Hello from Geraldine, NLLL volunteer

Hi – my name is Geraldine McAlinden. I am 32 years old and I am currently about to enter into my 4th year at Strathclyde University studying BA(Hons.) Arts and Social Sciences, majoring in History. I started Strathclyde in 2007 after many years of going from job to job not being very happy. I left school with few qualifications so I entered into an Open University course and gained two modules that were enough to get into university. I was not going to do anything with the Open University but I decided one day at work I wanted to do what I have always wanted to do and that was to be a historian or work in a museum capacity, and to prove to myself that I have the ability to study at university level, so here I am! I hope to go on to get a PgDip in Information and Library Studies and become a librarian next year.

I started with Glasgow Women’s Library around February/March 2010 after I heard about them from a friend. I wanted to gain experience in working in an environment that I was studying towards. I also have a passion for women’s history for I feel they only get small recognition throughout historical teachings. Much of history is from a male perspective and women have played an active role behind these men but no one really knows about them.

At the moment I help the National Lifelong Learning team, from helping to produce leaflets to transcribing oral testimonies – the latter I love doing. I have also become great friends with the guillotine but this is only because of the fantastic events, open days and seminars that the Library has run, to let people know what we are doing. I will be heading down to Wigtown on the 28th September to help with the library’s “Her-story” workshop and road-show at the Wigtown Book Festival fringe and I am looking forward to it very much.