The case and evidence base for
Feminist Librarianship
Feminist Librarianship foundations
self-defence strategies, conflict management training
or solutions of tacit acceptance that were known to
be proposed in the past.’
Feminist Librarianship (Facet, 2026)
for Colleagues
Advocacy Angle
‘With women consistently a majority of both library professionals and patrons, it is time to recognise the long-standing, reciprocal link that exists between libraries and our empowerment…
Advocacy angle (cont.)
… This book evidences the case that investment in libraries is an investment in women. Conversely, that means cuts and closures to library services are not just misguided. In impact, they are misogynistic.’
Introduction, xxiii
Value v. Worth
‘Whether we choose to prioritise economics or ethics, financial backing for our libraries and the women who work in them adds up.’
Introduction, xxix
Feminist Librarianship today!
in libraries
Menstrual and Menopause Literacy
Activity: What’s in a name?
Take one minute to list in the chat as many euphemisms for periods as you can!
Period.
Period.
Crimson Wave
Shark Week
Time of the Month
Tummy Trouble
‘The English are coming’
Jam Sandwich
Painting the Town Red
On the Rag
On the Blob
Riding the Cotton Unicorn
‘Arsenal are playing at home’
‘Auntie Flow is in town’
Code Red
‘Communists in the funhouse’
Interminal terminology
‘If men could menstruate…’ (Gloria Steinem, 1978)
‘Steinem jokes about a marketplace flooded with prestige products like Paul Newman maxi pads – perhaps today they would be Timothée Chalamet tampons – jostling jocks priding themselves on a five-day flow, and conservative politicians using menstruation as justification for why we women are natural subordinates…
Interminal terminology
‘If men could menstruate…’ (Gloria Steinem, 1978)
‘Steinem jokes about a marketplace flooded with prestige products like Paul Newman maxi pads – perhaps today they would be Timothée Chalamet tampons – jostling jocks priding themselves on a five-day flow, and conservative politicians using menstruation as justification for why we women are natural subordinates…
Interminal terminology II
As she puts it, “logic has nothing to do with oppression”. There is nothing inherent in menstruation or menopause that makes them sources of shame as opposed to pride. Rather, the patriarchal assumption that “male” means “default” creates conditions in which anything associated with femaleness appears lesser, other and even alien.’
Going With and Against the Flow: Menstrual Literacy
in Bloody Brilliant Libraries, pp. 47-8
Interminal terminology III
Case Study: The Sir Alex Ferguson Library, Glasgow Caledonian University
Dedicated to the Common Good (open to staff, students and public), SAFL features a Relax & Renew Wellbeing Space: home to their Women’s Health Fayre and Menopause Cafes
Co-Creating Support
‘While we could certainly offer the space to facilitate conversations about menstruation and menopause, we weren't health experts. We didn't have that knowledge for when people were disclosing what could be very personal information. But we realised that there were other professionals in the university who would be well placed to help and we could use
Relax and Renew to promote resources…
Co-Creating Support (cont.)
… having these activities sit alongside or actually be in an area where you’re also studying or researching lets you have the opportunity to access resources that you may not even know you need.’
‘Safe Spaces?’ Share your thoughts in the chat box…
Safe Space: Starting Points
Accessibility:
What comes to mind when you hear the term ‘menopause’?
www.alliance-scotland.org.uk
The Policy Paradox
‘There’s no one best way of doing it…’
‘I look at workplaces around the world, and what I see is that some are great and have specific policies; some are great and don't even mention menopause but just have a really supportive culture… But whether it's top-down or bottom-up, resources have to be put into it…
Professor Kathleen Riach, University of
Glasgow Adam Smith Business School
‘No one single point of failure’
… Allies and champions can do an amazing job for organisations, but we should not be relying on the individual.’
Professor Kathleen Riach, University of Glasgow Adam Smith Business School
Bloody Brilliant Reads and Resources!
https://www.menopauseatwork.org
Feminist Librarianship today!
in libraries
Ecofeminist Leadership by Example
‘If male society persists, there will be no tomorrow for humanity… a culture of women would never have been this, this extermination of nature, this systematic destruction — with maximum profit in mind — of all the nourishing resources.’
Françoise d’Eaubonne - Le féminisme ou la mort (Feminism or Death) 1974
A growing case for change
better, more effective climate change policies
‘Leadership from lived necessity’
Adaptation and Mitigation
‘Not simply greenwashing the industries and corporations most complicit in climate change but restructuring the ways we live, work and spend so that social capital, in every sense, is more justly and thoughtfully distributed.’
World-Changing Work: Planting the seeds
ecofeminism needs to flourish in libraries, p181
Activity: Feminist Adaptation?
she needs to visit? Is she alone? Does the city/town/
village infrastructure help or hinder her?
A (Wo)man’s World?
Feminist Cities
Women.
Feminist Cities (cont.)
World-Changing Work, pp. 182-3
Her library!
World-Changing Work
‘However much we wish it had not come at such a cost to our planet, [adaptation is about] the understanding that climate action offers a challenging yet necessary opportunity to reassess and redesign society – in essence, to confront the elements that caused much
of the climate crisis in the first place.’
Alison Nolan, SLIC CEO, in Feminist Librarianship
‘There's a valuable advocacy opportunity in recognizing that much of this work is being led by women. It not only highlights libraries’ environmental contributions but also reframes them as models of inclusive, forward-thinking leadership…
Alison Nolan in Feminist Librarianship (cont.)
The profession—already rich in women leaders—is evolving toward flatter, more participatory structures that reflect both feminist and sustainable values: collaboration, care, adaptability, and equity…
Alison Nolan in Feminist Librarianship (cont.)
… By showcasing how women are driving climate action within libraries, we can strengthen our advocacy message—not just as institutions preserving knowledge, but as active agents of social and environmental transformation.’
World-Changing Work, pp. 183
Ecofeminist Recommended Reads
Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility,
Haymarket Books