In the media this week some concern has been expressed regarding the criteria for the post of Scots screivar at the National Library of Scotland. The post was created in the wake of a Creative Scotland policy launched in 2015 and has been held for the past two years by Hamish MacDonald, though the post is now up for renewal. Prominent applicants expressed concern that the criteria had been shifted and surprise that they had not been called for interview. In particular, Stuart Paterson, Poet in Residence at BBC Scotland, had understood from the original advert that a good track record in Scots would be the main criteria, but subsequently an emphasis on use with digital media, not previously mentioned, appeared to have become a guiding factor. Controversially, Paterson accused the NLS and Creative Scotland of saying one thing in public and another in private and that “the hail process reeks.” A spokeswoman for the NLS responded by stating that the quality of applicants had been high and those shortlisted were assessed on their track record. She concluded “we are confident that we have selected the strongest candidate for the role and look forward to announcing them shortly.”