Director of Opening the Book and Opening the Book Furniture
Rachel is responsible for the strategic direction of Opening the Book and leads all its activities. Rachel founded and shaped the reader development movement which has changed the status of reading in the UK and influenced public libraries especially. She is much in demand as a speaker and has addressed many national and international conferences over the past 10 years. Sometimes challenging as a 'critical friend' to libraries, Rachel is a passionate advocate for public libraries in the wider cultural and educational sector. Rachel has taken reader-centred ideas to European countries from Norway to Hungary and also to Canada and Australia.
Director of Opening the Book Furniture
Helen is responsible for the team at Opening the Book Furniture, where she and Rachel are co-Directors. Helen is the creative lead for new design and product development in display furniture and brings her experience in the book trade to help libraries adapt retail display solutions to the library context. Helen manages BookSpace, our successful range for primary schools, and is always finding inventive ways to support reading and writing activities by making them more fun and enjoyable. The WordSpace range of ideas to take writing out of the classroom and inspire every child to write is the latest addition to the company portfolio.
Olive Fowler
Assistant Director
Working with a range of designers, Olive manages colour schemes, seating, signage and graphics on our library installations.
Anne Downes
Training Director
Anne is responsible for many of our innovative training courses including the Frontline course and the interActive course.
Jane Jackson
Marketing Manager
Jane takes responsibility for marketing campaigns, including photoshoots, brochures and email newsletters.
Chris White
Operations Manager
Chris manages stock levels, ordering, delivery and invoicing, liaising with our manufacturer as well as with customers.
Carol Cooper
Business Manager
Carol manages financial planning, budgeting, purchase and the contractual side of our library installations.
Tristan Campbell
Webmaster
Tristan designs, builds and manages all our websites including online training sites for 10,000 staff and the popular Whichbook.
Michelle Mills
Library Designer
Michelle designs space layouts and 3D visualisations for individual school library design projects using our BookSpace range.
David Taylor
Warehouse & Distribution Manager
Dave is responsible for logistical operations at our warehouse as well as assembling BookSpace projects on site.
Simon Brind
Project Manager
Simon co-ordinates pre-production planning, materials procurement and manufacture through to on-site fit-out.
Fiona Edwards
Reader Development Co-ordinator
Fiona delivers reader-centred training both online and offline and is also online editor for whichbook.net.
Melvin Cieciora
Warehouse Assistant / Driver
Mel is on the road most days delivering furniture to our customers or assembling BookSpace installations.
Simon Cooper
Computer Consultant
Simon manages our technical systems and databases.
Richard Van Riel
Layout Designer
Richard works on layouts and space planning for our installations.
Jan Wigfield
Web Support
Jan inputs content into our websites and databases.
Terry Campbell
Web Support
As well as inputting content, Terry is responsible for web testing.