Ten Years of Library Carpentry
November 2025 marks the tenth anniversary of the very first Library Carpentry workshop at the Centre for Information Science, City University London. Past and present contributors to the lesson program got together last week to celebrate the milestone, share their memories, and express their gratitude for the many successes of the project over the last decade.
Organised by the Library Carpentry Governance Committee, the event featured perspectives from some of the influential figures in the history of the project, including:
- Dr James Baker, organiser and co-Instructor of the inaugural Library Carpentry workshop
- Ann James and Phil Reed, representing the authors of the chapter, Spicy Data Skills Open Science Program with Library Carpentry, published recently in the Open Science Cookbook.
- Chris Erdmann, former Community & Development Director of Library Carpentry
- Tim Dennis and Cody Hennesy, current members of the Library Carpentry Governance Committee.
This was a joyful and insightful celebration of a fantastic collaborative effort that continues to have a huge impact on the work of librarians around the world. The session featured many expressions of gratitude to the members of the Library Carpentry community who have made pivotal contributions to the curriculum and community of the project. We were delighted to see so many of those community members on the call, and missed the great many more who were not present.
To everyone who has participated in Library Carpentry over the last ten years, whether by hosting, teaching, helping or learning at a workshop, developing or maintaining curriculum, joining a sprint event or community call, participating in the governance of the project, or promoting Library Carpentry in your community: thank you! Library Carpentry thrives because of your contributions.
Here’s to the next ten years!
Get Involved with Library Carpentry
If you are interested in finding out more about the Library Carpentry curriculum please visit the Lesson pages, where we host a number of core lessons, as well as an extended curriculum. Many of the lessons within the extended curriculum are currently in development and The Library Carpentry Governance Committee are looking for Instructors to teach lessons and provide feedback. If you are interested in teaching any of these lessons please do get in touch and we will support you in any way we can.