PRESS RELEASE

Last Updated: 9 May 2005

Gateway Customer Services Officer

The Society of Chief Librarians, Share the Vision and the Ulverscroft Foundation are pleased to announce the appointment of Jane Burslem to the post of Gateway Customer Services Officer.

The Gateway Project is a joint SCL/STV initiative designed to improve access to library and information services for visually impaired people whether provided by public libraries or voluntary sector agencies such as Calibre, ClearVision, National Library for the Blind and RNIB. The Gateway project will establish a One Stop Help Desk to assist visually impaired people and the library staff who support them to access the full range of services available. It is intended to simplify procedures and to put the customers' interest first.

The Ulverscroft Foundation has endorsed the project by providing £50,000 to fund the appointment of the Customer Services Officer and other related activity costs and will consider funding for a second year subject to satisfactory progress.

Jane Burslem was the Visual Impairment Librarian at Bury Metropolitan Borough Council from 1995 to 2002. This post was jointly funded by Bury MBC and the Bury Blind Society. It was a good example of a fruitful public/voluntary sector partnership at the local level which enabled Jane to develop a range of quality services for local people. Jane subsequently was appointed to the post of Centre Manager for Bury Blind Society.

Jane will be based at the National Library for the Blind and will take up her post on 1st June 2005. She will work closely with Deborah Ryan the Manager of Revealweb: the national database of accessible formats to ensure further improvements in the quality of library services available to the 1.7 million visually impaired people throughout the UK.

Mark Freeman, Chair of the Gateway Joint Working Group, welcomed Jane's appointment by stating "I was delighted by the quality of the applications we received for the Gateway Customer Services Officer post. It was a very strong shortlist but we believe that Jane has the ideal mix of knowledge and experience of working in both the public and voluntary sectors to ensure that the Gateway Project has the best chance of success in achieving our joint mission. We intend to improve the quality of life for visually impaired people wherever they may live and whatever their personal circumstances by working together in the most constructive ways possible". End.

 

Share The Vision is a partnership of the main voluntary sector agencies which produce and lend alternative format reading materials for visually impaired people [Calibre Cassette Library; ClearVision; National Library for the Blind and Royal National Institute of the Blind] and the main United Kingdom organisations representing publicly funded libraries [British Library; Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals; CyMAL; Library and Information Services Council: Northern Ireland; Scottish Library and Information Council; Society of Chief Librarians and Society of College, National and University Libraries].

For more information about Revealweb visit www.revealweb.org.uk