A FORMER university lecturer's efforts to improve access to information for people with sight problems have been recognised in the New Year Honours list.

Dr Gillian Burrington, of Green Walk, Bowdon, was awarded an OBE for services to Librarianship and Information Provision, especially for Visually Impaired People.

She was a senior lecturer in Librarianship at Manchester Metropolitan University until 1991, despite being blind since 1987.

Dr Burrington, who is married with two daughters, has a PhD in Sociology from the University of Manchester. Since 1991 she has run her own management training organisation, Burrington Partnership. It branched out into publishing last year.

She was elected president of The Library Association for 1994, and she now chairs the Access for Disabled People to Arts Premises Today (ADAPT) Trust.

Since 1994 she has represented The Library Association on Share the Vision, a partnership of libraries and other information providers that aims to improve access for people with severe sight problems.

Dr Burrington became a trustee of the Stockport-based National Library for the Blind in 1996. She says: "I have always believed that without access to literature and information most of us would lead poorer lives.

"I feel that visually impaired and other disabled people should have the same access to literature and information as everyone else.

"I am delighted that there have been so many improvements in the past five years but there's still a long way to go."

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