To reach everyone – characteristics of the activity of specialized library points of WBP-Książnica Kopernikańska in Toruń

Abstract

The common right to use public libraries and their services applies special efforts to increase access to resources also about special needs groups, which include: people living in places that are far away, people who do not leave their homes, and people with institutionally restricted freedom of movement (in hospitals and prisons). The author writes about the efforts of WBP-Książnica Kopernikańska in Toruń to provide access to services of a cultural, educational, and scientific nature to all groups of people.
The specificity of the external activity in Poland of the network of library points in psychiatric institutions, nursing homes, and occupational therapy workshops, whose recipients do not have access to the library of their own, is detailed.
The article is an attempt to analyze activities that grant access to library services to various groups of people. The next problem undertaken in the article is an attempt to answer the question: are libraries prepared, and do they have the ability to help the disabled and other people who, for various reasons, cannot access the services?