Male stacks, Female gaps

Second talk in Abergavenny Library

25th October 2025, Second talk on the Mezzanine at Abergavenny Library

We have a growing group of people attending the second talk, of all ages.  People from the last session came back, plus there were new faces. I was surprised and delighted to hear one attendee had delayed the start of her holiday to be there and the library staff had fielded many phone calls about the talk.

This time I introduced the works of Elizabeth Frink, some in the group know her work well and for others it was completely new.  We discussed several of her works, which were most poignant and the issues that arose from consideration and discussion.

Method

The method of actually choosing the books on artist women to the library collection is something I am unsure of as yet. 

I’ve started an online survey here and am collecting ideas during the sessions in the library.  I welcome more responses to add to the artists we are considering adding to the library’s stock.   I reckon it is a good idea to choose an initial three to add as soon as possible, to begin to see progress as this project has been a long time in brewing!  This is a really exciting phase, getting it out publicly.  I am holding back from doing everything at once and doing things slowly and thoughtfully.  I have huge knowledge gaps, which is exhilarating to fill!

I have begun searching university websites to find out if there is any research being carried out on library stocks and published books on artists.  A blocker to the research is that catalogues, in both libraries and museums, don’t usually have gender dis-aggregated information on their collections to allow us to see the difference.

Research on UK-wide libraries 

What I am most interested in is what is visible on the art shelf.  Asking the librarian in Abergavenny library I find that all the art books they have are on the shelf or on loan. They only put books in the store if there are more than one copy and neither on loan.  I really need people around the UK going into libraries near them to count the books on the shelves on individual artists who are male and female, because what is visible is what matters in this project. An approach for maximum impact and availability of books on artist women is to target one library in each county so that borrowers can request a book, even if it’s not at their local library.  The ideal is that more books on artist women are visible and readily available.

I am trying to find out if there is any research being carried out on:

• Artist monographs / books about individual artists

• Gender disaggregated information on UK public library stocks, by subject of the book e.g. an artist

• Current UK library stocks

First ambassador 

Another big positive from this second talk is that I now have my first ambassador!  I am both looking for local ambassadors in and around Abergavenny to amplify my efforts, to help with research to understand the position we are starting from and for ambassadors around the UK to facilitate in a library near to them.  UK wide ambassadors could create their own version of sessions on the art section of their library, starting with counting the artist monographs, facilitating talks and curating the selection of artist monographs for their library.  I am guessing that people might like to see both internationally renowned, UK and regionally based artists reflected in their collections.  It’s important that people looking at the shelves can see a variety of artists and can be inspired by a wide range of practices.

I would like the selections of art books to be curated by the people who know or are interested in the subject of art, rather than being a stochastic (randomly occurring) selection formed by happenstance of what a librarian decades ago thought was suitable, because things have changed!  Therefore, talking to interested people locally, art students and researchers at a-level, degree, masters and PHD levels is a great start.

Glasgow Women’s Library 

Last week I spoke with Adele Patrick, founder of the Glasgow Women’s Library, about my project and their project ‘We make museums’ which has been running for eighteen months discussing and critiquing how objects and texts make their way into collections. What comes in and what doesn’t.  Several years ago I did briefly visit the GWL and I think the time is right to visit again to see and understand the whole set up.

Next talk

On Saturday 22nd November 11am-noon we’ll have the third talk in the series, this time the artist I’ll feature is painter and printmaker Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (see https://www.barns-grahamtrust.org.uk/).  I have recently seen some of her prints at the Sidney Nolan Trust  and I’ll introduce her work, along with progress of this whole project. From late October next year Tate St Ives will have an exhibition of her work.