IN 1991 FIVE WOMEN’S DOCUMENTATION CENTERS from different regions, each with health as a primary focus, met in a roundtable conference to try to develop a common core collection of resource materials on women and health. Originally, the five women’s centers conceived of a single core collection. This core collection was seen as representative not only of the width and breadth, but also of the high quality of productions on women’s health issues and concerns. It was soon realized though that, since together they represented three languages, it made more sense to develop two or three collections: one in English, one in Spanish, and perhaps another one in Portuguese. The five centers were ARROW (Malaysia), Cidhal (Mexico), Isis International (Chile), Sos Corpo (Brazil) and the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective.

The books featured here make up the core collection of the Boston Women's Health Book Collective, a pioneer in women and health issues and the publisher of "Our Bodies, Ourselves", a classic guide to women's health for nearly 25 years. Their core collection, according to the BWHBC, might serve as a "startup" library collection in health or a "useful health component added to a collection with a broader focus".

We at Isis are particularly keen in promoting the BWHBC Core Collection, not only because all the books in it are available in our own resource center and library or because one of our own books made it to the list. Many of the books in BWHBC's list have received good feedback from our library user s and readers. If we are made to draw up a list of the most frequently borrowed books in our library, a number of BWHBC's top choices will most definitely be on it.

1 in 3: Women with Cancer Confront an Epidemic edited by Judy Bride (Pittsburgh: Cleis Press, 1991); Challenging the Culture of Silence: Building Alliances to End Reproductive Tract Infections by the International Women's Health Coalition; Women and Development Unit-University of the West Indies (New York: IWHC, 1994); Changing Bodies, Changing Lives by Ruth Bell (New York: Random House, 1987); Close to Home: Women Reconnect Ecology, Health and Development Worldwide edited by Vandana Shiva (Philadelphia, New Society Publishers, 1994); Freedom from Violence: Women's Strategies from Around the World edited by Margaret Schuler (New York: UNIFEM, 1992); From Abortion to Reproductive Freedom: Transforming a Movement edited by Marlene Gerber Fried (Boston: South End Press, 1990); Immigrant Women's Health Handbook by the Immigrant Women's Health Centre (Toronto: IWHC, 1988); Natural Healing in Gynecology by Rina Nissim, translated by Roxanne Claire (New York and London: Pandora Press, 1986); Norplant: Under Her Skin by Barbara Mintzes, et al. (Amsterdam: Women's Health Foundation and Eburon, 1993); Organizing Strategies in Women's Health: An Information and Action Handbook edited by Lakshmi Menon (Manila: Isis-Manila, 1992); Reproductive Rights and Wrongs The Global Politics of Population Control (revised edition) by Betsy Hartmann (Boston: South End Press, 1995); Taking Population Out of the Equation: Reformulating I=PAT by Patricia H. Hynes (North Amherst, Massachusetts, Institute on Women and Technology, 1993); The Health  of Women: A Global Perspectives by Marge Koblinsky, et al. (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1993); The Menopause Industry: How the Medical Establishment Exploits Women by Sandra Coney (Alameda, California: Hunter House, 1994); The New Our Bodies, Ourselves: A Book by and for Women (4th edition) by Boston Women's Health Book Collective (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992); The New Ourselves, Growing Older: Women Aging with Knowledge and Power by Paula B. Doress-Worters and Diana Laskin Siegal (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994); The Universal Childbirth Picture Book by Fran P. Hosken and Marcia L. Williams (Lexington, Massachusetts: Women's International Network News, 1981); Vaccination Against Pregnancy: Miracle or Menace by Judith Richter (Amsterdam: Health Action International and BUKO Pharma-Kampagne, 1993); Violence  Against Women: The Hidden Health Burden, World Bank Discussion Paper No. 255 by Lori L. Heise, Jacqueline Pitanguy and Adrienne Germain (Washington DC: World Bank, 1994); Women and Disability by Esther Boylan (London: Zed Books, 1991); Women and Health by Patricia Smyke (London: Zed Books, 1991); Women and HIV/AIDS by Marge Berer and Sunanda Ray (London: Pandora Press, 1993); Women as Wombs by Janice G. Raymond (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1993); Women's Health: Readings on Social, Economic, and Political Issues (2nd edition) edited by Nancy Worcester and Marianne Whatley (Dubuque, Indiana: Kendall/ Hunt, 1994).

For more information about the books, write or email Isis International-Manila, or the Boston Women's Health Book Collective: Box 192, West Somerville, MA 02144, USA.