Is the Women’s Library an unaffordable luxury?
London Metropolitan University’s decision to try to divest its responsibility for the Women’s Library should raise real concerns across the …
London Metropolitan University’s decision to try to divest its responsibility for the Women’s Library should raise real concerns across the museum sector.
If no new sponsor or home is found for the library by December, its collections will essentially be mothballed and services reduced to an unrecognisable level. It will open just one day a week, lose most of its staff, and its exhibitions, and public and schools programmes will all come to an end.
London Met suggests that the new higher education funding arrangements (reduced public funding of universities to be replaced by increased student fees) have contributed to its decision. If this is the case, then how secure are other university museum and research collections, especially those housed at financially less well-off universities?
Will competition to charge “affordable” fees in a bid to gain student numbers see more institutions deciding that special collections are an unaffordable luxury? And how might that sit with universities’ responsibilities to other funders?
The Women’s Library opened in its current purpose-built, award-winning premises thanks to securing £4.2m from the Heritage Lottery Fund and substantial match funding from trusts, charities and individuals. Much of this funding was secured on the premise of opening up the collections and making them widely available and accessible.
And it has happened: audiences have grown enormously and diversified. If the collection is moved, how likely would it be for the new holding institution to be able to provide the same access to such a wide variety of people?
A campaign to Save The Women’s Library has been initiated by trade unionists and supporters of the library and we remain hopeful that a positive outcome will be possible for this unique collection.
However, ours is not likely to be an isolated case and the wider question as to the future of our collective heritage is increasingly urgent. We need to work together to find answers that ensure that nationally and internationally important collections, such as those held at the Women’s Library, can continue to survive and even thrive in this climate of austerity.
Gail Cameron, Save the Women’s Library Campaign
If no new sponsor or home is found for the library by December, its collections will essentially be mothballed and services reduced to an unrecognisable level. It will open just one day a week, lose most of its staff, and its exhibitions, and public and schools programmes will all come to an end.
London Met suggests that the new higher education funding arrangements (reduced public funding of universities to be replaced by increased student fees) have contributed to its decision. If this is the case, then how secure are other university museum and research collections, especially those housed at financially less well-off universities?
Will competition to charge “affordable” fees in a bid to gain student numbers see more institutions deciding that special collections are an unaffordable luxury? And how might that sit with universities’ responsibilities to other funders?
The Women’s Library opened in its current purpose-built, award-winning premises thanks to securing £4.2m from the Heritage Lottery Fund and substantial match funding from trusts, charities and individuals. Much of this funding was secured on the premise of opening up the collections and making them widely available and accessible.
And it has happened: audiences have grown enormously and diversified. If the collection is moved, how likely would it be for the new holding institution to be able to provide the same access to such a wide variety of people?
A campaign to Save The Women’s Library has been initiated by trade unionists and supporters of the library and we remain hopeful that a positive outcome will be possible for this unique collection.
However, ours is not likely to be an isolated case and the wider question as to the future of our collective heritage is increasingly urgent. We need to work together to find answers that ensure that nationally and internationally important collections, such as those held at the Women’s Library, can continue to survive and even thrive in this climate of austerity.
Gail Cameron, Save the Women’s Library Campaign