BBC podcast Front Row<\/a> the initial decision to exclude the book was because it “detailed violence, aggression and anger online or in real life,” which did not fit with the remit of the exhibition.<\/p>\nShe also said she feared that the highly-charged and polarised debate around the issue of gender meant there was a risk of violence to both the authors and staff at the library who had raised concerns.<\/p>\n
“It has not been an easy time but it has been a journey of learning and it has widened the discussion and been a reminder of how many people value libraries,” she said.<\/p>\n
“This is a difficult and divisive topic. It’s bigger than us. We have apologised and made amends. We – and libraries generally – have so much work to do, we just want to get on with it.”<\/p>\n
What were the staff concerns?<\/p>\n
Ms Hunter Blackburn said: “We are still considering our response to the very concerning account in this report of events within the National Library, that led to the last-minute decision to exclude our book from the exhibition.”<\/p>\n
All books nominated underwent screening by staff in order to remove any titles that were “unsuited” to a family-friendly exhibition.<\/p>\n
The Women Who Wouldn’t Wheesht was one of 200 books selected by staff from more than 500 nominations.<\/p>\n
Staff told the investigation the book was chosen “because it added to the diversity of views represented,” with the exhibition also including texts “with trans perspectives and narratives”.<\/p>\n
However, in May 2025, members of the LGBT staff network raised concerns that including it would be seen as an endorsement of its views, which they described as “discriminatory and exclusionary”.<\/p>\n
The review noted members of the staff network intended to “go public” if the book was included and inform the library’s partners.<\/p>\n
They said they would also feel uncomfortable representing the library at planned Pride events.<\/p>\n
The advocate’s review found the tone of those claims “threatening and inappropriate”.<\/p>\n
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![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/b6e3bb90-aa7c-11f0-aa13-0b0479f6f42a.jpg.webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n
The Women Who Wouldn’t Wheesht features a selection of essays on gender critical campaigning in Scotland<\/p>\n
Ms Shah accepted their complaints, but the review found she failed to “consult anyone with demonstrable experience or expertise in equalities issues”.<\/p>\n
The book was restored to the exhibition on 5 September after a meeting between Ms Shah, Ms Dalgety, Ms Hunter Blackburn and the library’s chairman, Sir Drummond Bone.<\/p>\n
The library apologised to the editors for “not consulting them in the decision making”.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the National Library of Scotland said: “The Library’s collections span centuries, and we can use these to explore some of the most pressing issues of our time.<\/p>\n
“We aspire to bring people together and encourage respectful and constructive conversation.<\/p>\n
“We will always be inclusive, and we will always welcome everyone to the library.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Images The Women Who Wouldn’t Wheesht is a collection of essays about campaigning in Scotland The decision…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[359,18,117,19,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-127649","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Getty](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2d23be40-aa78-11f0-9c75-5fce1bce10a4.jpg.webp.webp\")
Getty Images<\/p>\n