As a librarian I was mainly attracted by its unique collection when I have chosen the library for my placement. The stock provides a unique resource for women: poetry, fiction, and non-fiction from A like ‘aging’ to Z like ‘zygote’.

I was astonished by the circumstance that everything is donated from private collections, authors and publishers and it also proves to me that one does not need an amount of money to build up a worthwhile collection but people’s generosity and visions.

During my time in the library I tried to support Wendy, the librarian, with the every-day work like cataloguing, setting up new (monthly) displays or giving a hand with preparing the library for upcoming events. Furthermore I tried to share my former working experiences with the library to extend the information resources, for example with a collection of free online resources related to the topics the library deals with.

Apart from the collection I also applied for a placement at Glasgow Women’s Library because I was attracted by the fact that this is more than an ordinary library. With its events, classes, and meetings it is a place where women fell comfortable and where they can gain more skills and experiences.

During the last weeks I have learned a lot. Above all, I have experienced how powerful women can be when they stick together for one aim and for their needs and interests. And I have experienced how much a friendly greet, a smile and/or a short chat can enlighten your day and just make life a bit easier. There is so much you can learn from each other and the diversity of the women in Glasgow Women’s Library makes it a unique place in Scotland and beyond.

I want to thank all the members of staff and the volunteers for the last six weeks! Thank you, that you have welcomed me as a full member of your team. I really hope that we’ll keep in touch and I’d love to come back sometimes.

I wish you all the best for the next 20 years and I really hope that more and more women will discover this unique place and support your work!

When I arrived in the middle of July the team of the women’s library gave me a very warm welcome. I realized quickly that I’ve found what I was looking for: a place to work and to gain new experiences in library science as well as socials skills in a great and friendly atmosphere. I am very happy to be part of it for at least six weeks!

I hope that I will be able to give a hand to improve and to extend the information resources in the library during my short stay in Glasgow  because I believe in Francis Bacon’s principle “knowledge is power”. I am curious about the next three and a half weeks!

I choose the Glasgow Women’s Library as organization for my placement due to my research interest during my studies. My Bachelor-thesis engaged with the Women’s Movement in America during the 1960s. As it was mainly dominated by white middle- and upper class women, working class and especially black and other minority women were excluded. Furthermore they also faced difficulties in the male-dominated black-liberation movement and therefore carried – as Bell Hooks calls it – a double burden: being female and being black.

My Master thesis engaged with discrepancies in political participation of young men and women. Here I analyzed two different parties and concluded that instead of sexist stereotypes and ideological prejudices, structural difficulties based upon centuries upon centuries of patriarchal party politics are the main barrier for female participation.

Therefore the approach of the women’s library interested me: emancipation through education and creativity. Developing confidence in a safe environment but also making space for inspiration and self-defined research activities. The political significance of this form of encouragement and the resulting development of active citizenship should not be underestimated.

As outlined in former blogs on the GWL website, I worked on two main projects. One of them was to research and contact women’s libraries all over Europe to establish a partnership and enable us to exchange information etc. We have contacted them and received already some feedback, which I am finally going to file and I hope that somebody will be able to take over, deepen the contact and establish a sisterhood – partnership.

My second project was to prepare and establish a digital oral history resource. I managed to transcribe quite a lot of interviews that have been conducted. Eleftheria, one of our volunteers is now taking over and she is going to filter interesting parts of the interviews, process the extracts and prepare them for publication on our new upcoming website.

Apart from these two fields, I also worked at reception once a week, helped out on exhibition stands, went with Morag to a couple of events and visited groups that are working on their own women’s history projects.

Most importantly though was to experience the day-to-day activities of the women working and volunteering in the Glasgow Women’s Library. The influence of their feminist values underlies their work and social interactions. This has left a deep impact on me personally and I believe it will also have an impact on my future research.

It was interesting to engage with a more open – not overly structured group of colleagues. Which – to be honest – I found very challenging at the beginning. From my former work experience in Germany, I was used to a more defined and maybe also more narrowed, top-down structure. So I found it difficult to orientate myself at the beginning, but eventually found it very refreshing. I now feel enabled to see office structures from a different angle and hope that I can make use of this experience in future jobs. Furthermore I have developed more confidence in an English speaking work- environment and improved my language skills once again, thanks to “the word of the day” :-)

One of the things that struck me most (continuous astonishment!!) was the way women are treated here. The incredible positive approach towards women with very diverse backgrounds, the focus on creating a welcoming and safe atmosphere and the effect of highlighting the positive features of individual women was overwhelming and very inspiring.

Thanks a lot to all of you who are involved in the Glasgow Women’s Library, especially the staff but also the volunteers and numerous visitors.

It was really great meeting all of you and I hope we will keep in touch! xx

12 busy bees working all on their own little projects buzz in and out of the office, pollinating the world with feminist ideas – teaching and supporting women, conducting seminars, creating exhibitions, doing historical walks, holding speeches and attending events. Then they come back and without further ado they buzz away again.

I also flew (via train), to Dundee and Dumbarton – installing an exhibition and helping out at a stand for the International Women’s Day. Both new experiences for me and great fun! My own little project for the next three months engages with the search for more feminist beehives in Europe. So far I found already loads of them, which is not only exiting but also extremely motivating!!

But the Glasgow hive could not be kept alive without the load of voluntary bees and visitors who also buzz in and out and create this amazing women’s space! Every day I meet different people and see new faces, which makes the Glasgow Women’s Library such an interesting, diverse and creative place.

Meeting so many inspiring women, finding loads of new books and authors, having great conversations and discussions and learning, learning, learning so many new things makes already my first jar of honey – with a lot more to be expected!!!

Having said this – an encouraging *Bzzz* to the team and everybody else!

Cheers!! Kerstin

I started with Glasgow Women’s Library around February/March 2010 after I heard about them from a friend. I wanted to gain experience in working in an environment that I was studying towards. I also have a passion for women’s history for I feel they only get small recognition throughout historical teachings. Much of history is from a male perspective and women have played an active role behind these men but no one really knows about them.

At the moment I help the National Lifelong Learning team, from helping to produce leaflets to transcribing oral testimonies – the latter I love doing. I have also become great friends with the guillotine but this is only because of the fantastic events, open days and seminars that the Library has run, to let people know what we are doing. I will be heading down to Wigtown on the 28th September to help with the library’s “Her-story” workshop and road-show at the Wigtown Book Festival fringe and I am looking forward to it very much.

Geraldine, NLLL volunteer

Events such as these, where all the volunteers come together, remind me just how many different ‘hats’ Glasgow Women’s Library has and how many different people get involved by donating their time to support us.  We have volunteers who staff or ‘wo’man the reception desk, support the admin team, work on the archive and library collections, fundraise, organise events, support learning programmes… the list is endless!

I’m Loraine and I’m the new volunteer at the Library. I’m the New Neighbourhood Research Assistant and for the next wee while I’ll be involved in working on a recently developed project that will enable the organisation to get to know its future neighbourhood in a One Mile radius around the Mitchell Library. This will involve making contact with a wide range of different groups, individuals and organisations and helping promote the Library’s work to a broad range of new potential partners, learners and service users.

I’d been to quite a lot of events and classes at the library before and found it to be a really friendly and nurturing environment. I applied for this post as I wanted to gain more experience working for a women’s organisation, but mostly because I wanted an excuse to spend more time around the Library.

I look forward to seeing you around the library soon.