Feminist Librarianship – Winspiration’s Next Chapter

Category: News

Long overdue, Feminist Librarianship will examine and celebrate examples of feminist leadership across time and place. For too long now, these stories have been silenced. I can’t wait for them to be given a voice through this groundbreaking collection.

Amina Shah FRSE, National Librarian and CEO of the National Library of Scotland

This International Women’s Day, CILIPS is delighted to announce the exciting news that our much-loved Winspiration programme will soon be coming to a library shelf near you, courtesy of our friends at Facet Publishing!

Edited by CILIPS Sector Development Manager Kirsten MacQuarrie, with CILIPS Digital Assistant Leah Higgins as new professionals advisor, and with a foreword written by National Librarian of Scotland Amina Shah, the book’s working title is Feminist Librarianship: Principles, Practices and Provocations.

A theme hidden in plain sight

‘Founded in November 2021,’ says Kirsten, ‘Winspiration continues to create space for women working on the library frontline to connect and reflect: filling a historic void in professional practice that in itself demonstrates the vastly undervalued, in every sense, labour undertaken every day by our sex in the UK and around the globe. We are therefore delighted to have the chance to codify the learning of Winspiration’s first three years and showcase feminist activism in action within LIS through Feminist Librarianship.’

‘By amplifying their voices and advocating for the radical social change they make possible, Feminist Librarianship will honour the women, past, present and future, who are integral to our sector. It will feature reflections from key Winspiration contributors and other feminist thought leaders, enriched by short-form creative contributions – embodying the feminist principle that the personal can be both professional and political – that articulate the long-standing, reciprocal link between libraries and women’s empowerment. Readers will gain awareness of a theme hidden in plain sight within conventional conceptions of librarianship: that libraries are essential to women’s lives, and women are essential to the transformative work libraries do.’

Chapter author and new professionals advisor Leah adds:

I am equal parts thrilled and shocked to be a part of this publication. Thrilled as it is not every workplace and sector that offers such a valuable and important contribution to a young woman, and shocked that this book, in its own way, hasn’t come about before now. Just in establishing the book’s themes and voices, of which there are many, it’s become clear that this is one huge, interconnected theme. Women speaking up and women speaking together.

My wish is that this publication allows for the conversations that are already happening in this sector to really have spaces to create tangible change, and to embed an open forum for women to feel safe and empowered to use their voice. This book is the beginning of the conversation, not the end! It’s a sector in which women are formidable, their contributions irreplaceable and their actions inspiring. These librarians are certainly amongst the shelves daily, but rarely are they on them in this capacity, and it’s an honour to help change that alongside my incredible colleagues.

Featuring chapters on themes including ‘Bloody Brilliant Libraries’ and Menstrual Literacy; Library-Led Eco-Feminism; ‘Ms. Information’, Tech for Good and Library Ethics; and ‘Who run the world?’ Girls, Women and Intergenerational Growth through Libraries, Feminist Librarianship will be the first professional text published in the UK – or worldwide, with appeal and applicability to all sectors – that is dedicated to exploring feminist principles, practices and potential in LIS.

This book will light up a spectrum of possibilities

Especially for International Women’s Day, we invited contributors to share the value that they think Feminist Librarianship will bring to library shelves in 2026:

‘I’ve welcomed the opportunity to think deeply about what school libraries and librarians have to offer girls and young women during such a crucial developmental stage of their lives,’ observes school librarian and writer Pamela McLean. ‘This book will celebrate everything libraries have done so far in the attempt to achieve true gender equality, and will light up a spectrum of possibilities to achieve this equality in the future.’

‘I think it’s really important to call attention to women’s work in a profession that is so highly populated by women in both frontline and leadership roles,’ adds fellow chapter contributor Jennifer Horan. ‘I hope this book shines a light on the fantastic achievements of feminist librarians and encourages young people into the profession.’

Challenge those misconceptions and stereotypes

For Amanda Wright, NHS librarian and creative writing tutor, who hosted our Green Libraries Week introduction to Nature Writing and is developing an exclusive prompt for Feminist Librarianship to inspire women readers to access and amplify their voices:

Librarianship is one of the few professions dominated by women. It’s also a profession shrouded in stereotypes and misconceptions. I’ve been bumping into them ever since I started out in the profession as a student. At best, they’re wearisome as the years go on. At worst, they undoubtedly feed into decisions made about libraries and librarians that harm not only the profession but the communities that we serve. The reality that I have experienced in my years as a librarian could not be further from these ideas; I belong to a profession full of committed, intelligent and passionate women creating and contributing to dynamic and adaptable services, that empower those we serve through knowledge and creativity; that always try to put the needs of the people they serve at the heart of what they do.

What I don’t think we are very good at doing is tackling those misconceptions and stereotypes. I believe that we live in a period of time where access to knowledge has never been greater. Nor has access to misinformation. A period where for good or for ill words are potentially potent weapons and when the skills of the librarian have never been more important to society; or sometimes more readily dismissed. I hope that Feminist Librarianship will use those words to challenge those misconceptions and stereotypes and show us for who we are and what we contribute.

Joy, inspiration, hope and fresh perspectives for library shelves

Longstanding Winspiration contributors Glasgow Women’s Library are co-authoring a chapter on what matters most to them as a pioneering feminist library.

‘We are so excited to be part of this project! GWL has been championing feminist ways of working for decades, in librarianship and beyond – and we’re thrilled to be able to share some reflections on our work within the Library sector,’ says GWL Librarian Wendy Kirk. ‘We look forward to learning from, and being inspired by, the other wonderful contributors. This book will be a ‘must-read’ for our Library!’

GWL Volunteer Coordinator Gabrielle Macbeth adds that ‘as a feminist library we felt GWL had to be in this book! And we are very thankful to CILIPS for including our organisation. We believe we have valuable insights to share which we hope other library professionals will find inspiring and useful.’

For GWL Co-Director Dr Adele Patrick FRSE, who led the very first Winspiration workshop on ‘What would libraries led by feminists look like?’ in November 2021, ‘librarians are working through challenging times and librarians using feminist approaches can increasingly find themselves on ‘the front line’ of social, cultural and political tumult. It is important, now more than ever, to make our work visible in all its complexity and diversity. This book will help bust myths and widen productive discussion.’

What value do the GWL team think that Feminist Librarianship will bring to library shelves in 2026?

‘Feminist Librarianship is a good news story,’ notes Adele. ‘Our work changes lives for the better and can be accessed for free around the corner and around the world! This book offers up hope-fuelling evidence of the ways inclusive approaches and the power of spaces for reading and convening can be an antidote to misinformation and fractured communities.’

For Wendy, ‘Feminist Librarianship will bring joy, inspiration, hope and fresh perspectives to our library shelves. It will also provide an opportunity to celebrate all the remarkable ways that libraries and librarianship, rooted in equality, diversity and inclusivity, contribute to the wellbeing of our communities.’

Groundbreaking

CILIPS Director Sean McNamara who, with CILIPS Trustee and NHS librarian Kavan Stafford, is co-authoring a chapter on Advocacy, Allyship and Library Professionals Tackling Toxic Masculinity, tells us:

I was honoured to be asked to be part of this groundbreaking new book. This is such an important topic and it is vital that men show support and explore how we can do more to support library users and colleagues and help put feminist librarianship into practice. I hope by contributing a chapter to the book I can help that discussion whilst also exploring my own practice.

Feminist Librarianship will be a timely and essential addition to bookshelves, and I look forward to reading the other contributions!

Sean’s co-contributor Kavan adds:

This is a title which is long overdue in UK library studies and it could not be being released at a more appropriate time. As misogyny and sexism rise across the world, this book will be an invaluable tool in the hands of librarians and other library staff standing against this rise and working to make their workplaces and communities better and more equal places.

Today’s final reflection goes to contributor Amanda:

‘Evelyn Carnahan, in the 1999 film The Mummy, says:

“I may not be an explorer or an adventurer or a treasure seeker or a gunfighter… but I am proud of what I am.

I am a librarian.“

I believe that many of us are explorers and/or adventurers. I believe that many of us are treasure seekers. I think we should be proud of what we are.

We are librarians.’