Brent Home Library Services Up

During the debate about Brent's Library Transformation, one of the major concerns many people had was access for disabled people, although these feelings are not universal.  In all the Labour Party debates I take part in about how to respond to the Lib Dem/Tory cuts, it was generally agreed that protecting the most vulnerable is a key priority.

Of course, this doesn't get you much credit politically.  None of the housebound users of this service will be marching to the Town Hall in protest, because they are not capable of marching anywhere.  It is also true that the cost per user is probably higher than for library users in general.  However, I think that a civilised society distributes resources according to need rather than according to whoever can shout the loudest.

It is also worth mentioning that providing services to the disabled involves more than just the Home Library service.  It includes making sure all our libraries are properly disabled accessible, that at least some of the PCs have disability software and that there is a reasonable range of titles that people can access.  The improvement of the online offer is also important.

However, for people who are so severely disabled that they are housebound, the home library service is a vital link.  It also is an example of Brent using volunteers (which people complain we are against) as it involves volunteers driving round and bringing the books to people who cannot travel to the library themselves.  You can get an idea of the scope of the service via this link (including a short video).

That shows an increase of 401% since we decided to go ahead with the transformation in 2011.