Storm ID wins BIMA Award for National Library of Scotland
From centuries old manuscripts to more recent digital collections, the National Library of Scotland (NLS) is home to Scotland’s memory, housing more than 60 million print and digital items that capture the nation’s stories, ideas and discoveries.
Bringing that depth of heritage to life online has been a shared ambition for the Library and Storm ID over the last couple of years and we’re delighted that this work has now been recognised on a UK stage.
Storm ID has been awarded Bronze in the Digital Product Development category at the BIMA Awards 2025 for “Transforming the National Library of Scotland’s online presence”.
The win was announced at the BIMA Awards 2025 ceremony at Bloomsbury Ballroom in London on 20 November, a night that also marked 40 years of BIMA celebrating the very best in UK digital and tech. We were in the room to collect the award, joining peers and judges for an evening of celebration and conversation.
Recognition from the UK’s longest-standing digital and tech awards
The BIMA Awards are widely recognised as the UK’s longest-standing and most prestigious digital and tech awards, setting a standard for work that blends creativity, technology and innovation to deliver real impact across business, culture and society.
2025 marks 40 years of BIMA, with this year’s programme organised around three pillars of British ingenuity: Campaign, Product and Sectors & Special Categories. The Digital Product Development category, where the NLS project was recognised, focuses on products that combine robust engineering with thoughtful experience design to deliver meaningful transformation.
To see the National Library of Scotland alongside some of the most innovative digital products in the UK is a powerful endorsement of the Library’s ambition to use digital not just as a channel, but as a core part of how it serves readers, researchers and communities.
A landmark project in the Library’s centenary year
In July 2024, the National Library of Scotland appointed Storm ID as digital partner to deliver a full transformation of nls.uk. The existing site no longer reflected the scale of the Library’s services or the needs of its increasingly diverse audiences.
The brief was clear:
- Align with the Library’s strategic goals to improve access, engage new audiences and support learning, research and discovery.
- Create a more welcoming, intuitive experience for people who might never have used a national library before, without compromising on tools for expert researchers.
- Streamline and modernise the digital platform, providing a robust foundation for the Library’s next decade of digital services.
Crucially, the launch of the new website would coincide with the Library’s centenary in 2025, making this digital transformation a key part of its 100-year celebrations.
A future-ready platform for Scotland’s national collections
Behind the scenes, the BIMA-recognised work reflects a significant technology and design shift for the Library.
A new design system
We created a new front-end and componentised design system, grounded in the Library’s refreshed centenary brand. This shared library of patterns and components, managed in Storybook, gives NLS a single source of truth for digital design, simplifying future development and keeping the experience consistent across channels.
A new Umbraco CMS and scalable architecture
The team implemented a new Umbraco CMS, providing a flexible, modular publishing environment that’s easier to maintain and extend. Combined with the design system, this gives NLS more control over how they present stories, resources and services without sacrificing performance or accessibility.
Together, these changes support the Library’s role as a legal deposit library and national research hub, making it simpler for people to discover everything from medieval manuscripts to contemporary websites and moving image archives.
A collaborative effort
This BIMA Award is a testament to the close partnership between the National Library of Scotland and Storm ID.
On the night, Linsey Lydon and Mike Cashin accepted the award on behalf of the wider project team from both organisations – designers, researchers, developers, content specialists and librarians who have worked together to make the National Library’s digital front door more open, inclusive and future-friendly.
Looking ahead
Winning a BIMA Award is an exciting moment for everyone involved in the project – but, like the Library itself, we’re thinking long-term.
There will be more to come in the future, building out new features and refining user journeys based on real-world feedback and data. The goal remains the same: to make it easier for more people, in Scotland and around the world, to connect with the stories, knowledge and creativity that the National Library of Scotland looks after on behalf of the nation.
If you’d like to explore the new experience for yourself, you can visit nls.uk