Summary: ten actions for dementia-friendly libraries

Summary

Ensuring your library is dementia friendly can feel like an enormous task, especially if you are located in a poorly designed building and have limited time and resources. This book therefore concludes by describing ten relatively simple steps that libraries can take to ensure their services and environments cater for the needs of people with dementia and their carers. Exactly how each suggested action is implemented will vary from library to library, depending on its customer base, resources, local partnership possibilities and a range of other factors. Naturally, it is not necessary to do everything at once; in fact, it is better to take small steps and then ask for feedback from customers affected by dementia on ways to improve further.

• 1 Support all library staff to gain a basic understanding of dementia and how they can best support customers, colleagues and other members of the community who may have dementia or are caring for someone with the condition. This includes staff such as caretakers and cleaners who may interact with customers with dementia within their role and are likely to be responsible for tasks such as arranging furniture. (See Chapter 2 for examples of training provision.)

• 2 Explore ways to involve customers living with dementia and their carers in decisions about service development. This could initially be on an informal basis; for example, simply chatting to them about how easily they can find their way around the library, borrow resources, etc. (See Chapter 9 for more suggestions of consultation methods.)

• 3 Find out where there are gaps in provision locally. Making sure information on local services is up to date means that libraries can effectively signpost customers to relevant services and allows library staff to consider where they might be able to help fill gaps, perhaps in partnership with other organisations. (See Chapters 4 and 5 for examples of the types of services and activities libraries might offer.)

• 4 Develop partnerships with a range of organisations to raise awareness of the ways in which the library can offer support for people with dementia and their carers and to explore ways of working collaboratively to improve services. (See Chapter 7 for advice on working in partnership.)

• 5 Consider simple ways in which the library environment can be made more dementia friendly; for example, decluttering entrance areas and noticeboards. (See Chapter 3 for more ideas.)