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A Dream Became Reality Twenty Years Ago
The story of the foundation process of the Kadin Eserleri Kütüphanesi ve Bilgi Merkezi Vakfi (Women's Library and Information Centre Foundation) in Istanbul is a long one. When I started to explore this project in 1985, it seemed more like an impossible dream than a serious project. When in 1988 I met another of the future co-founders, Sirin Tekeli, it was still a dream but no more an impossible one. A subsequent meeting with three other future co-founders - Jale Baysal, Füsun Akatli and Füsun Yaras-Ertug - turned the dream into a serious project.
The Aims of the Foundation
In December 1989, the founders established the legal status of the Library, which was then opened to the public on 14 April 1990 in its current premises.1 The Library has celebrated its twentieth anniversary this year (see the separate conference report below). These twenty years have been a long process of struggle for the survival of the Library and the organisation of the collections. According to the Foundation Bill, the purpose of the Library is 'to gather knowledge about the history of women, to present this information in an organised way to those who do research today and to preserve the written documents of today for future generations'.2 The Foundation Bill further states: 'Documentation of women's history is a source of empowerment for women, as women have had limited access to education, to public expression and publication. In a number of cities all over the world, information centres, archives and libraries related to women have been formed in order to document women's lives and deeds and to facilitate research in the area of women's studies, based on this multifaceted collection of material.'3
The Acquisition Process
The Istanbul Women's Library and Archives cannot collect every written, oral, visual and three-dimensional document related to women. Although it is the only institution in Turkey to collect such materials on this scale, it has its limits. Generally poorly funded, the Library has more collections to pursue than its means allow, while it is also very conscious of the risk that material can be lost or destroyed.
Regarding the documents that we cannot acquire - for financial reasons, because of limited space, policy decisions...