LILAC talks to Gay Wellington

Our guest speakers this month were Alison and Mari from LILAC, the Wellington Lesbian Information, Library and Archives Centre.

LILAC is a collective of 12 women who have been operating the lending library since September 1994. What's amazing is that LILAC is unique - there's no other service like it in New Zealand.

The library at 64 Cambridge Terrace has a range of lesbian material including books, DVDs and magazines which you can browse from the electronic catalogue on their website. New items arrive each month so there's always up-to-date material to look at. Their New Zealand and Australian collections are really comprehensive.

The group recently introduced an 'outreach' service to the Kapiti Coast and is considering whether to expand further afield.

Since 2010 LILAC has also run a bookclub on the last Thursday of the month.

One message we took from the talk was that if you're a lesbian or bisexual woman, LILAC is definitely a place to visit. It's a women only space and a great location to go to if you're coming out and you want to start making connections or do some personal research. Although there's a modest membership fee if you want to withdraw books, it costs nothing to visit, browse the collection and chat to the volunteers.

Thanks Alison and Mari for coming along, it was fantastic to hear what your group is doing for the local community!