Woman recognised for improving library accessibility

Jackie Burgess was named first runner up in the Vision and Print Impaired People’s category at the Libraries Connected awards

A Guernsey librarian who was shortlisted for a national award has said she was "absolutely thrilled".

Jackie Burgess, the community and wellbeing lead at Guille-Alles Library in Guernsey, was named first runner up in the Vision and Print Impaired People’s category at the Libraries Connected awards.

The awards, which cover public library services across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Crown Dependencies, aim to celebrate librarians and the support they provide for their communities.

Mrs Burgess has been recognised for spearheading the library’s Stories on USB service, which provides blind and visually impaired islanders with free audiobooks.

'Lovely feeling'

The books are chosen by Mrs Burgess based on peoples’ individual tastes and played on specially-designed USB players, provided by the Guernsey Blind Association.

The service currently has 27 active users, who between them listen to about 150 audiobooks each month.

Mrs Burgess said: “I was absolutely thrilled to be nominated, and then to find out I’ve been shortlisted, it’s a really lovely feeling.

“A lot of people in the UK are not aware of Guernsey and our library, so for the Guille-Alles Library to be known across the UK is fantastic, and to be recognised for all the work everybody here does is really good.”