Nottingham Women’s Library: ‘Staying true to community roots’

Thursday, 2 October 2025 Books+Publishing

With libraries, their work, and free access to information under increasing threat around the world, B+P and the Melbourne UNESCO City of Literature Office reached out to libraries in other designated cities of literature to ask them about their libraries, their systems, their triumphs, their challenges, and the messages they want to share with the world.

This week we hear from Nottingham’s Women’s Library in England:

Not only does Nottingham have a rich literary history, it also has a significant role in the fight for women’s rights in the UK.

The establishment of Nottingham Women’s Centre in 1971, one of the oldest Women’s Centres in England, played a key role in this battle. It’s also home to the first feminist library in the city, originally founded by Sheelagh Gallagher, Lorraine Meads, and other members of the Nottingham Women’s Centre.

In 2014, the feminist library was relaunched as the Nottingham Women’s Library. Staying true to its community roots, the library’s transformation was spearheaded by Nottingham Women’s Centre employee Zaimal Azad and a dedicated group of supporters. Today, the library is still run by a mix of volunteers and Nottingham Women’s Centre staff. ‘The library has always been there to provide a quiet and safe space for reading and meeting to share things from local history, politics, culture and various literature,’ said library volunteer Hélène ‘Ellie’ Gvozden.

Nottingham Women’s Library

The library is a library by women for women, and the library adopts a trans-inclusive and intersectional definition. Books on the shelves must have been written by women; books edited by men are permitted, enabling them to include as many women’s voices as possible. Any woman can browse, but borrowing operates on a tiered membership: unwaged members pay £2 (A$4), students/pensioners pay £5 (A$10), and waged members pay £10 (A$20) to join.

‘We try not to duplicate “on a shoestring” what public libraries already do’, explained Nottingham Women’s Library volunteer Ursula Ackrill. ‘Whilst it is important to have woman-centred leisure reading, this is also available in public libraries. On balance, the Women’s Centre Library seeks to represent a substantial share of literature that aims to be progressive, to politicise women and ultimately change the imbalance of power and improve the quality of life for women.’

The library still holds most of its original books and publications, including rare feminist literature from the 70s and 80s. ‘There are some older fiction and non-fiction books relevant to global women’s experiences, women’s studies, feminism, activism in a local and wider context,’ said Gvozden.

The collection operates on donations, with local citizens and organisations often gifting books to the library. Volunteers are responsible for seeking out and curating donations. For example, volunteer Nicola Fisher organised a highly successful sports and travel book drive in 2019, with an outstanding response (even including books from Australia!). Some of the donors were athletes, including the first woman to climb both sides of Everest, Cathy O’Dowd, to the first woman to run the Boston Marathon as a numbered entry, Katherine Switzer. Authors Alexandra Heminsley and sports journalist Anna Kessel also donated.

Nottingham Women’s Library

‘We also update the collections by asking for donations when this is appropriate. It is in the remit of volunteers to identify material that is a good fit for our collection and contact authors and editors to enquire whether they would donate a copy,’ said Ackrill. ‘We look out for what is progressive, respective of gender justice and LGBTQIA+ rights.’

Instead of using pre-existing systems and their identified biases (such as the Dewey Decimal system), the library has developed its own cataloguing system. This includes sections such as ‘Sexism and Racism in Education’ and ‘Feminism Awareness’, reflecting the library’s unique collection.

Aside from providing a space to read, relax and discover Nottingham’s feminist histories, the library also runs book clubs, workshops, a writing group and events and exhibitions in partnership with other organisations. For example, the library collaborated with the University of Nottingham for ‘Dear Sisters’ activists archives’, that explored the legacy of second-wave feminism; Feminist Book Fortnight and the Being Human Festival to run writing workshops; the Nottingham Green Festival, where the library showcased books and library materials; and a feminist magazine de-duplication project where the duplicates were gifted to the University of Nottingham and are now used in teaching and research.

With its diverse history, heritage and community, what lessons can be shared from this library? For Ackrill, it’s the library’s readers who have taught her the importance of psychological safety in order to engage with reading.

‘In an unsettled or distressed state of mind people often find reading just can’t happen for them, even practical self-help reading,’ she explained. ‘Reading is a contributor to restoring some psychological safety, and it’s very helpful to have a library you can go to, a women-only space, such as the Nottingham Women’s Library. Being connected to other women’s minds by reading their work is a service that the library offers constantly, by being open.’

‘I have learned about the importance of keeping a space with material relevant to local, national, and international women’s liberation, feminism and other relevant subjects tied to what the centre represents,’ said Gvozden. ‘There is a network of libraries, organisations, authors, readers etc, who have a similar mindset around the world. It is vital to express the importance of writing and reading and include everyone in this, and for us particularly – women, trans women, and non-binary people.’

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