Steve Stratford

Some of the online courses that we offer are self-assessed and many of these are used in large rollouts for staff throughout a library service.  There are many benefits to this approach, particularly when a service aims to train a staff cohort to understand and adopt new ways of working and to be able to support each other into putting new ideas into practice.

It’s not always easy to pick out the Star Learners in these large rollouts - because there are often so many!  However, the managers who look after these trainees do contact us to let us know how the learning is being used.

Recently we heard from Cheryl Hesketh who is Library Development Manager: Reading at Conwy Libraries.  She nominated Steve Stratford as a Star Learner and a good example of how well all her staff were using the courses.

Steve took the Putting Readers First course and demonstrated his passion and commitment. 

He approached the practical application of the ideas in the course in a very positive, reflective way.  His honest and detailed responses to the questionnaires and his determination to put what he discovered into practice in his library really impressed both Cheryl and the Opening the Book team.  Steve was particularly clear that readers held a lot of book knowledge, and that talking and listening to them about their reading helped him to gain more knowledge himself. He was also particularly acute at seeing that libraries needed to implement changes that put the needs of readers first and that the library role is to help readers find not just books they might already know about, but books that might be  new to them.

Steve says:

 “I really enjoyed this course and got an awful lot out of it. It speaks to what you already know from working in libraries day to day but compounds it by making you feel enthused and inspired. I’ve learnt so much about how to view a library space through the eyes of its users rather than its staff, and how to get more out of our book stock. I put a few of the suggestions into practice at Penmaenmawr Library and straight away I saw results, with books going out which would not have seen the light of day otherwise! Thank you again for investing in me, and I hope there will be further opportunities for staff development in the future.

Cheryl says:

“Opening the Book’s self-assessed training has provided our frontline staff across all libraries with the skills, knowledge and inspiration required to showcase and display books effectively to realise the benefit for our readers. Staff have greatly increased confidence in engaging with readers - and can recognise the correlation between reader-friendly displays and higher issues.

Greater staff and reader satisfaction, higher visibility of library stock and a wider reach of our collections are achieved as a result of this training.  When stock budgets are being squeezed, Opening the Book training enables our library staff to maximise the potential of our collections and continue to attract and retain new and established readers within our communities.”