Colleagues and friends have gathered to mark the retirement of Peter Sandison, Campus Library Manager for the Scottish Borders Campus, who has led our support of the co-located  students and staff of Heriot-Watt University and Borders College since 2007.

Peter’s first contact with Heriot-Watt University occurred when he was a teacher on an English Language Summer School in the 1970s. In 1987 he was appointed Assistant Librarian at the Martindale Library of what was known then as the Scottish College of Textiles (SCOT). In 1996, having been Acting Chief Librarian, Peter converged the college’s Library, Computing and Audio-Visual services together and was appointed Head of Educational Services. The Scottish College of Textiles merged with Heriot-Watt  in 1998, and Peter became Manager of Library Services & Information Systems at the new Scottish Borders Campus. Borders College joined HWU at SBC in 2007, when Peter became Campus Library Manager. Additionally, Peter coordinated Friends International Borders, an informal group of local volunteers offering friendship and hospitality to overseas students at the Scottish Borders Campus.

Peter embraced all of these changes with gusto and consistently applied his considerable energy to enhancing the services he and his colleagues offered students and academics. He has worked enthusiastically with colleagues across Information Services globally, and brought his extensive experience to bear in formal committees and informal groups, always seeking to enhance the range and quality of our services. In 2015 Peter’s work was recognised through the Sprit of Heriot-Watt Award for Pursuing Excellence.

We thank Peter for all his work and friendship over the years and wish him a long and happy retirement.