How Did Women's Groups in the American Library Association
Promote Activism around Women's Issues in Librarianship during the 1970s?

Related Links

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Committee on the Status of Women in Librarianship

   The website for COSWL provides a brief history and charge for the Committee which was established in 1976 to represent the diversity of women's interests in the American Library Association. You can also find a current list of members, subcommittees, and an action list of items that the current Committee works on. The current action list notes the following priorities for COSWL: Prepare a survey on care giving; Continue to escalate concerns re: salary ranges; Prepare and publish a think piece on the status of women in librarianship today; plan programs and publish brochure on women's groups in ALA with other women's groups; and continuously review committee charge for relevance.

Feminist Task Force

   The current web site provides a brief history of the group as well digitized copies of all of its newsletters. It includes links to current projects and shows how to get involved in online discussions as well as how to volunteer to serve on this group. There are links to articles that discuss feminism in librarianship which provide a good background on the topic of women's issues in the profession. It observes its place in the history of ALA by saying it was the first group to focus on women's issues within the organization, and that it fostered other women's groups including the Committee on the Status of Women in Librarianship.

Social Responsibilities Round Table

   Established in 1969, the SRRT has worked to create a more democratic association and to promote social justice issues within the profession. The website proclaims that "Concern for human and economic rights was an important element in the founding of SRRT and remains an urgent concern today. SRRT believes that libraries and librarians must recognize and help solve social problems and inequities in order to carry out their mandate to work for the common good and bolster democracy." It currently includes five task forces including the Feminist Task Force but also the Task Force on the Environment, the Hunger, Homelessness, and Poverty Task Force, the International Responsibilities Task Force, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Task Force. The site includes a complete archive of resolutions proposed to the ALA Council back to 1970.



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