Editors’ preface

Since December 2006, all public sector organizations in the UK have had a legal duty to promote equality of opportunity for disabled people. Until libraries consider the needs of disabled people throughout their policy and planning for service delivery, as well as in facility provision, such equality will never be achieved. This chapter will focus the minds of anyone involved in service delivery, from senior management to frontline staff.

Introduction

This chapter will discuss bringing literature to all readers – to the whole community. People can be isolated from literature in many ways: physically by not being able to get to where books are; culturally by perceiving books and literature as not being relevant or accessible to them; or by being unable to access the printed word.

Addressing exclusion from literature

Physical and cultural exclusion can be addressed by adjusting the way libraries deliver services, by ensuring that libraries have an inclusive selection policy which is applied and by making sure that staff are trained to deliver services to excluded groups of people. Libraries also need to be particularly proactive and imaginative to make sure that literature reaches people who cannot access the printed word; the barriers to reading can be immense for this group. This chapter begins by examining exclusion from literature in general, and then moves on to the particular difficulties faced by people who are unable to access print. On the way, it will consider ways of addressing the need and will finish with some examples of good practice.

Literature and disability

Disability can both distance people from literature and bring them to it. There are obvious difficulties in accessing libraries and bookshops for people with physical impairments. For example, if walking is a problem, just the positioning of the library may make things difficult, if it is too far from bus stops or parking places. It might be so far away as to put off someone who is not strong, even if they have a wheelchair and the library has ramps.

Most library authorities seek to offset such difficulties by providing mobile services, but even these may not be accessible to the infirm or wheelchair users, depending on the modernity of the equipment.