GUARDIAN: …I helped a man recently who looked at the computer as if it were alien and picked up the mouse and pointed it at the screen, as you would do a remote control at the TV. He’d come to the library because it was somewhere he could access the internet for free and get help from staff who reassured him that he wasn’t the first person to do that and he wouldn’t be the last. I told him about the basic computer classes we hold in the library, that they are free and not to worry as everyone would be at the same level as him. That it might even be me running them. Our staffing isn’t what it used to be: I do a whole range of things now…
In what other profession can you be a teacher, care worker, artist, entertainer, HGV driver and coder in one day?
And then there’s the rhyme time sessions we run for babies. They used to be once a week, but now there are five with fewer staff. I’m not sure we really can do more with less, as public services are so often told to do, but we are trying to do what our customers want and we’re finding that parents and careers need free activities. Not only are these sessions important for the language development of babies and toddlers, but they offer so much to parents: they are sociable, non-judgemental activities that can help prevent isolation… (more)
