Year 7 Woodham Academy students visited the Palace Green Library in Durham to take part in two workshops organised by Durham4schools.
The first session ‘What is a book?’ challenged students to determine what makes a book a book before considering what books and manuscripts can tell us.
The students had the opportunity to handle books from the Library’s archive, some of which were hundreds of years old, and to follow a trail of clues to teach them how to use the reference system.
The afternoon session focussed on World War 1 and students used primary sources material to examine what life was really like on the Western Front.
The students studied documents and artefacts from the trenches and tried on clothing and equipment that would have been used by the soldiers.
“They were all fully engaged in the activities all day and asked lots of questions of the archivist and librarian that look after the collection,” said a school statement.