This was a year of transition for ACRL/NEC's Women's Studies Interest Group. In March, Co-chair and Co-founder Alexa Mayo resigned after accepting a job in Maryland. An election for a new co-chair was held and Joan Campbell of Wellesley College took over Alexa's position.

The ACRL/NEC's Women's Studies Interest Group now has approximately 60 people on the mailing list, not including ACRL/NEC Board members. Below are descriptions of the meetings held from June 1993 through June 1994 (taken from the minutes of the meetings or from the annual report).

Presentation by Gusta Drenthe, Social Sciences Literature Specialist, Erasmus University Library, Rotterdam, June 3, 1993, 3-5 PM at the Schlesinger Library.

Ms. Drenthe, who was spending six months in the U.S. on a Fulbright grant to visit women's studies libraries and archives, spoke on women's libraries in the Netherlands and Europe. She also described her work on a women's thesaurus for the IIAV, the largest Dutch women's library.

 

Ms. Drenthe began her talk with an overview of the Dutch feminist movement, which she described as being international in focus. Dutch women are well read and multilingual, and Dutch feminists are aware of international feminist literature and practice. Dutch feminism is heavy in theory. On one of the leading writers is Maaike Maiger. Like other political and social groups in the Netherlands, Dutch feminist groups receive funding from the government and are allotted broadcast/media slots. All 12 universities in the Netherlands have women's studies departments.

 

Two books on Dutch feminism were recommended for U.S. academic libraries:

 

Sharing the Difference: Feminist Debates in Holland. Ed. Joke J. Hermsen. London and NY: Routledge, 1991.

 

The Development of Women's Studies: A Report from the Netherlands. Ed. by Margo Brouns. Mouton, 1990.

 

There are approximately 50 women's libraries in the Netherlands, some independent, some affiliated with the universities. Each library uses its own indexing system. The oldest and largest is the International Information center and Archives for the Women's Movement (IIAV), which was founded in 1935 and serves as a de facto national library for women. The IIAV receives $1.2 million in funding from the Dutch government every year, and also gets funding from the University of Amsterdam. The other women;s libraries in the Netherlands include specialized women's centers (for minority women, lesbians, etc.) and a few regional women's libraries, which are mostly run by volunteers.

 

Ms. Drenthe also talked about women's libraries in the other European countries. The only EC countries that are without women's libraries/documentation centers are Luxembourg and Ireland. The first (oldest) generation of women's libraries in Europe include the IIAV, the Fawcett Library in London (1926), and the Bibliotheque Marguerite Durand in Paris (1931). These three libraries have large, general collections on all aspects of women's lives. The second generation of European women's libraries emerged in the 1970's. These libraries include the Feminist Library in London and Biblioteca Donnawomanfemme in Rome. Unlike the first generation, only a few of these libraries are publicly funded and most are run by volunteers. Some allow only women to use the collections and some collect only works written by women. The third generation of women's libraries began in the 1980's. Many of these are affiliated with public organizations, such as the General Council of Equality in Athens.

 

The European women's libraries do not have a standard indexing system. Efforts to network and coordinate projects are hindered by language barriers. There are some networking projects underway, such as GRACE, the European Women's Studies Databank.

 

Ms. Drenthe then discussed the Dutch Women's Thesaurus, which she worked on at the IIAV. Before the Thesaurus, every Dutch women's library had its own subject/keyword index and its own software. Five years ago, Ms. Drenthe and a colleague applied for a grant to create a national indexing system for all the Dutch women's libraries. Initially they had hoped to use Mary Ellen Capek's Women's Thesaurus as a starting point, but found the language to be too American to adapt. They began their project by gathering all the index lists from the Dutch libraries and arranging them into subject groups and ending with 4,000 keywords. The Thesaurus had to be useful for both general academic libraries and specific women's libraries, so a middle level approach was used. The Thesaurus has been published and us successfully used throughout the Netherlands. The French are using it as a model for their own thesaurus. Ms. Drenthe reported that an upcoming issue of Women's Studies International Forum will have an article on the Dutch Women's Thesaurus.

 

Ms. Drenthe also reported that the IIAV will soon be on the Internet.

Following the presentation and discussion, WSIG members had a tour of the Schlesinger Library with Wendy Thomas and other Schlesinger Library staff. Several WSIG members joined Ms. Drenthe for dinner in Harvard Square.

 

 

Boston University's African Studies Library, August 5, 1993.

Chris Smith, Anthropology/Sociology Bibliographer, hosted the meeting at Boston University's Mugar Memorial Library. Gretchen Walsh, Head of the African Studies Library, led the discussion on African Women

 

The African Studies department at Boston University started in 1953, and was established when area studies became of interest nationally. At about this time, countries were moving towards independence, and there was both foundation money and government money available. In the U.S., Boston University and Northwestern were the first to establish African Studies Centers. The libraries were established at about the same time.

 

Beginning with government documents that were brought back by researchers conducting field work, BU's departmental library started in 1953 in the African Studies Center. It quickly outgrew its surroundings, so in 1966 the African Studies Library was established. Originally the Library was staffed by one Librarian and one Library technician; now the Library employs two Librarians and two Technicians with graduate assistants. The center and Library have a strong tradition of collegial cooperation,

 

The African Studies Library collection has grown to 140,000 volumes, containing both governmental and nongovernmental publications, and it is large enough to support a good graduate program in literature. The Librarians collect in African languages; 5 or 6 African languages are taught each year. The collection, however, is comprised of two main languages: English (2/3) and French (1/3), with scattered Portuguese and a very little German.

 

The Librarians collect dissident publications, materials on AIDS in Africa, and publications from small African organizations There is a fair amount of material on African women, although it is usually published outside of Africa. The Librarians are hoping to collect more material on AIDS and in the areas of health and the environment.

 

LC cataloging of library materials, including government publications, has been done since 1982. Holdings, therefore, are in OCLC, Some materials, however, are not in OCLC and use homegrown subject headings. Some key publishers are: Oxford, Cambridge, and Lynne Rienner (Boulder, CO). A dealer of African materials is: African Imprint Library Services (Falmouth, MA).

 

Jean Hay is Director of African Studies Publications. Her research these past few years has been around textile-related issues in East Africa. She has also researched Women and the Law in Africa and has developed contacts within southern Africa. Jane Guyer is an Economist/Anthropologist who uses remote sensing techniques to study land use and gender relationships in Nigeria and Ghana. She combines the disciplines of Anthropology, Geography, and Economics.

 

The African Studies Association (ASA) was established in the mid-1950's. It is an academic, interdisciplinary organization, supported by African Studies academics worldwide. It is not, however, an activist organization, although some of its sub-groups are more involved in politics and social change. One group within the Association is the Women's Caucus. Most members meet at an annual meeting. This year it will be in Boston in early December, The Women's Caucus has the most connections to Women's Studies. They sponsor gender related panels, both at the ASA and at Women's Caucus meetings. Gender is brought more strongly into discussions of economics and other topics.

 

A discussion followed Gretchen Walsh's presentation the WSIG member then toured the African Studies Library.

Mount Holyoke College Library & Archives, October 28, 1993, 11:00.

WSIG members met at the Mount Holyoke College Library at 11:00 Tea, coffee, and cookies were served as members arrived. College Librarian Anne C. Edmonds met the group and introduced Kathleen Norton, Reference Librarian, who led members on an extensive tour of the newly renovated MHC Library.

 

The renovation, designed by Graham Gund includes a central interior courtyard with a 15th century wellhead, donated by an alumna. A highlight of the tour was viewing the sculpture by Leonard Delonga, entitled "An Artist's Life." His welded bronze sculpture reflects a lifetime dedicated to making art and teaching. The reference room, which spans the width of one end of the building, now includes a centrally located reference desk. The Library includes the Stinson Room, which houses the poetry collection. The renovation also allows direct access to the Science Library.

 

The tour included a talk by Elaine Trehub, College Archivist. Ms. Trehub emphasized that MHC's Archives is a college archives. not an all-encompassing women's archives such as the Schlesinger Library or the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College. Since 1982, over 100 of MHC's collections have been entered in OCLC; the collections are also now listed in RLIN and NUCMC. In terms of subjects, the collections are rich for early women educators and missionaries, and include the papers of Virginia Apgar, for whom the "Apgar Test" given to newborns is named. Papers of alumnae are collected, unless the woman had an extensive career ar another institution or there is a more appropriate place for her papers. One of the most interesting collections is the Mount Holyoke Journal letters, which were letters written by a MHC student to a fellow student, who went to Persia. The letters were copied (by hand) by scribes and mailed to alumnae around the world, and they provided a thorough account of college life during the mid to late 1800's.

 

Following the library tour, WSIG members proceeded to the faculty center for lunch. Gail Hornstein, director of the new Five College Women;s Studies research Center, addressed the group over lunch and described the successful beginnings of the two-year old Center, which is the only multi-institutional women's studies center in the U.S. Unlike the Bunting Institute at Radcliffe, the Five Colleges Center is for scholars in women's studies. Scholars receive an office in the Center, which is in a house on the Mount Holyoke campus; stipends are not available but are an eventual goal. The center has one apartment, which is reserved for a foreign scholar, and several of the offices are similar to English bed-sits, with a pull-out couch for sleeping.

 

The Center sponsors talks and events which are free and open to the public; over 3,000 people have attended their events over the past two years. The center also invites local independent scholars to present their work at bi-weekly talks, and urges women's studies faculty to consider participating in research partnerships, in which faculty members team up with women community activists.

 

In selecting scholars, the Center is committed to diversity, particularly age and career diversity (scholars at the beginning and near the end of their careers),

 

After lunch WSIG members walked across campus to the Center and heard a lecture by Sherrie Inness, a former research associate of the Center, Ms. Inness's talk, "Constructing the Contact Zone," discussed Mount Holyoke College women who serves as missionaries.

General Meeting at Holy Cross, January 12, 1994.

Despite an impending snowstorm, several WSIG members attended the general discussion meeting at the College of Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. The meeting began with a discussion of various public service, technology, and collection development issues. These included: a discussion of the use of FirstSearch and Nexis/Lexis; patron misconceptions of what online or cd-rom resources can do for them; the Ethnic NewsWatch software interface; and the coverage of women's studies journals in H.W. Wilson's Social Sciences Index. Alexa Mayo reported that new titles to be indexed by Social Sciences Index include NWSA Journal, Sage: A Scholarly Journal on Black Women, Women and Politics, Women's Studies International Forum, Women's Studies Quarterly, Feminist Issues, and Gender and Society.

 

The next part of the meeting included a discussion of the possible Herstory indexing project.

 

Then, Wendy Thomas of the Schlesinger Library discussed the forthcoming international women's libraries conference, Women, Information, and the Future, and asked WSIG members if they would like to participate as volunteers.

 

Alexa then gave a brief tour of the Holy Cross Library and several WSIG members went out for lunch and further discussion.

Women's Studies on the Internet, March 25, 1994.

The meeting was held in the computer classroom of Wellesley College's Clapp Library. Joan Campbell of Wellesley College, assisted by Susan Griffith of Boston College, began the Internet demonstration and passed out handouts of information. She led WSIG members through the process of using gopher to access various resources. Next, Jill Morrissey of the University of Connecticut did a demonstration of using CARL's UnCover database to access the tables of contents of women's studies journals.

 

After the Internet demo, WSIG members discussed Alexa Mayo's departure as Co-chair and agreed to hold an election for her successor.

 

Wendy Thomas discussed the forthcoming Women, Information, and the Future conference for women's libraries to be held at the Schlesinger Library June 17-20, 1994. WSIG members who have volunteered to assist with the conference will be contacted later in the Spring.

 

Helen Maclam of Choice magazine asked if she could send WSIG members a form requesting nominations and suggestions for faculty to serve as Choice reviewers. She is particularly interested in finding more women and people of color. WSIG members agreed to this with enthusiasm.

 

The Herstory project was discussed. WSIG members Candy Feldt, Joanne O'Keefe, Jean McManus, Anne Meringolo, Joan Campbell, and Wendy Thomas have agreed to form an ad hoc committee to investigate this project further. Paula Mark's letter on the project was read, and Laura Walters will follow up on her suggestion about OCLC and will check the OCLC newsletter for examples of projects they have funded. Joan Campbell and other ad hoc committee members will work on Fay Zipkowitz's suggestion that women's studies faculty and historians be queried as to the potential usefulness of this project. They will begin drafting a statement to be posted to women's studies and women's history listservs, asking for feedback on who uses Herstory, if a guide would be of use, etc. Wendy will approach Scholarly Resources, Inc., the current publisher/distributor of Herstory, to ask if they would be interested in supporting a new, improved guide to the collection.

 

Jean McManus reported that she is co-chair of ALA's Committee on the Status of Women in Librarianship's Bibliography Task Force, which produces On Account of Sex, a five-year compilation of citations on women and librarianship. She asked that any WSIG members willing to assist with the next compilation contact her.

 

Lastly, Wendy Thomas reported on a pilot project to investigate the possibility of electronically scanning women's studies journals in order to provide full-text access and document delivery. The pilot project is part of Harvard's Adler Program in Cooperative Publishing, which brings librarians, scholars, and publishers together to develop future publishing projects. Laura Walters suggested that we invite Jackie Goggin, who works for the Adler Program, to speak to the WSIG. Wendy Thomas will ask her.

 

Women, Information, and the Future, June 18, 1994.

International conference for women's libraries at the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College. Many WSIG members assisted with a reception at Wendy Thomas's home for approximately 25 international and U.S. participants in the conference. WSIG members also assisted during the conference by giving tours of their libraries and staffing the conference information desk.

Future meetings planned for 1994/95 include a visit to the Boston Women's Health Book Collective, a presentation on preserving 19th century women's materials, and a trip to the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College.

Submitted by Wendy Thomas and Joan Campbell, WSIG Co-chairs, August 1994.

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