On the 20th of September a group of library staff from Arlesey, Guernsey, Harrow, Havering, Oxfordshire, Waltham Forest, and Windsor & Maidenhead came together at the Free Word Centre in London for a day of training on Chatterbooks.

The day was run by The Reading Agency's Programme Managers Tricia Kings and Lynne Taylor. During the sessions the librarians shared their ideas and experiences of running Chatterbooks clubs and looked at planning, recruitment, evaluation and advocacy for groups.

Participants said they gained a lot from the training day including:

Hearing examples of personal experiences for running groups
Finding out about Chatterpacks, and possibilities for author visits
Understanding that Chatterbooks is about flexibility, and that each group is personal
Realising that many different types and styles of groups can be included in Chatterbooks
Generally being inspired to do it!

Get involved

Visit our resources page to find more ideas on how to set up and run a Chatterbook club in your school or library. To find out about our next Chatterbooks training day visit our training page.