The Sedigheh Dowlatabadi Women’s Library
Established in 2005 Library Hours: Sat–Wed Tel/Fax: (+98) 21 88 80 42 06 womenlibraryir@gmail.com |
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In commemoration of March 8, International Women's Day, the Women's Cultural Center NGO planted two seedlings: The Sedigheh Dowlatabadi Women's Library and the Sedigheh Dowlatabadi Book Prize for best literature on women's issues.
Sedigheh Dowlatabadi is an early forerunner of the Iranian women's rights movement whose efforts to achieve equality during the Constitutional Era have left an enduring legacy.
During her long life, she succeeded in establishing the first girls’ school, first women’s magazine, first women’s association and first library for women. 
The Women’s Cultural Center was established in 2000 to strengthen women's social participation and promote women's equality through cultural, educational, consciousness-raising, and advocacy activities.
The Center established a specialist library devoted to collecting and highlighting women’s contributions throughout all spheres of society. The Sedigheh Dowlatabadi Women’s Library offers a wide collection of resources on women's and gender studies to support and promote these disciplinary fields in Iran.
In 2006, the library was separated from the Women’s Cultural Center in order to preserve its autonomy and promote the institutionalization of multiple centers of women's activities. The library is currently administrated by a Board of Trustees in cooperation with Roshangaran and Women's Studies Publishing House. 
Library’s contents:The library includes books, periodicals, articles, and audio and visual materials in women’s fiction and women's studies. The collection includes materials in Farsi, English, French, German and Arabic, which have been produced in Iran and elsewhere throughout the world.
The library’s facilities and services include:
- Selecting and ordering materials on women’s issues
- Cataloging and classifying references using the Library of Congress classification system
- Cataloging periodicals
- Helping visitors find resources for study and academic research
- Copying and scanning services
- Book lending
- Library website
- Supporting the establishment and strengthening of libraries outside Tehran
- Providing consultative support to women’s libraries outside Tehran
- Providing books to women’s organizations and libraries outside Tehran
- Training workshops in basic library science
- Film screenings
- Free legal counseling for women
- Awarding the Sedigeh Dowlatabadi Book of the Year Prize to the best fiction and non-fiction books on women
Organizational structure:The Board of Trustees oversees the library's administration. Select members of the Board also serve as heads of the library's working committees. The library's affairs are managed in coordination with the Board and the working committees. The library is staffed by volunteers and is maintained by individual donations. Every year, the donors' names are printed in the Book Award brochure and displayed on the website and in the library. The library does not receive any financial support from governmental or non-governmental institutions.
