Have Your Say for Information for All

Add your tupenny's worth to others, including the famous and the not so famous - to make sure that YOU have a highway to the world!

You can email us, fill in a form, or even put pen to paper at write to us at Information for All, 7 Ridgmont Street, London, WC1 7AE

In the House of Lords on 25th November, Lord Phillips said:

" On the other hand, we were encouraged that the Government is sympathetic to our proposals for networking public libraries and Citizens' Advice Bureaux--though we note that progress towards these two highly desirable goals depends upon the support of the Millennium Fund. I would wish to encourage the Millennium Commission to consider favourably the applications they have received from "Information for All", on behalf of the public libraries programme, and the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux. Implementation of these schemes could go far to minimise the risk of our society being divided between those who benefit from the IT revolution and those who do not."

Taken from the full text of his speach on the Information Society: Science and Technology Committee Report as recorded in Hansard.

The first person to add his
support electronically was Robin Yeates,
a librarian and researcher from London, who says:

" Everyone should have the opportunity to communicate so that meaningful communities can be formed and sustained. The Internet is the fastest growing method of communication offering a vital global reach to allow us to address future global concerns. My work with researchers business information staff and academic librarians cannot be carried out in isolation from the wider community and the best way to begin to involve everyone is through Information for All."

One of the first to send a letter,
dated 15th November 1996,
was Alan Fleet B.Sc., MM, U.S. Con. Med. Hon.,
of Pudsey, Leeds. His letter was addressed
to the Chief Librarin of Leeds, Grace Kempster.

" Dear Grace,

I'm writing to plead with you for an Internet link to be placed into Pudsey Library, as both myself and others would like to be able to take advantage of such a service when we carry out research.

As you know, both my wife Maureen, and I are disabled and find it very difficult to come into Leeds City Centre to use this facility in your Central Reference Library. Even if Pudsey was only an extension of your central system - it would help.

Presonally, I do believe that making Information Technology generally available is a duty of our Library Services - and would bring even more people into local libraries - and thus encourage people to use existing services.

Eagerly awaiting you help and reply.

Kind regards,

Alan Fleet "

Sam Saunders, Education Project Worker, Otley, Yorkshire emailled:

" The great British tradition of public libraries, that has allowed working people and children from all kinds of families to get access to the richest and most up to date literature needs to be transformed. Private access to the Internet by some needs to be offset by public access by all. This will enrich the lives of many people. It will also help to create a more discerning and demanding public to encourage a higher quality provision of Internet material. Small branch libraries such as Otley will be able to bring far more information to their readers than they were ever able to do through books alone. "

Elizabeth Hill of Bury St Edmunds sent the following email on 3rd Jan 1997:

" Why do public libraries exist?

Public libraries exist to enable the richest and the poorest in society to have an equal opportunity at accessing information. This may be for business or leisure; recreation or learning; for personal benefit or wider gain.

The most common forms that information exists in are books and periodicals. With advances in technology, first microfiche then CD-ROM, it became possible to add newspapers and extend the range of periodicals and magazines. Technology has enabled more information to be stored in smaller spaces. Why stop with the CD-ROM?

The Internet allows access to sources of information world-wide. So irrespective whether you lived in the Isle of Skye or in the centre of Manchester, you can examine Vatican manuscripts without you leaving your chair and the manuscript leaving Rome. Should share prices or company performance/history/portfolio be of interest, then the amount of company and market information is growing daily.

Information is changing so rapidly that frequently the printed word is out of date. As a major local source of information we must empower our libraries to deal with the ever changing mass of data, otherwise they will become obsolete. Obsolescence and the death of the library system may secretly suit certain parties, but would mean the enfranchisement of the majority of the population.

Admittedly, the investment required to link every library in the country to the Internet is large. However, compared to the creation of a 2- tier, information-rich and information-poor society, and the potential loss of opportunity for a large section of the population, it is a relatively small price to pay.

We have to decide:-

Do we want to be a nation where equality of access to education and learning are a basic right accorded to all members?
Do we want to look forward and be seen as forward-looking?
Do we want to promote the growth of information accessing skills to meet the demands of the 21st century?

To survive as a thriving as a leading nation the answers to the above questions have to be YES. We cannot achieve these goals by denying the majority of the population free access to the Internet at their local libraries."

Jane Bex, University Researcher, Canterbury emailled:

" Because if the Internet is not made available to all via some free publicly accessible means only the better off will have access. This widens the gap between rich and poor and is bad for everyone. Just look at the take-up of internet services in US public libraries. Many homeless people have found work and, eventually homes by using the Web facilities provided free by their public library. "

Ian McCulloch, Librarian, Lancaster sent the following email:

" Why you think Information for All is important: I have access to the internet via my job, and find it invaluable for work and non-work reasons. I would like to see all people having the same rights of access as I have."

John Hudson, Technical Author, Walsall filled in the form:

The Internet World Wide Web is just too important a social and technological development for the people of Britain to miss out on. Not everyone can afford access from home but by allowing access from Public Libraries anyone will be able to participate. This is not a radical suggestion. There are direct parallels with the role of Public Libraries in the 19th Century when most people could not afford to buy their own books. Keep the UK democratic and informed give all Libraries the Internet access required. There is no more fitting way to celebrate a new millennium

Tony Gill, Technical Manager, London added his support:

"It is essential that everyone has access to the vast and constantly-growing mass of globally-networked electronic information in order to avoid splitting society and creating an underclass of the information-impoverished. Libraries are the natural and obvious community service providers through which this should be accomplished as they themselves are being re-shaped in the light of the global communications revolution."

Michael Emly, Systems Officer, Leeds, W. Yorks. sent his support:

" I have a daughter aged 11 and a son aged 9. They currently have pen-pals in foreign countries but the Internet would provide an ideal medium for them to communicate. I have access to the Web at work but they would benefit from access to enhance their school work and to improve their undertstanding of modern communication technologies by searching for appropriate information and images on the Web. This is the way to prepare them for citizenship in the 21st century.

Julie Maylon, Research Assistant, Sheffield filled in the form:

" If we are to be a united people and if we are to avoid creating a gap between those with and without access to knowledge information for all is important. After all knowledge is power and if one is properly informed of ones rights opportunities and what is going on in the world one will have the chance of a more fulfilling life with the ability to make informed choices and this can only do the health of the nation good. We want a population of thinkers. And also access to knowledge leads to access to what is held in our libraries including special collections of course and these are so important so we can learn from others and from what has gone before. "

© Information for All
For questions or comments, please contact informall@la-hq.org.uk
URL:http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/informall/involve/say.html
Last revised 21-Nov-1997