Representation of women composers in the library

REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN COMPOSERS IN THE LIBRARY. For several years, I have been endeavouring to increase the Whittaker Library’s stock of music by women composers, and scholarly literature not only by but also about women composers. As a small library in a small specialist institution, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, resources are not limitless, but it has been possible to make this project one of our priority areas. I shall outline the measures taken to build up stock in this area, alongside building a dedicated page on the library’s portal. Running alongside this, there has been similar drive to improve representation of music by composers of colour. Over and above all this, a colleague has been working with some of our academic colleagues in terms of EDI in course reading lists, as I shall also describe. Recognising the limitations not only of budgets, but also the comparative availability of materials by and about women only a few short decades ago – not to mention historically – my presentation will hopefully provide food for thought, underlining the importance of close collaboration between the library and academic colleagues.