Teaching Gender with Libraries and Archives (Teaching With Gender: European Women's Studies in International and Interdisciplinary Classrooms)

Invites teachers and students in gender and women's studies to engage with the library not as an instrument for knowledge, but as a subject and object of knowledge in its own right. The authors and editors had three specific aims. Firstly, to highlight how Gender Studies and the institutions and practices that preserve and disseminate feminist knowledge are historically and systematically intertwined. Secondly, the necessity to reflect on the symbolic meaning and practical institutionalization of libraries and archives as they are undergoing profound transformations under the influence of new (technological) developments; finally, to engage with the question of how these transformations give way to new ways of producing, preserving and disseminating feminist knowledge through practices situated between the force fields of cultural and academic institutions, material and virtual culture, and the collective imaginary. ... Contributions From Iceland, Cyprus, The Netherlands, France, Belgium, Italy, The Uk, Italy And Germany Showcase Archives And Libraries As Lively, Fast Changing And Thoroughly Political Spaces, Where Students Can Engage Both Critically And Creatively With A Multitude Of Feminist Practices, As Well As Reflecting On How The Relationship Between Power And Knowledge Is Enacted And Materialized In Particular Libraries And Archives. Each Chapter Offers Suggestions For Activities And Discussions That Can Be Used In Or Adapted To Teaching Settings.--atgender Website: The Library As Knowledge Broker / Sara De Jong And Saskia Wieringa -- Parallels In The History Of Women's/gender Studies And Its Special Libraries / Karin Aleksander -- Institutionalizing Activist Legacies / Silvia Radicioni And Virginia Virtú -- Searching For Women In The Archives: Collecting Private Archives Of Women / Svanhildur Bogadóttir -- Core Feminist Texts In Europe Online: Teaching With The Fragen Database / Sara De Jong, Gé Meulmeester And Tilly Vriend -- Teaching Gender-sensitive English As A Foreign Language Through Databases: Local Practices And Beyond / Véronique Perry -- (re)searching Gender In A Library / Fabiënne Baider And Anne Zobnina -- Information As A Tool For The Empowerment Of Women / Caroline Claeys -- Reflections On Glasgow Women's Library: The Production Of Cultural Memory, Identity And Citizenship / Tanita L. Maxwell -- Beyond The Bun Lady: Towards New Feminist Figurations Of Librarianship / Sanne Koevoets. Edited By Sara De Jong And Sanne Koevoets. Includes Bibliographical References. "Teaching Gender with Libraries and Archives: The Power of Information' invites teachers and students in gender and women's studies to engage with libraries and archives not only as storehouses of knowledge, but also as objects of reflection in their own right. When writing and compiling this volume, we had three specific aims in mind. Firstly, we wanted to highlight how gender studies and the institutions and practices that preserve and disseminate knowledge about gender issues are historically and systematically intertwined. Secondly, we saw the necessity to reflect on the symbolic meaning as well as the institutionalized practices of libraries and archives as they are undergoing profound transformations under the influence of new (technological) developments. Finally, we set out to engage with the question of how these transformations give way to new ways of producing, preserving and disseminating knowledge through feminist practices situated between the force fields of cultural and academic institutions, material and virtual culture, and the collective imaginary." TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS LIST OF TABLES INTRODUCTION SECTION 1 HISTORIES/LEGACIES The Library as Knowledge Broker Parallels in the History of Women's/gender studies and its special libraries Institutionalizing Activist Legacies SECTION 2 PRACTICES Searching for Women in the Archives : Collecting Private Archives Of Women Core Feminist Texts in Europe Online : Teaching with the Fragen Database Teaching Gender-Sensitive English as a Foreign Language Through Databases : Local Practices and Beyond (RE)SEARCHING GENDER IN A LIBRARY Information as a Tool for the Empowerment of Women SECTION 3 UTOPIAS Reflections on Glasgow Women’s Library: The Production of Cultural Memory, Identity and Citizens hip Beyond the Bun -Lady: Towards New Feminist Figurations of Librarians hip ANNEX CONTRIBUTORS

This volume invites teachers and students in women's studies to engage with the library not as an instrument for preserving and disseminating knowledge (including feminist knowledge), but as a subject and object of knowledge in its own right.