The Joy Fergoda Library: Bringing the Margins to the Center
Emma Hoppough
Photos by Rafael Velasco
When I was in high school, my mom would wave me out of the car on rainy mornings with a reminder: “Please just go to the library before class!” Instead, I would roll my eyes and meet my friends in the stuffy gym locker room—a place where we could theoretically goof off, but where we usually just complained about the weather before trudging to first period. I can’t explain my past aversion to the library—I always loved books, and English was my favorite class—but something about it, about the eagle-eyed librarians and the textbook-focused collection, never drew me in.
Fast-forward to 2017, when I stepped timidly into the Joy Fergoda Library in the UC Davis Women’s Resources and Research Center (WRRC): immediately, I spotted cushioned chairs, tea and coffee, and studious-looking undergrads dotting the cozy space. Looking more closely, I realized that it was not a typical library at all. The shelves were filled with books written by women authors, and with topics ranging ranging from ecofeminism to Native American mythology. The counter held pamphlets on self-care, and the hallway outside displayed a poster about gender-neutral pronouns. This was a library I felt comfortable in.
Although the library occupies just one room in North Hall, it feature an increasingly large collection and an impressive history. Named for the WRRC’s first full-time librarian, the Joy Fergoda library opened in the 1970s with only 150 books on the shelves. Nearly 50 years later, that collection has grown to hold over 12,000 books, films and more; meanwhile, its mission has similarly expanded to focus on student self-care, intersectional feminism and judgement-free learning. But how can such a small space meet these ambitious goals?
To learn more about the library, I spoke with three people who know it best: Mary Rasooli, the first-ever student library coordinator and a recent UC Davis graduate; Lulu Zhang, the library’s Volunteer of the Year and a graduating US History major; and Jessica Castellon, the assistant director of education for the WRRC. Our conversations showed me that the Joy Fergoda Library’s small-scale collection does not limit its impact, but instead enables it to address large-scale issues one Dewey Decimal number at a time.
Q: IN YOUR OWN WORDS, WHAT IS THE GOAL OF THE JOY FERGODA LIBRARY?
Mary: I think this is a different type of library...Here you can find so much on queer theory, gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity—all these things that affect all of us, that we don't necessarily have access to or that we might not be comfortable going in spaces [to request information about].
Lulu: While students are spending their time here, they get to learn more about gender equity. Even in the restrooms—we have two gender-inclusive restrooms to expose students to the idea that you can challenge the gender binary norms. On the back of the door on each stall, right now, there are two statements: “You are valid,” and “I love you.”
Q: BUT WHY SEPARATE THIS COLLECTION FROM THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY? HOW DOES THE SPACE—THE WRRC—AFFECT HOW STUDENTS INTERACT WITH THESE BOOKS?
Jessica: When it’s a larger collection, it’s easier to get lost. We have some autonomy and agency to pick what goes in our library...For example, we have zines, comic books, poetry books. Sometimes these things aren’t seen as scholarly, but we feel like they are scholarly because it’s knowledge, so we’re bringing the margins to the center.
Mary: We look at what [artists, writers or poets] have released and published recently, and pick and choose what fits for our center. For us, it’s really anything; we want to be able to represent an array of subjects. For the most part a lot of the books we have here, Shields [the university library] doesn’t have. It’s just really new stuff.
Q: GIVEN THAT THE LIBRARY IS PART OF A “RESOURCES AND RESEARCH” CENTER, WHAT RESOURCES DOES IT PROVIDE FOR STUDENTS?
Jessica: We have multiple material resources in the library: coffee and tea, printing services, a charging station, blue books for finals and midterms, a GRE loan program for folks to check out study materials and a reserve library for classes.
Lulu: There are lots of flyers, pamphlets and resources for people of different needs. We don’t just provide people with information on birth control, we also provide them with [information on] how to help yourself and your friends during a crisis: how to fight depression, accidental pregnancy, stalking behavior and more...It’s pretty radical, now that I’m telling you about it.
Q: ARE THERE LIBRARY-SPECIFIC PROGRAMS AS WELL?
Mary: We run the Feminist Dialogues speaker series [a collaboration with the Feminist Research Institute]. We want folks to have access to these individuals who have gotten through academia or maybe aren’t doing stuff in academia but are impacting the way we produce knowledge in some other way...We had someone [participate in the series] who had their PhD in different forms of parenting and mothering, so she gave us a really cool talk about her research. It was a way for people to meet someone who had graduated but was also still doing work in academia—and really cool radical work.
Lulu: The library also has a program called STEM Cafe. It provides free tutoring for people—especially women—in STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics]. Twice a month we have a set date and location; you just come in with your questions.
Q: SO WHO CAN USE THE LIBRARY? WHO CAN COME INTO THE WRRC?
Jessica: So many people use our library. There are particular folks who feel safe in the space—I think queer and trans, femme folks do feel safe in this space to come in, eat their lunch, have dialogue. A lot of our volunteers for STEM cafe are men—but I think they come with the understanding that we’re doing this with a feminist perspective
Lulu: Some male students told me that because it’s called the “women’s” center they thought it was for women exclusively, which is not right...Anyone can come, no matter your identities.
Q: ARE YOU HOPING TO SEE ANY CHANGES IN THE NEXT YEAR?
Mary: I want to see more engagement with students in the library. Students come here for our tea, our coffee, our quiet spaces and printing resources, but I would like to see us do more long-term programming, like ways to engage people with the amazing literature that we have and all the cool stuff we’ve been ordering for the library.
Q: LASTLY, DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE BOOK FROM THE COLLECTION?
Mary: I like Salt, by Nayyirah Waheed. Her poetry is incredible. It’s pretty new, and she’s just someone we wanted to support because she’s amazing.
Jessica: I love the children’s books; I think what’s unique about our library is that we have children’s books that focus on race and class and gender. I love the one called [Morris Micklewhite and] the Tangerine Dress: it’s about a child, assigned “boy” at birth, who plays with gender identity. People, especially first-time parents, are trying to teach their kids these concepts.
Lulu: 100 Most Important Women of the 20th Century—it’s a brief overview of influential women...I remember reading about a Chinese revolutionary woman who I didn’t read much about before I came here. It’s kind of like, if you have a four-year college degree, you should know these women; otherwise, how could you claim that you went through college?
You can find the Joy Fergoda Library, part of the Women’s Resources and Research Center, in the first floor of North Hall at UC Davis. To learn more about the library and the WRRC, check out these links:
Joy Fergoda Library database
WRRC website
WRRC Facebook page (for events & scholarship news)
Emma Hoppough is a recent UC Davis alumna. When she’s not writing or painting, she’s probably planning a picnic or rewatching episodes of The Office.