This study aims to examine in which ways the library of KvinnSam in Gothenburg contributes to gender studies. I examined how the work of KvinnSam can be viewed as a feminist project, what the work understands to be about and challenges that the library meets. Qualitative interviews with two librarians working at KvinnSam were performed, along with a one day visit. As a theoretical framework I used feminist theory, which is used in the analysis. A summary of earlier research and their methods is presented. The research of this study exhibited that the library may have an important role to play for further gender studies, and also in documenting records of women´s history. It was also discovered that the library experiences challenges in regards to legitimacy, often having to defend its existence. I have come to the conclusion that KvinnSam makes women more visible, and can therefore be seen as a feminist project, which seems to be the main focus within the work of KvinnSam.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the subject indexing in the bibliographic databaseKVINNSAM at Kvinnohistoriska samlingarna. the documentation and information centre·of Women's studies in Sweden.The focus of the study is the list of index terms produced at this centre. The paper tries to answer the following questions: a) How has the indexing developed? b) How can it be improved? c) Is there a need for feminist indexing? The method of the study is primarily observations and interviews. Texts and ideas by Birger Hj¢rland, D. C. Blair, Joan K. Marshall and others are used as a background. Women's studies in Sweden is described as a domain of its own. Women's studies often has difficulties in finding its literature because many systems for orga­nising and retrieving knowledge are sexist.The list of index terms is non-hierarchical and consists of about 2000 terms. These have been studied regarding form, scope notes, language, context, etc. The paper also suggests some improvements.

The aim of this thesis is to critically analyse the subject heading list in the database KVINNSAM at Kvinnohistoriska samlingarna. This list is intended for the retrieval of gender specific information and the subject heading women is implied. The main question is: which woman is represented in the list? The thesis analyses specifically the representation of disability, ethnicity and other sexualities than heterosexuality. Kvinnohistoriska samlingarna, the concept of gender studies and KVINNSAM is presented. Previous research concerning critical approaches to classification, which shows that classification systems and subject heading lists are products of their cultural and social contexts, is reviewed. The concept of intersectionality is used as a theoretical background. This is a perspective that theorizes how gender and other sociocultural power differentials such as ethnicity, race, sexual preference and ability/disability interact in the construction of subjectivity and material conditions of subjects. The thesis has its main focus on the Swedish research and discusses in what way the list is imposed by what the Swedish researchers Paulina de los Reyes and Diana Mulinari names a hegemonic feminism, a feminism that ignores differences among women and focuses on the Swedish, middle class, working woman. The method used is Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis. The results of this study shows that the subject heading list in the database KVINNSAM mainly represents a Swedish, working, heterosexual, able-bodied mother and that the lists’ possibilities to adequately represent other subjectivities is limited. / Uppsatsnivå: D

KvinnSam is stated to have had an important role in laying the foundation of academic gender studies. The initial organization was founded relatively long before the subject entered the academic arena, which places the knowledge organization of the field prior to the authoritative demand for it. This study aims to analyze events, initiated by the library, significant to the academic establishment of gender research from a discursive perspective. By utilizing the concepts of documentality and legitimacy, and cognitive authority the analysis answers the question of what active function and significance the library has had in establishing the academic field of gender studies. The empirical material is gathered from the libraries own archives on historical women associations, published accounts of librarians engaged in the organization and articles and debate pieces published in media. The historical method used results in no produced material but a controlled selection based on the theoretical approach and the placement of the accounts in a contemporary context. The analysis results in a review of both the official and informal constitutive forms the library has been situated in and its effects on legitimacy. It also covers the relations to the academic sphere as cognitive authority and the process of making an uninstitutionalised subject field considered veracious science. The most valuable conclusions are the library’s function to describe and value knowledge and thereby declare their scientific relevance, as well as the discursive significance of stating the field as a possible research domain by creating an academic infrastructure for it.

The object of this investigation is KVINNSAM, a Swedish bibliographic gender research database. KVINNSAM is at once a counter archive – founded to make accessible previously marginalized research by/about women – and a sub-database of Libris, the Swedish national bibliography in which such research has historically been marginalized. Previous investigations into KVINNSAM and its subject headings have neglected the perspective of the end users. Based on an anonymous questionnaire completed by 73 respondents, I find that 1) today’s KVINNSAM-users are largely satisfied with the contents of the database, but 2) consist of a heterogeneous group with conflicting standpoints regarding integral aspects such as whether KVINNSAM should strive for feminism or political neutrality. Using Gayatri Spivak’s ideas about sanctioned ignorance and strategic essentialism, I analyze the quantitative and qualitative data provided by the respondents. I conclude that the principal problem of KVINNSAM today consists of the fact that the female perspective adopted by the list of subject headings adheres to a traditional binary view of gender. The gender binary is perceived by the users as reactionary, and as risking to further marginalize already structurally subordinate groups such as queer and non-binary subjects. Based on Hope A. Olson’s suggestions that feminist knowledge organization be based on flexibility, connectedness and inclusivity, I suggest that the problem might be ameliorated by rethinking gender, from norm to filter. I further conclude that the next logical evolutionary leap for KVINNSAM is a shift in format to linked open data.

The main focus of this master’s thesis concerns the relation between subject representation, power and gender. Classification systems and subject heading lists are products of their cultural and social context and some subjects and disciplines are given a greater value than others. Our aim in this thesis is twofold; to discuss and critically analyse the prevailing gender norms that are expressed trough classification systems and subject heading lists and to examine how they manage to represent gender studies as a multidisciplinary subject in theory as well as in practice. We are also discussing the particular problems with the representation of multidisciplinary subjects in general. The analysis is grounded in the field of gender studies, where feminist, masculinity and queer theory are included, and the area of critical classification theory. The classification systems and subject heading list that are discussed here are DDC, SAB, SAO, LCSH and KVINNSAM. In the case of DDC and SAB, the analysis concerns the hierarchal structure and principal arrangement of subjects. The focus in the analysis of SAO, LSCH and KVINNSAM is on the assigned subject headings and the lists’ possibilities to adequately represent gender studies. The result of this study shows that both the systems and the subject heading list have considerable problems with integrating and fully representing gender studies as a multidisciplinary subject. It also shows that the available vocabularies for describing gender and feminist literature are very limited. The practise in indexing and classifying multidisciplinary subjects in general are neither sufficient nor consistent. / Uppsatsnivå: D