Christmas Shopping Made Easy
Summary
Everybody Online Caithness initiated the delivery of basic IT and internet sessions within the local libraries. The local library service were very keen to pilot the sessions expand their services for the community. The sessions started in Thurso and have been rolled out to Wick, all the sessions have been well received and participants have been enjoying their learning experiences.
Working with the libraries allowed the project officer access to a new range of clients as well as having free access to good quality IT equipment and broadband.
What Happened
Everybody Online Project Officer, Shona Macdonald, got in touch with senior Library assistant, Lynda Hall who was also very keen to introduce basic IT and internet sessions to the library. Silver surfers sessions had been delivered in the past but there had been no follow on courses and Lynda was keen to restart the learning process for the library users.
It was decided to start a 6 week course in the Library, 1 hour a week. The course would be open to all library users and would provide a relaxed, informal learning experience for participants. The first 6 week course went well and since then another 6 week course has begun in Thurso and a 6 week course has started in Wick. All the courses have been well attended and users have been enjoying the Everybody Online experience.
With Christmas coming one of the main requests has been how to shop online safely. The participants have been busy setting up email accounts and learning the do’s and don’t of shopping online. As each week passes the users gain more confidence and Christmas shopping becomes easier! On the whole the courses have gone very well and have been welcomed by the local community and library users. The project officer plans to continue work with the library service in the new year and hopes to deliver many more sessions in the future.
Key Achievements
• Library users have a new service provided for them.
• A new partnership has been created between Everybody Online and The Highland Council Library Service.
• The users now have more confidence and are regularly using the Library IT equipment without any assistance.
• The Everybody Online profile has been heighten amongst local libraries.