Most will agree those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, but can librarians of all people be forgiven for spelling errors?

The people of Kirkcaldy, eastern Scotland, have decided not – and the sheer audacity of the gaffe inflicted on them this week makes it easy to sympathise.

A new banner put up for the library at the town’s treasured cultural centre, the Kirkcaldy Galleries, instead directs people to a ‘libary’.

And yes, the sign is several feet high and written in block capital letters.

Given the Scottish penchant for sharply pronounced Rs, it’s difficult to imagine how the error could have been produced by a phonetic speller – let alone missed by whoever unpacked the sign and put it up.

It was quickly taken down, but not soon enough to avoid turning the centre into a ‘laughing stock’, in the words of Kirkcaldy’s MSP, David Torrance.

He told The Courier: ‘This is a library and they’re trying to attract people to make them more literate. Yet they can’t even spell library! You couldn’t make it up.

‘They want us to come and let our kids take out books to help them with their reading and writing.

‘You’d think somebody would have proof read it before it went up.’

A spokesperson for Fife Cultural Trust, which runs the area’s libraries on behalf of Fife Council, said: ‘The spelling mistake was spotted almost immediately after the banner was installed last week and a replacement ordered.

‘This was a genuine human error and unfortunate to be in such a visible location.’

The replacement banner will reportedly cost £200.

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