LIBRARY staff are celebrating receiving an award for making their building more accessible to disabled people.

The Darlington Access for All award was launched to coincide with the European Year of Disabled People.

The honour was presented to the town's Crown Street Library at a ceremony in the Arts Centre on Thursday. Elm Ridge Methodist Church and the Samaritans' premises in Woodland Road were also highly commended.

The Access for All award was set up to recognise organisations that have made extra efforts to ensure that their buildings are fully accessible to everyone.

Gordon Pybus, chairman of Darlington Association on Disability, which helped to organise the initiative, praised the library for its efforts.

He said: "We had to find a place that went above and beyond what was called for in terms of access to everything, from staff to information."

The award was presented by Darlington Mayor Councillor Ron Lewis, who said: "This recognises all the hard work done in the library."

Mr Pybus said he was hoping for the awards to become an annual event.