Investment in libraries is an investment in women...
- Jul 27
- 3 min read
'I think my favourite thing about men – which is not how I begin many sentences, much less those gracing the opening pages of a book representing a feminist first – is that they don’t miss a trick. More specifically, their sex seldom misses out on an opportunity for respect and remuneration, in line with what they believe their skills and expertise warrant. It never fails to surprise me how many people, when I tell them that my profession is approximately 75% female, respond with the same question: how do we entice more men into librarianship?
Reader, I recruited him. Well, I will. When librarianship is valued, in every sense, to the degree that it deserves, our boys will be queuing around the block to play their part. And most importantly, a true valuing of all that libraries offer will be one that acknowledges, celebrates and champions the feminism-infused principles that sometimes subtly, always significantly shape our work. Compassion, collaboration and creativity, to name but three ‘c’s – the concepts that fuel our fire as library workers do not just mirror but merge with the very foundations of feminist thinking. With women 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. 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.'
Published by Facet during Women's History Month 2026, Feminist Librarianship is the UK's first book dedicated to the feminist principles, practices and provocations that have long been hidden at the heart of librarianship. My debut publication as editor (or editress!), it features chapter contributions from more than twenty feminist thought leaders across the profession, including the first female National Librarian of Scotland, Amina Shah, and Glasgow Women's Library co-founder and co-director, Dr Adele Patrick.
From debuting in The Bookseller and launching at the National Library of Scotland to a 'bloody brilliant' menstrual health literacy session at the International Congress on Medical Librarianship, it has been an honour to share the core advocacy argument of Feminist Librarianship with women and our allies across Scotland and beyond.
One highlight amongst many for me was delivering a keynote at the 2026 Critical Approaches to Libraries Conference on The Case and Evidence Base for Feminist Librarianship: watch my full session below and be sure to also check out the brilliant sketchnote it inspired, created by Becky Ullah!
Do your local decision makers still doubt the vital value of the women-fuelled work that powers our libraries? Then in the spirit of menstrual health literacy, I say that voters are bloody right to ask them why!
‘Over to you, readers. Voters. Workers. Women. It is time to fight for your right to libraries, and for the rights of the female professionals whose passion has fuelled them for centuries. Will still, Goddess willing, for many more to come. Colleagues, the women shaping every sector from public, school and academic to health, prison, law libraries and more, I call on you to claim ownership of a profession that is too often threatened, not in spite but because of its radical potential. Borrow generously from the issues, insights and inspiration we have offered here, learning from the women who walked the library floor before us to motivate and mentor those following in our footsteps. Echoing this book’s beginning and the voice of civil rights campaigner Ella Baker, illuminated by Rabiya Choudhry to beckon patrons towards the entrance of Glasgow Women’s Library, "give light and people will find the way”. Let these first words of Feminist Librarianship be anything but the last.’
