More than 30 Spanish libraries come together to give voice to works by female writers

As is the case every year, the Monday closest to the feast day of Saint Teresa of Ávila (15 October) sees the commemoration of Women Writers Day, a celebration organized by the National Library of Spain to mark the work and legacy of the women who have written throughout history.

To mark this annual event, the libraries of Camilo José Cela University (UCJC) and the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) have organized a campaign entitled Relatos compartidos (Shared stories), in which they have invited library professionals to record themselves reading literary works by leading women writers in the public domain. 

Shared narratives

An initiative involving open access audio readings to raise the profile of women in literature. 

Listen to all the audio readings

The result is over thirty audio readings produced under Creative Commons licences. There are readings in Catalan, Galician and Spanish and they are available to everyone. The campaign's website has all the recordings, accompanied by the name of the volunteers and the library they're from. The audio files of the texts by the various writers will also be compiled and gradually presented in video format to make the content more accessible and easier to listen to.

"We are pleased with the positive reception the campaign has had. Dozens of volunteers from public, university and specialized libraries all over Spain have joined," explained Marta Isabel García Rodríguez, the organizer of this UCJC Library initiative. "The aim of all the libraries was to build a 'shared story' of the legacy of women in literature, and to make it available to everyone on the internet," added Mireia Castillón, an expert in gender issues at the UOC Library.  

The period for participating in the campaign and adding new voices to the project will continue until the end of December. Those wishing to take part must register beforehand with the Relatos compartidos campaign, and accept the conditions for taking part.

 

Libraries working towards the Sustainable Development Goals The Network of Spanish University Libraries (REBIUN) is encouraging libraries to contribute to the UN 2030 Agenda's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by establishing and participating in partnerships that contribute to achieving these goals and raising the profile of libraries.

Follow the hashtag #RelatosCompartidos on social media. 

The participants

• Pablo Asensio, Elena Escar i Rosa Serrano, of the Library of the Higher Polytechnic School (Huesca), University of Zaragoza
• Lola Valdés Morales, Isabel Lara Díaz, Aurora Romero Rodríguez, Esperanza Gutiérrez Alvarado, Diana Clemente Castro, Pilar Sastre Velasco, Rafi Carrasco, Aurora Mora Gil and Leonor López Aseñeiro, of the Library of the University of Huelva
• Rosa María García Ruiz, of the Ciempozuelos Municipal Library Almudena Grandes
• Carlos Fernández Morán and Begoña Morán Martín, of the A. Rodríguez-Moñino / M. Brey Public Library of Cáceres
• Charo Beltrán, Ana Gistau and Ana Marco, of the University Library of Zaragoza (Administration)
• Mª Dolores Pirón Valero and Silvia Casas Losada, of the Biomedical Library of the University of Zaragoza
• María Isabel Rubio Garlito, Elena Tranque Martínez and Belén Gómez Sánchez, of the Cáceres Central Library, University of Extremadura
• Luisa Maria Remacha and Pilar Vela, of the Education Library of the University of Zaragoza
• Erika Pascual, Juani Montoro and Luis Carrera, of the Library of the Higher Technical College of Industrial Engineering of the Technical University of Madrid
• Alberto Galán, of the Library of the Faculty of Business and Public Management, University of Zaragoza
• María Isabel Casal Reyes, of the University of Santiago de Compostela
• María Antonia Báguena, of the Library of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Zaragoza
• Luis Alberto Martínez Llorente, of the Ciudad Naranco Library
• José Ramón Martínez, of the Municipal Public Library of Benalmádena Arroyo de la Miel
• Mercedes Santiago Calvo, of the European University Miguel de Cervantes
• Luis Sancho Marín, Isabel Campos Fernández, Andrea Sanz Magdalena and Marisol Sánchez, of the Library of the Hypatia School of Engineering and Architecture of the University of Saragossa. 
• Laura Bordonaba Plou, Consuelo Marco Simón, María Pilar Marcos Oliva and Nuria Maturana, of the University Library of Zaragoza (central services)
• Marta García, of the Camilo José Cela University Library
• Mireia Castillón, of the UOC Library

Experts

• 

  Mireia Castillón

  Operative subgroup: Law and Political Science resource manager, vocational training, gender perspective Operative group: Library for Learning