Library workshops

Opening the Book has been offering practical and relevant face-to-face training to library staff since 1991. Our courses for libraries have covered many different subjects in this time. The shared factor is the focus on understanding the needs of readers and exploring with staff ways to rethink jobs and services to make them more reader-centred.

Opening the Book has delivered training programmes which have reached staff in every library service in the UK. We have also designed national reader-centred training programmes, such as the eight-year Branching Out project in England; the Estyn Allan project in Wales and the Reader Development Network in Scotland. We have taken reader-centred training to many other countries – from Iceland to Hungary, Spain to Australia.

One day courses we currently offer:

• Making self-service work
• Reader-friendly customer care
• Engaging readers – a new role for the academic library
• Reader-friendly approaches for 8-14s
• Reader-friendly approaches in school libraries
• Setting up reading groups and book chains