The Women’s Library Collection

"By, For and About Women

The Women's Library houses over 25 000 items, including books, videos and periodicals. The focus of the collection is women authors and women's issues.

The collection is sorted into the following:

Fiction, Anthology, Biography,Non- Fiction, Childrens/Junior, Audiovisual, Periodicals.

The fiction collection held at the Women's Library is completely female authored, in keeping with the objectives to promote women's writing.

Within this, there is an extensive selection of lesbian fiction.

The Anthology section contains a selection of short-stories and poetry anthologies.

An extensive collection of biographies on women is provided. Subjects of biographies or autobiographies range from Simone de Beavoir and Virginia Woolfe to Judy Garland and k.d. lang.

There is an extensive collection of non-fiction focusing on women's issues and areas of interest to women. They are shelved under the following categories:

The Library has a periodicals room which stores a number of historic and rare feminist journals and serials focusing on women. The room is currently undergoing major reorganisation to enable easier access for research and eventually cataloguing of the collection.

The Women's Library also has a small reference section

All materials within the collection has been donated from private collections and small women's presses. Books are sorted according to our aquisition policy and where a book is not stable for the collection or is a duplicate,it will be placed in the second hand bookshop.Donations are always appreciated and welcome.

The Library houses an extensive second hand bookshop with all books available at the bargin rate of two dollars. Funds raised enables us to purchase required texts and fill identified gaps within the collection.

We aim to house:

• Texts that are required reading for courses offered at tertiary institutions in Sydney addressing the status of women, including Lesbians.
• Published and unpublished papers and theses.
• Published and unpublished works of fiction, with emphasis on fiction produced by Australian women, particularly Lesbians:
• Published and unpublished works of non- fiction, with particular attention to collecting in areas of special interest to Lesbian and Feminist women
• Journals, with particular emphasis on journals produce by Australian Lesbians and Feminists
• Ephemera ( posters,ticketsleaflets etc)
• Photographs, letter, diaries, posters, and audio visual material.

Development and maintenance of this valuable collection is dependant on the good will and energy of a small number of women.If you have skills or qualifications in library systems, information technology or Women's Studies we would welcome your contribution.

Judith Ion TWL Newsletter Vol 1.1 No 4 November

“Books by women are a way of sharing concepts, ideas, awareness, dreams, visions and hopes. The beauty of “the Book” lies in its ability to reach a vast audience. All too often women’s words have been censored or lost. At this herstorical point, it is important that this work is reclaimed and that more recent women’s writing is made readily available to many women. The costof books in Australia often means that much of women’s literature reaches a limited readership. The Women’s Library acts as a crucial step between the published product and the woman reader – it allows more women access to this vital form of communication, while also fulfilling the important role of housing women’s work in one place – a much needed reference point.”.