Authors from across Scotland have shown their support for a campaign to save a north-west Glasgow library.

Irvine Welsh, Ian Rankin and Denzil Meyrick are among the bestselling novelists who have thrown their weight behind a community campaign to halt the closure of the Whiteinch facility.

In April Glasgow Life said the library, and other facilities elsewhere in the city, would not reopen because “the buildings need significant upgrades in order to make them safe and usable places for communities to visit”.

But in a response to a freedom of information request seen by the Post, it admitted that the facility on Victoria Park Drive South was in fact safe before the closure.

It stated: “Whiteinch Library requires a range of upgrade works although it should be noted that the building is safe to use.”

Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh simply tweeted “Save Whiteinch Library” to his 360,000 followers while Ian Rankin retweeted a message from the campaign to his 181,000 followers.

Denzil Meyrick, the author of the best-selling DCI Daley crime thriller series, added: “Our libraries are so much more than shelves of books. They are community hubs, connecting many who can’t afford or operate IT with the world. They play vital parts in so many lives.”

Protests have taken place outside the library each Saturday and currently the railings are covered with protest posters from members of the community.

A spokesman for Glasgow Life said: “While the building could be made safe to use in the short term, it falls substantially short of the condition of a modern library and will require to be upgraded in order to have a long term future.

“The £100 million allocated to Glasgow Life this year is being fully used on reopening more than 90 venues across the city.”