Library access a concern

A Calista great-grandmother said she was “worried to death” during a visit to the Darius Wells Library and Resource Centre last week because of difficult access for the elderly.

Book-lover Gwen Burnett said she had been looking forward to visiting the new facility, which opened last week, but was left worried about falling as she tried to manoeuvre through what she described as a “difficult” car park and entrance.

The 91-year-old, who uses a walker, said disabled parking spaces were too far from the front door and the sloping entranceway made getting into the building a struggle.

“The entrance is quite a long walk from the car, especially up that slope, and I’m worried to death about going there now in case I fall,” she said.

“Everybody else who goes there during the day is a similar age to me and it came as a bit of a shock that they had designed the entrance that way.”

Mrs Burnett said she had visited Kwinana libraries for more than 20 years and libraries were a “Godsend” for elderly people.

“My mother taught me to read when I was five years old and I have loved it ever since. I used to visit the old library once a week and really looked forward to it,” she said.

Mrs Burnett’s daughter, Jill Booth, said she was forced to contact the City’s mobile library service because of her mother’s fear of visiting the library.

“The new library itself is beautiful and the mobile library is an excellent service, but mum likes to walk around and choose her own books,” she said.

“I don’t think the designer gave enough thought to the elderly who visit.”

Kwinana Mayor Carol Adams said that the library had been built to meet all disability access standards under the National Construction Code.

“Given the roadworks occurring in the area, it is possible the two disabled car parking bays on Peel Row, which are as close to the library as possible, may be harder to locate than usual,” she said.