Wandsworth Libraries: Multicultural Library and Information Service

Title: Wandsworth Libraries: Multicultural Library and Information Service

Description: The collection was established in 1977 to provide a library service and to promote cultural activities for the minority communities in Wandsworth. The Asian section is housed in Tooting library and the African Caribbean section is housed in Battersea library.
All Wandsworth libraries have a range of material reflecting the cultural diversity of the borough, including books for children in community languages. The Multicultural Library and Information Service focuses on the library and information needs of the African Caribbean and Asian communities. It also has dual language books for children in many different languages including African, Arabic, Chinese, European, and Indic languages. Books are available for adults and children in Bengali, Chinese, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil and Urdu. The staff offer advice, visits, training sessions and access to a wide range of multi-cultural materials including videos, CDs cassettes, newspapers and periodicals.
In total the Multicultural Library and Information Service holds over 9000 books, 500 video recordings and 800 sound recordings featuring information about the history and cultural heritage of African Caribbean and Asian peoples. Information on the following subjects, topics and themes features prominently in the collections at both Tooting and Battersea libraries: art and design; cultural studies; education; the history of minority communities in Britain; literature; music; politics and race relations; religious studies; sociology; women's studies.

Strengths: Resources on politics, culture and art.

Size: Over 9000 books on the history and cultural heritage of minority peoples in Britain.

Catalogue: WebPac

Catalogue URL: http://193.129.6.171/wandsworth.html

Main URL: http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/libraries

Access: Open access. For full details about individual libraries please see the web page http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/libraries/libservices.htm.

Acquisition dates: 1977 - present, with c.50% of resources acquired after 1996.

Note:

Interest: Asian, Black

Complete: Complete

Subjects

Multiculturalism

Ethnic groups

Cultural groups

Communities

Personal/Corporate names

Places