Социјалисшички феминисшички кактус.

The Women's Library and Information Centre Foundation (WLICF) in Istanbul is a non-profit institution founded in 1990. It is a library of women's artistic and literary works, but it also keeps collections of periodicals, manuscripts, personal documents, audio and video material, rare works and other sources related to women's life and reality from the Ottoman times until today. The library owns more than 14.000 books, 48 private archives, more than 469 periodicals, a lot of artistic works, paintings, sculptures made by women etc. This institution organized several symposiums and workshops, a lot of public conferences and readings, and prepared dozens of round tables and exhibitions. Among these activities, the Library published several books and works on a variety of projects concerning digitalization of old periodicals and sources. This paper presents the library itself, but also gives an overview of two phenomena that allow an essential understanding of the specifics of its activities in modern Turkey. One is the institution of waqf, the most convincing expression of solidarity and the mutual assistance of the population without which it is impossible to imagine urban life in the Ottoman Empire. In that way -- as a result of private initiative and investment of private capital, the Women's Library in Istanbul was established. The second phenomenon covered is the phenomenon of women, their position and role in society and especially their attitude towards books. The Women's Library, with its increasingly rich collection, is a kind of witness to the history and position of Turkish women and their creative spirit, a companion of their ups and downs, struggles and hopes, contradictions in which they are still torn between still deeply rooted traditional patriarchal values and the freedom they have won. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]