Workshop co-ordinator: Lourdes Vazquez,
Rutgers University Library New Jersey, USA
E-mail: lvazquez@rci.rutgers.edu
We used women's biography as a point of reference, and discussed many issues in the context of individual institutions' and individuals' own experiences in the field of archiving women's biographical information.
Six representatives spoke for 15 minutes each, we then had a question and answer session then drew up a list of resolutions for the future.

Anne-Marie Eriksen, Project Manager and Research Librarian, Kvinfo, Denmark
She discussed Kvinfo, the Danish Centre for Information on Women and Gender, a free and open research library on women's and gender studies and equality issues. She works on a Database of Danish Women Experts, which first available in 1995, and which is currently being updated. This database is needed to give visibility to Women's expertise in all sectors of society, and to provide candidates for interviews, boards and committees, lectures and conferences and jobs. The basic ideas are to include as many different women in different fields of reference, as diverse as possible, because a more inclusive database can develop later through networking. It is important to establish the credibility of the network, to be consistent, to get the expert's approval before entering the file on the database, to get adequate resourcing for constant updating, and to be sure to catch new experts and new areas of expertise. It is planned to make the database international in the future.

Karen Marten, Gay and Lesbian Archives, South Africa
She spoke about the archive, which started last year. She sees the need to excavate existing material, and to solicit new information to give every woman a voice. She discussed the different kinds of information that can be found from public and private discourses, and noted that public information can be much more personal and enlightening than private letters or diaries. She discussed the relationship between an individual and the donation of information and the limits that a donor might impose, such as time barriers on when the information may be made public. The archive has recently set up an oral history project, and was having difficulties representing all voices. In a research project about black lesbians over 60, there were no volunteers, we discussed possible causes and how to represent marginalised women, and how to use information safely.

Sherill Redmon, Sophia Smith Institute, USA
The library was described as being like the Schlesinger Library, in age, scope, geography and size. It is open to the public and tries not to be exclusive or elitist. It is listed on the World Wide Web and is in the Mapping the World project. Sherill talked about a large collection that had been donated by Phyllis Birkby, an athlete turned architect who got involved with lesbian consciousness raising in the 1970s, and worked internationally as a feminist architect. When she died in 1994 she left all her papers and $30000 to the feminist library. The money was used to build an exhibit to Phyllis, with the aim of getting many famous feminists from the 1970s to donate their papers to the library also. This story is remarkable because the collection is wonderful and includes tapes, maps, illustrations, minutes and reports.

Iynur Irasoglu, Oral History Project, Turkey
The women's library in Turkey was founded in 1990 and was the host to the 1st International Conference on Women's Information. The building was donated by the council, without funding, so it is staffed entirely by volunteers. The Oral History Project started in 1998 as a small budget, pilot project, funded by a government department, The Department of Advancement of the Position of Women. The aim of the project is to research oral history as an alternative to women's history as seen in modern Turkey. Common universal problems are encountered in trying to reach and integrate women from less privileged backgrounds, in part because it is difficult for the women to relive their pain and hardship when telling their stories. The library is working to gather videos, photographs, biographies of Turkish writers and painters and all different kinds of women from Turkish history and society and to collect personal information, tapes and transcriptions. The library is on the point of becoming a research centre, and receives cataloguing services from the university.

Ruth Lambach and Dorothea Jacobson-Wenzel, Truman College, Chicago, USA
Truman College has students from all around the world, from many different backgrounds, and with many different experiences. It has been described as the 'Ellis Island' of Chicago, in that it is a big melting pot. They are working on an Oral History Project, aiming to represent women from all around the world, and giving everyone a voice. Particular issues they often encounter are:- Loss of status faced by refugee women - on arrival in America they often have to redo academic courses, while adjusting to life in a new country, working a couple of low paid jobs, and caring for their families. Dissolution of the family - when coming from a war zone the family may disperse all over the globe, so family ties may be cut. Perceived lack of morals in American society - crime, violence and representation of sexuality in America can be seen as a lack of morality, or at least a big difference from the previously known society.
They have been working with the refugee program since 1992, and study several generations concurrently. They have produced 4 books in a series called Keep in Touch (KIT), published by Carrier Pigeon Press, and maintain contact via newsletter.

Marion Schulz, Foundation of Study of Women's Literature, Germany
She started work in 1986, in university space as a non-profit making organisation. She is working on a research and data collection of women writers in Germany from 1945 to the present. They aim to include women with at least 1 fictional work and celebrate the diversity and creativity of women. The database now contains 80000 monographs, 15000 anthologies by 15000 authors and translators. The biographies contain women's personal information of their own choosing. It is used to answer questions on women's literature that are not answered by the canon of literature, but it is also great for conducting large, interdisciplinary, comparative studies of women's lives and showing trends over the last 50 years. It is good for scholarly research, journalists, publishers, promoters, librarians, archivists... It is published on CD-ROM and constantly updated. It is a wonderful tool and Marion would like others to use her ideas to establish further databases.

Not Discussed
Lourdes Vazquez planned to make a presentation discussing the sensitivity of private documents, and censorship from within and without the women's movement. Her report will be published in the follow-up book.

Questions
How do we deal sensitively with family relationships of still living lesbians?
If she is 'out' she can go in a database, but not for public view, in order to protect her. There is not a written policy on this topic at the German centre, but care is taken because of past discrimination. We need written documents - contracts against change in politics to protect individuals.
Censorship is an issue, but don't feminists censor too?
In South Africa there is a policy to allow donors to decide how their material will be accessed, but this is difficult to honour and maintain. In Germany the computer searches and information retrieval possibilities are huge, but there are difficulties with the law over sensitive issues of privacy. In the USA records are sometimes kept in storage in order to protect individuals and to differentiate the public from the private.
Archivists, how do you decide what to keep?
How do we make our libraries inclusive and stop silencing ourselves?
How do we consider cultural sensitivity?
We are restricted by space, money, time and censorship. Some information is more suitable for 1 kind of collection that another. In Australia, extra material is sold to finance new acquisitions. It transpired that aboriginal works and work from other marginalised women were being sold, and more mainstream texts were replacing them. This caused under representation of marginalised women even further. For some cultures preservation is a double edged sword, we try to maintain culture without repeating colonial oppression.
We have lots of questions, can we keep talking and brainstorming on these issues?
We will set up a listserv for 6 months or a year.

Summary
We looked at databases, archives, public access, sensitivity and censorship, surface and deeper information in written biographies. We need to dig in our own closets and find our own histories. We need more archives. We need more histories. We need to be aware of cultural and individual sensitivities, and respect the difference between public and private. Sometimes violence or oppression comes to you because of your presence in a database. Oral history is particularly important because writing is a privilege not all women enjoy. By collecting oral histories we can represent illiterate women, women who use non-written languages, and collect traditional information from rural women, preventing its loss. We will push the idea of collecting more information and using to promote the status of all women. We will bring out records of women's history where there is no record yet. Biography is a living discourse. It is important to meet women in the flesh and continue this discussion.

On Record
We are committed to administering oral histories and documentation that protect the individual. Informed consent should be obtained before using any information gathered.

Resolutions
These are resolutions in principle, but we agree that they are still flexible concepts.

* We will show sensitivity, respect and acknowledgement towards all biographical and oral women's information and data. Ethical consideration includes all of this.

* We will encourage the collection of women's oral stories and life histories.

* We will start written records of women wherever we don't yet have them.

* We will use this information to increase women's visibility.