Coventry central library has opened a new information technology centre in an attempt to allow a wider range of people access to the Internet.

The facility named "access@central" consists of eight networked machines that can be used for Internet access as well as word processing, desktop publishing, colour printing and scanning.

Opening the IT room in her first official engagement, new Lord Mayor Joan Wright stressed that the centre had been developed for young and old alike.

She said:

"It is vital that we get people from the older generations into the area and that they get chance to see what is available on the Internet.

"People around my age have a lot of knowledge to pass on as well, and if they are not using the Internet then everyone is missing out."

This was a view echoed by Richard Munro head of cultural services who believes that the facility shows the library is moving with the times.

He said:

"I think this is just another sign of the libraries in this city improving, and the aim must be to install facilities like this in all of our sites across Coventry.

"It would be stereotypical to suggest that all young people take to computers like a duck to water, and all older people struggle and are scared of them but that is often the case.

"What we want to do is encourage everybody to come and use the facilities, and we will be running various training courses on different packages and doing everything we can to actively promote the facility to the older generations."

The access@central facility will be manned by three specialist staff who have been recruited for the project, and they will also be training the other library staff to deal with queries and requests.