Women’s Library is 25 Years Old!

Women’s Library and Information Center Foundation turned 25 years old.

Endeavoring to be a witness of the history of women’s movement for the future generations and to obtain and protect the archives which respond the question of “what happened in the past” from the women’s perspective, the Foundation has survived thanks to the support of hundreds of volunteer women and tens of institutions for 25 years.

As Prof. Dr. Fatmagül Berktay, board chairman of the Foundation, says “being entirely a civil society initiative”, this library needs support in order to record the history of women and transfer to the next generations.

Launched with this aim, the donation campaign "25 TL and its Multiples from 2000 People in One Year" aims to cover maintenance needs of the historical building which is granted by the Metropolitan Municipality and located in Istanbul, Haliç Fener district, and to strengthen the special archives of the library.

At the end of the campaign, the name of the donors will be listed and permanently documented through an artistic design. Namely, the supporters of the library will be a part of the library as well.

While emphasizing the importance of the visibility and the political support, Berktay mentions that the financial support is very important for the sustainability of the library.

What is Women’s Library?

The aim of the library is defined as “getting to know the history of women, providing this information to today's researches in a systematic manner, and protect today’s written documents for the next generations”.

Library collects these documents into its archives, and besides locates the documents which aren't obtained due to several reasons. Also it records these documents by organizing bibliographies and catalogs. Thanks to these records, the women who have been ignored even they exist, are brought into the view.

Also, the archives of the women’s library have a wide range of materials such as; diaries, personal archives of women,  family documents and archives, letters, records of the women's organizations and campaigns, art works, autobiographies, biographies, slides, movies, videotapes, illustrations, posters, ephemeras, oral history records, transcriptions, flags, badges, medals, pens, t-shirts…

Along with that, the library devotes itself in order to raise awareness of women concerning to define a document pertains to their selves, and to create a linkage between women and documents. (ÇT/HK)

Click here to read this article in Turkish.