VISITORS to Henley library have been given easier access to the internet thanks to the installation of wi-fi.
The move was made possible thanks to an £86,000 grant from Arts Council England that enabled Oxfordshire County Council to install wi-fi in the 28 libraries in the county that didn’t already have it.
Henley MP John Howell welcomed the addition when he visited the library in King’s Road car park on Saturday to mark the fifth National Libraries Day.
He said: “I think libraries have to be well adapted to the needs of the people that use them so having wi-fi is absolutely essential.
“I hope the people that use it will appreciate the effort that has been made in order to provide them with a valuable service.”
The county council is in the process of making multi-million pound cuts across a range of services but Councillor Lorraine Lindsay-Gale, cabinet member for cultural and community services, insisted none of the county’s 43 libraries would be closed.
She said: “They may have to change the way they operate but we’re going to do our very best to see they are still there.
“Today is a celebration of the county’s libraries. Libraries are a very central part of modern life.”
Mr Howell said: “Libraries are very important and I’ve made the position very clear that the way forward for them is to use a large number of volunteers to help run them.
“This is not in itself to save money, it’s to change the attitude towards libraries and to make sure the community accepts that libraries are important and they are prepared to put something in towards running them.”
Simon Lay, the council’s libraries area manager for South Oxfordshire, said: “We’re very lucky that we have got a full network.”
Pictures of Maidenhead MP, Theresa May. To search for a specific photo, please use the reference number printed in the newspaper caption.
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Galleries from Slough and its surrounding villages. To search for a specific photo, please use the reference number printed in the newspaper caption.
Galleries from Marlow and its surrounding villages. To search for a specific photo, please use the reference number printed in the newspaper caption.
Galleries from Windsor and its surrounding villages. To search for a specific photo, please use the reference number printed in the newspaper caption.
Galleries from Maidenhead and its surrounding villages. To search for a specific photo, please use the reference number printed in the newspaper caption.
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