Coventry city library services in partnership with Siemens Business Services, has begun work on building a major IT facility in Central Library. The new facility will offer access to a wide range of IT services including Internet, Lifelong Learning, e-mail, word processing, scanning facilities, CD Rom and database management services.

The IT centre is due to open in April this year and will open 59 hours per week with staff on hand who will be able to help and support people with all the latest information technology. The Centre will be significant step in developing a public library service for the 21^st Century and one which will allow all local people and users of the Central Library to benefit from access to the latest developments.

Councillor Gillian Darby, Chair of the Arts and Cultural Policy Team said:

"The IT Centre marks another leap forward in the ability of the public library service to meet the information needs of Coventry people of all ages. It will provide a wide range of services using the latest technologies, and will also meet the government’s vision for the future role of public libraries which they have recently published in the ‘The New Library: the People’s Network’ report."

Councillor Darby continued:

"The project is an exciting partnership with Siemens Business Services designed to bring the latest developments in information technology to users of the City Library Service and demonstrates that once again Coventry leads the way in providing up to date, accessible services tailored to meet the needs of the local community."

The IT Centre will complement and enhance the facilities of the New Willenhall Library opened in Spetember last year and will be able to offer state of the art access to the Internet and other electronic communication services, whilst at the same time supporting the National Grid for Learning Network for schools and for those involved in both formal and informal learning.