Rachel Van Riel - Director
Rachel is responsible for the strategic direction of the company 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.
Rachel taught in university and adult education before moving into arts development. In the 1980s she got a job in community arts with Sheffield City Council which was based (unusually) in the library service and discovered libraries were the ideal place for the kind of audience development work she wanted to do. With Chris Meade, (now with the Institute for the Future of the Book) she set up an innovatory programme of arts activities including the first reader-centred events in the UK. She founded Opening the Book in 1991 and hasn't stopped for breath since.
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Olive Fowler - Assistant Director
Olive has worked for Opening the Book for nearly 13 years and became Assistant Director in 2004. Olive is responsible for the management of our websites and also plays a significant role in developing new ideas for our reading promotions programme. She is responsible for pulling together colour schemes in our library interiors projects and manages the design and production of the signage packages.
Before joining the company, Olive worked for the largest independent press in Yorkshire, managing its publishing and writer development programmes as well as being the fundraiser, marketing manager and a key member of the management team.
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Anne Downes - Training Director
Anne Downes is responsible for many of our innovative training programmes. Anne joined the staff of Opening the Book in 2000 and is based in the south of England. Her principal work since 2004 has been developing and running the Frontline course in the UK and Ireland.
Previously she was the Literature Officer for Arts Council South East and, before that, for Arts Council North West. She spent two years as a Literature Development Officer for Lancashire Libraries. Her other work experience includes running a literature festival, managing a youth charity, training counselling staff and working for a publisher.
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Carol Cooper - Business Manager
Carol joined Opening the Book in 1997 and took on the new full-time post of Business Manager in 2005. Carol is responsible for all accounts and budgets and plays a key role in financial and business planning for the company.
Carol has worked in public sector finance for 20 years. For the last 15 years, before going full-time with Opening the Book, she worked with West Yorkshire Police, where she was responsible for personnel, research and strategic planning for her department as well as finance. She is also Company Secretary for MESL, jointly run with her husband.
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Tristan Campbell - Web Applications Programmer
Tristan develops and maintains websites for Opening the Book. He is responsible for the innovative coding and design for the Frontline course as well as for the whichbook sites in the UK and Norway. He has connected whichbook to all the online public access catalogues in both countries. He has also connected into all local authority systems in the UK so that online functions and automatically generated emails which are crucial to the Frontline course can be accessed and used by all subscribers.
Outside of work Tristan is a passionate landscape photographer who likes to spend as much time as possible in the outdoors.
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Fiona Edwards - Reader Development Co-ordinator
Fiona has worked for Opening the Book for eight years initially as an associate trainer and writer on the A Touch Of ... project and in the last five years as Reader Development Co-ordinator.
As well as delivering workshops in reader-friendly customer care, developing display skills and working with 8-14s and other training days in the UK and Europe, she is also supervises trainee co-ordinators on Frontline - Opening the Book's online training course. Fiona is online editor for whichbook.net, liaising with whichbook readers and managing the selection and input of titles for whichbook.
Over the last 10 years Fiona has been the reader-in-residence in both Pontefract and Castleford libraries, working with reading groups and organising reading events. She still plays an active role in one group which meets monthly at Pontefract Library.
In a former life, Fiona was a teacher of English and drama before moving into the world of educational publishing as a desk editor.
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Simon Brind - Project Manager
I guess I am the newest member of the team and I’m really enjoying it. I have 5 years experience of running library projects from design & technical development through to managing sites & installation. I have built up a large client base within local authorities, managing large and small projects. I can name them all if you want me to but that would take too long - Swansea Central is my most recent large project and probably a good reference. My key strengths are understanding the client's needs post-project, building relationships and successfully managing & delivering the end product.
My previous work has been in running very large retail projects for most of the main High Street companies. Originally I come from a manufacturing management background from a variety of industries. I am a fully qualified Rowing & Sports Coach. In my spare time I keep fit and enjoy the peace and tranquillity of being on the river in my sculling boat and I like to go sailing when I can.
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Jan Wigfield - Web Support
Jan Wigfield has worked in many administrative jobs, including Midland Bank and Post Office Counters. After a varied and interesting career with the Post Office, a move to Planning convinced her it was time to move on! More recently, Jan worked as a trainer for mature students in computer studies, concentrating on Microsoft Excel, Access and Word.
Jan now shares her week between her hobby, obedience training at a local dog club, and working part-time for Opening the Book managing databses and editing and inputting content into websites.
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Andy Campbell - Web Developer
Andy creates websites, web art and writing.
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Simon Cooper - Computer Consultant
Simon manages all the technical systems for our office. He's also our Excel whizz and was crucial in designing the spreadsheets for the Stock Quality Health Check.
In the rest of his life, Simon is a Director of Matrix Telematics and MESL, companies at the forefront of vehicle management and security technology. Before setting up his own companies, Simon worked as Area Manager with Panasonic for 13 years.
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Richard Van Riel - Company Secretary
Richard is Company Secretary for Opening the Book. He also advises on library layout especially in historic buildings as in the rest of his life he is a museum curator. Richard is especially appreciated in his capacity as resident chef for all staff and guests of the company.
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