W@W Topic of the Month

July 2009

Towards a National Women’s Library of Scotland

The Glasgow Women’s Library (GWL) was founded in 1991, emerging from a women’s arts-orientated project, Women in Profile, held as part of the programming of the Glasgow, European City of Culture year (1990). From small beginnings it has grown massively, continually outgrowing premises. The collection of course has many books relating to women in it, but also a wide range of other materials including archive documents, newsletters, badges, recordings, art work, and T-shirts.

Lifelong learning has been at the heart of the library’s work, with a wide range of innovative and unusual programmes run throughout the years, many targeted at marginalised groups. These include running women’s history walking tours in Glasgow, campaigns to get women to use their vote, making model houses to reflect multi-cultural origins, and many more.

The library is used by women of all backgrounds, and increasingly women from all over and further afield. Building on their successes, the library is now expanding, and will become the Women’s Library of Scotland, housed in a new location at Mitchell Library in 2010.

As part of the move to become a national library, the GWL is reaching out to other areas of Scotland , offering an interesting and varied ‘Palette  Of Lifelong Learning Opportunities’ for women and women’s groups. Adele Patrick, founder and current Lifelong Learning co-ordinator, came up to Inverness in June to meet the W@W advisory group and local co-ordinators, to explore ways we might work together. In a lively and inspiring session, she highlighted some of the learning modules which can be offered, including:

• Women’s History Walking Tours

How many local women are commemorated in your community? GWL has developed four popular walking tours based on women’s history in Glasgow. Using experience gained, they now offer training on how to create ones in other communities, and also training for local tour guides.

  

• The F Word and Fish on a Bicycle DVD

 A video made by young women exploring the history of feminism and what this means to them and others in the community. A useful resource for use in discussion with young women and those who work with them.

  

• Recording Living Heroines

An oral history project, resulting in a DVD with recordings of some local women. This can be used to inspire similar projects in other communities.

  

• Mapping Women’s History

A session to create women’s history maps.

  

• ‘The Model House’ Small Exhibition

A project run with a group of South Asian women learners and artists to create a 3-D model of a house, reflecting their history and culture before coming to Scotland.

  

• Reading for Women’s Health

Women and Bibliotherapy online resource and learning module.

  

• Women’s history archival training

Help and advice on conserving and preserving individual and group’s history.

   

There are many opportunities for women in the Highlands to benefit from a National Library of Women. We can

• get ideas on how to celebrate women in the Highlands
• preserve women’s history in the Highlands, either by archiving to local archives or the National Library of Women
• use the resources, either in Glasgow or increasingly on-line

• collaborate on some projects here in the Highlands  

  

Further information about the Library is available on their website. Get inspired!

Contributed by Susan Kruse, W@W website co-ordinator