Accessibility to public libraries: diversity and social inclusion

This article addresses the different aspects that need to be taken into account to guarantee access to both existing and new libraries.
Public libraries must ensure that all citizens can access and use them in equal conditions and totally independently. To secure this right of access to information and cultural content, our facilities must embrace the necessary design parameters - in services, the design of the activities carried out, the attention provided to the public, the dissemination of informative documents, the collection, etc.
The administrations and cultural managers absolutely must increase the resources needed to make libraries an all-inclusive space that can cater to the demands of modern society. Accessibility must be seen as a basic right, not only as merely paying lip service to legislative requirements.
In 2016, the Government of Catalonia’s Libraries Service, with the cooperation of professionals, institutions and organisations that represent groups of people with disabilities, promoted the inclusive Libraries project. The production of practical recommendations on accessibility for all libraries is one of its most relevant objectives. Nevertheless, it should be emphasized that there are already numerous case studies of libraries that address accessibility from different fields.