“This survey was conducted during the latter part of 2001 and the start of 2002, as part of the developmental work for the DCMS/Wolfson project, “Words without Frontiers”.
A survey form was sent to every public library authority in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales – 108 (52%) were returned.
Some authorities wished to remain anonymous, and their responses are quoted as “English authority 1” etc. Where possible, the actual words used in the replies have been used in our summary.
From the results, it is clear that some public libraries are providing excellent levels of service (although none felt that they were really on top of this area of work), some are beginning to find out what was needed in their communities, and some are barely providing a service at all.” [p3]
Julie Ryder and John Vincent. Public Library services for refugees and asylum-seekers: the results of the “Words without Frontiers” survey. The Network, 2002.