Those opening books, perhaps, sent dust flying (8)
I believe the answer is:
students
'those opening books' is the definition.
(students might study with books)
'sent dust flying' is the wordplay.
'flying' is an anagram indicator (letters fly around into new positions).
'sent'+'dust'='sentdust'
'sentdust' with letters rearranged gives 'STUDENTS'.
'perhaps' is the link.
(Other definitions for students that I've seen before include "Tests dun? (anag)" , "Pupils or scholars" , "Pupils at school, university etc" , "Teachers teach them" , "School or university attendees" .)