The Women’s Art Library began as an artists’ initiative that developed into an arts organization publishing catalogues and books as well as a magazine from the early 1980s to 2002. The main purpose however was to provide a place for women artists to deposit unique documentation of their work. WAL collected personal files that functioned together as an alternative public space to view and experience women’s art. Thousands of artists from around the world are represented in some form in this collection.

As part of Goldsmiths Library Special Collections, the Women’s Art Library continues to collect slides, artist statements, exhibition ephemera, catalogues, and press material in addition to audio and videotapes, photographs and CD-Roms. We welcome donations from women artists to help us develop this collection. Please see Artists’ Documentation.

The Women’s Art Library (MAKE) is located in the Library’s Special Collections Suite on the ground floor. The Suite’s audiovisual equipment includes integrated projection facilities for group use and a slide table. Independent researchers as well as students and staff are welcome to consult the collection. Proposals for group object-based teaching using items from the collection are also encouraged.