The collection at The Women’s Library is made up of donations from our generous members and supporters. We thank you for considering a donation of books or other materials to The Women’s Library.

The Library is currently interested in receiving book donations that are in excellent condition and meet at least one of the following criteria:

– Non-fiction written by women on issues relating to women such as women’s history, feminism, violence against women, women’s activism, women and politics, women and work, women and the arts, or women around the world.

– Fiction, plays, and poetry by Australian women writers

– Fiction by women writers published in the previous four years

– Feminist fiction

– Lesbian fiction

– Publications by a women’s press (e.g. Spinifex Press or The Women’s Press)

If you wish you donate materials, please email the The Women’s Library first at enquiries [at] thewomenslibrary.org.au. We will be in touch to arrange a date and time for you to drop off your donations during library hours. Where possible, we would like you to to supply a list (or photos) of publications, as this allows us to check if we already have them in the collection.

Although appreciated, the The Women’s Library cannot accept all donations due to space and resource limitations. We may not add an item into the collection for the following reasons:

– It duplicates existing items already in the collection

– It is in poor physical condition (i.e. yellowing, brittle paper, water damage, writing on pages, torn and/or missing pages)

– It falls outside the library’s areas of interest, such as novels by male authors

Also, periodicals may only be accepted if they are full runs or fill gaps in current holdings.

We cannot guarantee that all donations will remain permanently in the library collection. We will dispose of any materials that we cannot use by offering them to other organisations, selling them in book sales or recycling them.

We are sorry if this policy may inconvenience you. However, our space is limited, and without careful collection management we have to pay for the disposal of unwanted items.