Stonehouse Town Council and Library

Accessibility Rating

Physical

Four and a half out of five

Location: 1 Queens Road
Stonehouse
GL10 2NG

Parking and entrance

There are 2 accessible bays at the front of the building with a dropped kerb to gain access to the pavement in the middle of the bays. There is also a private accessible bay at the back of the building via and entrance on the side. There is signage that states this car park is private, however the accessible bay is specifically for visitors.

To gain access to the building there is a ramp along the side as well as steps at the front. The main front door is a large manual door that is propped open when the Town Council and/or Library are open, making access easy.

There is a single automatic door on entry to both buildings, with a push button to access at a lowered height.

The main Town Council area contains 2 desks and an office with an additional desk. There are extra chairs all over the space which is great for individuals with limited mobility. Although the space is limited, it is used well and physical access around doesn’t pose many issues. The lighting is good and the area is well heated. The office is quite restricted as there is a large table in there, however all tables and chairs are moveable if required. Large meetings are held in the library, meaning this space is perfectly fit for purpose.

There is a glass screen between the Library and Town Council, meaning if there is ever somebody who requires help in the other section, they will be noticed immediately.

Library

Main access to the library is at the front door. There is also a door between the Town Council and library, however this is rarely used by the public. The library is a large area with easily moveable shelving, making it a very versatile and adaptable space.

On the left on entry is a large lowered television set with signage below it. Some of this signage may be difficult to read here, however all information is also available online. It can also be printed in a larger format immediately as the library’s printer can upscale size/text.

There is a lowered reception desk which enables wheelchair users and visitors of a smaller stature to communicate with the librarians with ease.

The library has an easily accessible machine that allows visitors to return and check out books without assistance. Visitors are also able to do this at reception should it be preferred.

There are 2 computers for public use with desks at a reasonable height and with plenty of knee recess. The computers have NVDA screen reader software and the use of Microsoft accessibility features. For list of some of the available functions on the computers, please see the end of this report.

Next to a seating area is a touch screen with adjustable height, angle and text size options. This contains the library catalogue, self book computer program and a virtual reference library.

Audio books are available at the right-hand side of the reception desk and are issued the same as books format; for a 3-week loan period with no overdue charges. There is also a free download audio book collection available on the website. Free download magazines are also available with a membership. The text size on these can be easily altered by zooming in.

A huge amount of library resources are currently available from home, the list of what is available plus further information provided to us by the (extremely helpful) librarian is at the end of this review.

There is a slight step at the emergency exit to the library of 3cm high, this is only slightly higher than a standard dropped kerb so should not cause too many issues.

There is an accessible toilet within the library. The toilet is a good size with a doorway of 900mm, making access easy. There are handrails of a contrasting colour to the walls to aid the visually impaired.

Due to the shape of the building the transfer space has a diagonal wall. This narrows the available space for a wheelchair user to transfer. There is a shelf along this wall to aid visitors with a colostomy bag.

The emergency pull cord is behind the toilet and may be difficult to reach. When used, it rings out inside the building and to a security firm. The library/town council is always manned therefore assistance will be offered immediately.

There is a standard bin and a sanitary bin available and the sink is at a lowered height, reachable from the toilet. The handrails are well placed, with a drop-down rail on the right of the toilet, a horizontal rail on the left and a vertical rail on either side of the sink. The floor is non-slip and the lighting is good and does not flicker.

The following resources are currently available from home for Gloucestershire Libraries customers.

Ancestry – family history database that includes census, military and immigration records.  Temporary access from home is currently available to Gloucestershire parish and electoral registers, wills and other probate records, gaol registers and some transportation records.

Newsbank – access to news articles from across the world.  Newsbank is a comprehensive collection of reliable news sources covering a wide array of topics and issues.  It also provides full text and image editions of local, regional, national and international newspapers, magazines, blogs and journals,

Naxos Music Library – a specialist music resource giving access to over two million tracks and a database of music reference information.  Searchable opera, chamber music, concertos, ballet, world, jazz and pop and rock music.  There is also a music dictionary and various articles on music.   Login using your library card number.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography – a searchable database of over 60,000 biographies, 72 million words and 11,000 portraits those who shaped British history from the Romans to the 21st century.

Oxford Reference – access to 25 different subjects, including archaeology, history, literature, music, science and technology, law, religion and medicine and health.  It contains over two million entries from Oxford University’s Dictionaries, Companions and Encyclopaedias.

BFI Screen Online – the definitive online guide to Britain’s film and television history.  Browse different genres of film and television history or search for a particular film, actor or programme.  Also includes timelines of British film and television history, UK film statistics and the encyclopaedia of British film.

John Johnson Collection – an archive of printed ephemera from the Bodleian Library in Oxford offering unique insights into the changing nature of life in Britain in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries.

Accessibility features on the public computers: 

Visual

• Display  Font sizes and brightness options
• or use the mouse to alter font size
• Mouse pointer – Change the size, style and colour of the mouse pointer
• Text cursor – Change the size, style and colour of the cursor
• Magnifier – Set the size and style of magnification
• Colour filters – Add a colour filters to make colours easier to see (particularly useful for different types of colour blindness)
• High contrast – Make text and programs easier to use by using more distinct colours. Colour options can be customised
• Narrator – Alternatively use the NVDA screen reader instead of Windows Narrator

• Audio settings – Change audio settings, and give visual alerts to sounds
• Closed captions – Change closed captions options

Interaction

• Speech Dictate text
• Keyboard – Make it easier to type and use different keyboard shortcuts
• Mouse – Enables use of numeric keypad instead of the mouse

Microsoft Word

• View tab – Immersive Reader – change display and layout options to aid reading Read aloud (part of immersive reader)
• Review tab – Spelling and Grammar, Thesaurus, Read Aloud –  Check Accessibility – how accessible documents are for other users

Microsoft Edge Browser

• Read aloud – Reads the text on the screen
• Immersive reader – A simpler layout with fewer distractions Change layout, text and focus size, plus add colour filters