to the inaugural WINspiration webinar back in November 2021. As a founder and director of Glasgow Women’s Library, and an icon of contemporary feminist leadership, Dr Adele Patrick’s work will already be familiar to many Information Pro- fessional readers who may recall her March 2021 article reflecting on her Clore Leadership Fellowship. Graciously accepting our invitation to lead the first-ever WINspiration webinar, Adele devised the title What would libraries led by feminists look like? She began her session with a thought-provoking presentation that introduced attendees to GWL, intersec- tional feminism and the values priori- tised by feminist leadership – in Adele’s own words, “a work in and about pro- gress” that involves ongoing learning, accountability and rooting equalities into our ways of working. Adele then invited participants to share two words on “what first made me a feminist”. Responses ranged from “my mum” and the “Spice Girls” to “patriarchal oppres- sion” and everything in between! After this icebreaker, attendees discussed two provocations put forward by Adele:
l If you could do one new thing from a feminist perspective in your workplace, what would you do (and what might the impact be)?
l If you could make one new demand of yourself in your feminist leadership journey, what would it be (and what might the impact be)?
An incredible 40 ideas about feminism in library workplaces were shared, addres- sing everything from physical library spaces to personal working practices:
l Making spaces safe for women and girls i.e. free sanitary products, comfort- able breastfeeding areas, body positive design etc
l Create an infrastructure that does not primarily suit men but everyone – i.e. ergonomics in the workplace, shelf heights etc
l To fight for equal value to be placed on people-centred roles versus tech roles
l Role model different styles of leader- ship – “quiet” leaders as well as “noisy” ones
l I love the idea of getting comfortable with being uncomfortable
l Stop replying to emails with “no prob- lem” when there is a problem!
The powerful, personal insights shared by participants highlighted that WINspiration was already extending beyond a classic lecture or webinar series: providing a space to see feminist library leadership in action by sharing women’s ideas, amplifying their voices and role-mod-
March 2023
elling a collaborative workplace culture in which professionals listen to and learn from each other. As Adele herself noted at the time, “whenever I’m in the company of librarians, the world feels a little more hopeful, and hope is something that we need in abundance at the moment”. “The WINspiration project is, well, inspirational!” says Adele now when reflecting on the programme’s progress. “This wonderful CILIPS resource col- lection is for anyone who believes in the twinned powers of libraries and literature to change lives for the better. “Ours is a sector where women have played a leading and critically impor- tant role shaping how books and library resources can reach people in deep and meaningful ways, and this is made evident across the collection. I love the ways WINspiration demonstrates that libraries remain impactful forces for good locally, nationally and internationally, and a natural home for feminist leadership and cultural and social justice to be nurtured.” In 2022, with International Women’s Day fast approaching, WINspiration was again honoured to feature 2022 CILIPS President Amina Shah (see pp. 20-23). In late 2021, Amina had become the first woman and the first person of mixed heritage to be National Librarian of Scotland, and our attendees were moved to hear her stories of the women who had inspired her on that journey: from pio- neering family members in both Scotland and Pakistan to the feminist heritage of Dundee where the Second World War had engendered a culture of strong, inde- pendent and exceptionally determined womanhood.
As we invited our participants to share similar stories, a fascinating mix of personal and professional role models emerged that often centred on not simply a woman’s achievements but her attitude to others: whether within her work- place or her family (or both), creating much-needed cultures of mutual respect and compassion.
Amina noted that, as National Librarian, she had been reflecting extensively on
the meaning of leadership, citing Adele’s session as inspiration as well as the work of Simone Buitendijk, Vice-Chancellor at the University of Leeds, whose paradigm-shift- ing thoughts on bringing ‘love’ into our work (
https://bit.ly/3S2TZlD) resonated deeply with our attendees (and I later added to CILIPS’s Emerging Leaders resource col- lection –
www.cilips.org.uk/emerging-leaders). Amina concluded by inviting attendees to each contribute a line to CILIPS’s ‘Letter to a New Woman’ (
www.cilips.org.uk/iwd22): an organisation-wide welcome to female new professionals. With companies being chal- lenged on social media for the hollowness of their International Women’s Day plat- itudes (
https://genderpaygap.app/) compared with relative inaction to address sexism, it felt vital that CILIPS WINspiration pro- vide tangible, permanent evidence of our commitment to listening to women in LIS. The letter echoed the inspiring themes of Amina’s session by referring to “common purpose across sectors, ages [and] loca- tions”, “standing up for everyone’s rights and discovering answers in the collective”. “Women of the World Unite!” was the musical rallying cry that roused our delegates in action at the first in-per- son WINspiration, hosted by CILIPS Trustee and current Vice-President (and U2 superfan) Dr Diane Rasmussen Pennington. As co-chair of the iSchools Women’s Coalition (
www.ischools.org/ womens-coalition), Diane shared shocking examples of inequality and endemic sexism in the international sector that vividly illustrated why the work of her and her colleagues is so necessary, before encour- aging delegates to share what and who WINspires them in their careers. “I was delighted when CILIPS asked me to contribute to WINspiration,” says Diane. “Speaking as a co-chair of the iSchools Women’s Coalition, which seeks to empower and develop leadership skills of female information scientists worldwide, this is an incredibly important initiative. To me, feminism means that women can choose their own life paths.
“My father introduced me to computing in 1981, when I was six, so I didn’t know
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