Library Resources in Women's Studies
Mount Saint Vincent University has long been recognized for its library resources relating to women. Shortly after her installation as president in 1965, Dr. Catherine Wallace proposed the idea of developing library and archival collections in the area of women's studies. At first, the collection was limited to sources on Canadian women, but over the years the mandate has expanded to include sources on women all over the world.
In 1985 Petro-Canada provided funding for an endowment to enable Mount Saint Vincent to acquire library material relating to women's studies. This has helped to make the Mount library housed in the E. Margaret Fulton Communications Centre, an important resource for research on women.
Although the Petro-Canada Fund permits the ongoing purchase of library resources relating to women, the Mount has also been active in seeking funds to purchase special collections. A grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) made possible the purchase of the Gerritsen Collection on microfilm. It consists of 4,576 titles relating to women's history and the feminist movement. In 1983 SSHRC funding was also instrumental in the purchase of The History of Women Collection. Compiled by Research Publications, it consists of nearly 8000 monographs, 2000 pamphlets, 800 photographs, and 66 periodicals on 1200 reels of microfilm.
Also, the following books, available in the library, may be of particular interest to Women's Studies students:
Luebke, B., & Reilly, M. E. (1997). Women's studies graduates: The first generation. NY: Teacher's College. (HQ 1181 U5 L84 1995)
Griffin, G. (Ed.). (2005). Doing women's studies: Employment opportunities, personal impacts and social consequences. London: Zed Books. (HD 6134 D65