Be Online in action

The Information & Reference Library, Richmond, will once again be participating in Make a Noise in Libraries (MANIL), organised by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). This annual campaign, in the words of the RNIB, “brings public libraries and blind and partially sighted people together in an effort to improve access to books and information”. For our part, we will be focusing on promoting access to services with a series of events highlighting some of the creative and informational opportunities available using ICT.

Our fortnight of events, commencing on Monday 1 June 2015 in our Seminar Room, is free for all members of the community to attend and includes some new topics we have not included in previous years alongside some MANIL favourites, such as Music Online, Radio Online and iPad Apps & Accessibility. Given MANIL’s campaign aims, we try to hold sessions that emphasise the aural, non-visual and visually-adaptable ICT programs and services available and how they can be accessed by blind and partially sighted library users. The full list of events (all of which can be booked online on our website), is as follows:

  • Android apps and accessibility
  • Film online
  • Games
  • Getting creative with applications
  • iPad apps and accessibility
  • Music online
  • Podcasts
  • Radio online
  • Skype
  • Social media
  • Tablet try for yourself
  • TV online

Past experience has led us to split up some of sessions from previous years – notably TV and Radio online – as it proved difficult to adequately cover the broad topics in a single hour-long session. By dedicating more time to each topic, we hope that attendees will be able to get a clearer idea of what is available and how it can be accessed.

We’ll dust off our big speakers (it’s important to use this opportunity to make some noise in a library, after all) and collect some decent examples of music, radio, film, TV, games and apps to inspire our attendees. If you are interested in taking part in the sessions, or know someone who would benefit from them, please book using the link above or contacting the Information & Reference Library. If the dates of MANIL are inconvenient, however, you can also contact us to arrange a one-to-one session with a member of staff.