Book Review: Women and librarianship

Abstract

Reviews the significance of the report: Women and librarianship, produced by Patricia Layzell Ward and published by the Library Association in 1966; as the first major UK academic study of its kind. The importance of this report stems from its timeliness, coinciding both with the emergence of the Women’s Liberation Movement and the long overdue election of the first woman, Lorna Paulin, to the post of Library Association President. Although great pains were taken in the report to stress the unfair treatment suffered by women library workers, the fact that the library profession at that time was still commonly using the marriage bar precluded a more radical tone, calling for social justice for women workers, even though that might have attracted more attention. The report’s genesis is traced to a 1962 series of management lectures arranged by the Association of Assistant Librarians in which staffing problems, notably the position of qualified married women, were raised. Despite an initial muted reception in the professional press, many of the report’s recommendations have since become familiar aspects of the contemporary library employment scene, albeit with different terminology. Two of the report’s major findings are reviewed: the lack of part-time posts which might allow women to pursue paid work; and the difficulties facing women competing for senior posts. Reference is made to selected, recent UK-focused publications in order to explore the ways in which these issues have been developed up to the present.