Barnsley Libraries are already wholly committed to reducing the digital divide and actively support the Council’s Making IT Personal initiative – to pursue a comprehensive programme of activity to promote digital inclusion in Barnsley. By joining with UK Online Centres and other partners in a campaign, under the title Totally Online Barnsley, they aim to become the first place in Britain to be 100% online.
Totally Online Barnsley has focused attention on the opportunities presented by working in partnership. The campaign sits within a wider South Yorkshire programme for digital inclusion called Making IT Personal.
Many services are increasingly moving towards online provision. People without computers and internet access are at a disadvantage and therefore unable to make the same choices, or have the same opportunities, as those with this access. Race Online 2012 is a recent government initiative which aims to overcome these barriers to digital participation - libraries potentially have a big part to play.
All libraries across the Borough have been part of the UK Online Centres network and took part in the campaigns to promote online access and associated educational opportunities.
Kathryn Green, Chief Libraries Officer for Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council said, “Barnsley Library Service welcomes the Race Online 2012 Libraries Promise and the opportunity to link in to the great ideas for encouraging people to get online. As an existing partner with UK Online, the service offers free access to My Guide and the wide range of UK Online introductory courses. Barnsley Libraries were honoured to help launch the 2009 Get Online Day and to welcome UK Digital Champion, Martha Lane Fox to Royston Lifelong Learning Centre and the Central Library. Barnsley MBC is also a partner in Race Online 2012.”
As part of the wider Making IT Personal programme the Barnsley Library service has consulted and worked with BMBC, TOBy (Totally Online Barnsley project) and JobCentrePlus to target the whole community delivering one clear message. The service looked to the experience of the Community Learning and Information Service in setting up classes to deliver Online Sessions and worked with them to deliver Online Basics, UK Online sessions and Microsoft Training Project. UK Online Centres provided the structured course, TOBy provided the focus, BMBC’s Community Learning and Information Service provided the experience and Central Library provided the staff, central location and equipment.
Everyone is working together to deliver a clear target to get the community online. Barnsley Libraries are ideally located within the community to provide easy access to these classes and free internet access with support to practice activities introduced in the classes.
The council is right behind them. Councillor Roy Miller, Cabinet Member for Customer & Neighbourhood Services said, “The Library Service offers free internet access in all our service points and the staff have been both supportive and very proactive in contributing to Barnsley’s aspirations to help everyone in the borough get online by 2012. We look forward to fully playing our part in Race Online 2012.”
The Library Service held a digital reunion in May to encourage past learners to come back and feedback what they had been doing since they had attended their sessions. This reunion was held on Silver Surfer’s Day at the end of Adult Learners Week to encourage anyone interested in acquiring new skills to come and speak to those who had already taken part in the courses.
As Kathryn said, “Our recent Silver Surfers Event, a ‘Digital Reunion’, for all the people who’ve attended a UK Online course at the Central Library, presented our learners with an opportunity to celebrate their success.
Volunteers have been an integral part of the online training sessions and will continue to be so in the future.
For more information on this case study, see the MLA research website.