of wild Atlantic.
“There’s no better way to blow away the cobwebs. It’s so changeable. It’s a small island but its presence is huge. There are towering cliffs, the coastline, all the ins and outs and caves. You can wander for hours.”
In recent years St Kilda has become a bucket list destination for the more adventurous traveller.
To ensure rats and other predators are kept off the islands, all visitors must come ashore by tender or dinghy.
This helps protect the internationally important seabird colonies and the indigenous St Kilda mouse as well as the ancient and isolated Soay sheep population. Culture Perth and
Kinross said: “We were delighted to hear from Clare and sympathetic to her predicament about returning a library book whilst on St Kilda.
“We were very willing to help her out and extend the loan until a time she would be off the island and able to visit her local library.
“Whilst on the island, Clare was able to stamp the book with a St Kilda stamp from the National Trust for Scotland. It’s great to see the library service being of such value to our customers.”