 |
 |
Not only should a library be accessible for people with disabilities or little means, a library should be accessible so it is used. I cannot place enough emphasis on this. If a library is not accessible, people with any other alternative will choose the alternative, and that starves the library of users, and of course, of the all-important usage figures, and the service will starve. Also, 5 miles is a really long distance between branches in a city. Using that formula, the Mitchell would be the only library remaining in Glasgow, and I would not exactly call it accessible. Cristina On Feb 8, 2011, at 16:03, David Kenvyn <[log in to unmask] > wrote: > I think that we need to step back a bit (especially from personal > abuse) > and think what libraries are about. > > Libraries are a storehouse of knowledge organised for use by their > communities, which can be academic, geographical, professional, > based on > age etc. > > In order to be used by their community, they should be accessible. > This > means that people should be physically able to get to a library. > They > should be free at the point of access. They should be available for > anyone in the community that they serve. They should cater for the > interests of their communities. > > The attack on public libraries means that there will be communities > that > will not have access to a library service, because the nearest > branch and > the mobile library service have been abolished. Having a big, > shiny new > library in the city centre does not help if you do not have the > means to > travel to that library. The attack on public libraries means that > people > with limited mobility will not have access to library services > because the > journeys are too difficult. It means that the housebound service > will be > under threat. It means that access to knowledge will be limited. > It > means that access to fiction, stimulating the imagination, will be > limited. > It means that people will not have the means to sustain their reading > skills, or the means to keep their minds active. It means that local > identities are undermined. > > Equally, the attack on academic libraries is an attack on the very > learning > ethos of their institutions. How can people learn without the > means to do > so? How can research be done without access to the sources of > information? > > Libraries are fundamental to a civilised, literate, dynamic > society. We > need to say that the attack on libraries is a disaster for the whole > country, and that the coalition government should seriously think > about how > they can deliver what they say they want to deliver, if libraries are > undermined in the way that we all know is coming. > > I should add that this is my personal view. > > Regards > David Kenvyn, > > > Tel: 0141 777 3143 > Internal: 4429 > Fax: 0141 777 3140 > E-Mail: As above > > > *** > *** > *** > *** > *** > ******************************************************************** > > DISCLAIMER: > This email and any files transmitted with it are intended for the > use of the > individual or entity to whom they are addressed. It may contain > information of a confidential or privileged nature. > > If you have received this email in error please notify the > originator of the > message and destroy the e-mail. > > East Dunbartonshire Council can not be held responsible for viruses, > therefore please scan all attachments. > > The views expressed in this message are those of the sender and do > not necessarily reflect those of East Dunbartonshire Council who > will not > necessarily be bound by its contents. > > *** > *** > *** > *** > *** > ******************************************************************** > East Dunbartonshire Council Web Site http://www.eastdunbarton.gov.uk