They made me believe in myself: women's stories

Abstract

On International Women's Day the Faculty came together to share stories of their working and academic lives. Through conversation, coffee and using sticky notes a collection of student and staff stories was formed detailing the importance of friendship, connectivity and the creation of self-belief. Bringing students and all staff (not only academics) into the conversation supported inclusivity but also required courage to participate. The lightning talk summarises the themes from the stories told that day and looks forward to live library and library book events in the future. The event created a space for people to come together and although we had a focus on International Women's Day this format could be used to prompt conversation about a wide range of topics and so is both portable and transferable. In curating future events we will be more aware of the power of 10-15 second video clips in capturing the atmosphere as the participants respond to the focus of the day.