As other people have commented, there was quite a lot of discussion on
the role of women in the library profession in the 1980s - for example a
special issue of Library Management,, 5/ 4, 1984 edited by Janet Shuter,
which included an article by Gill Burrington, 'Perceived roles and
status of women in UK libraries', and one by me on the history of Women
in Libraries.
There have been several studies which have used Women in Libraries in
some way (including Emma's) - it obviously had far more influence than
we could ever have imagined at the time, particularly given the
hostility it aroused in some quarters!
Good luck with the research Craig.
Avril
Avril Rolph
Deputy Subject Librarian
Business & Economics / Human Sciences
Swansea University
Tel: 01792 51(3389)
email: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: A general Library and Information Science list for news and
discussion. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of A Carlin
Sent: 13 August 2009 11:40
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: FW: Library Studies Dissertation Survey - University College
Lond on
Dear All
Not only is the topic interesting, this thread is interesting too.
Beverley, Barbara and Emma have given Craig much to think about.
I read a PhD thesis - a veritable breeze-block - at John Rylands Library
University of Manchester ... must be at least 10 years ago now, by the
great Gill Burrington. I've just looked it up; the actual title is
"Women in a numerically female dominated occupation" (it doesn't list
the date, but I think it was 1984 or 86).
If I recall correctly, she had to compile her statistics, too. What I do
remember clearly however, is that it was very, very good.
Best Andrew
-----Original Message-----
From: A general Library and Information Science list for news and
discussion. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Emma Hadfield
Sent: 11 August 2009 14:20
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Library Studies Dissertation Survey - University College
Lond on
This topic is really interesting and worthwhile, although I have to
agree some
of the questions were a bit difficult to answer. I would also like to
read the
findings once completed as I would l be very interested to find out
about male
perceptions and experiences of library work.
I completed the MA Librarianship last year and carried out my final
dissertation
on women's career progression in academic libraries. I used the group
Women
in Libraries for the background to my research and tried to discover
whether
the group's original aims had been met.
You are completely right in that men were over-represented in higher
level
positions in the 80s (and part of the 90s) and the group Women in
Libraries
fought to bring about change in the profession and I believe they
successfully
played some part in doing this.
As for actual statistics, I struggled to find any covering gender and
libraries
throughout the years so set about acquiring my own data which
highlighted
that it is a very different case today and there are now more women in
senior
roles (in academic libraries) than men.
I think today women are afforded a lot more opportunities than they were
30
years ago including things like flexible working, staff development -
and any
barriers that they still come up against are often just as applicable to
men
also.
Kind regards
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