Derek Potts, zine librarian at DePaul University’s Special Collections and Archives, was featured in this Chicago Magazine article, “Why Anthony Rayson, Anarchist Grandpa, Sends Zines to Prison.”
DePaul zine archives highlighted
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How Zine Libraries Are Highlighting Marginalized Voices
Zines have long been a way for marginalized communities to record their stories and organize. Zine libraries are making sure those histories aren’t forgotten.
“How Zine Libraries Are Highlighting Marginalized Voices” is an excellent BuzzFeed article by Rosie Knight features zine librarians Jenna Freedman, Alana LaBeaf, Dawn Wing, zinester Zahra Swanzy, and art historian Marissa Del Toro discussing the power of zines.
Zine Union Catalog: investigations and explorations
Librarians/zine librarians Jenna Freedman and Lauren Kehoe are both working on their
Master of Arts in Liberal Studies in Digital Humanities at the CUNY Graduate Center, and as part of their studies they’ve been able to work on various projects around the Zine Union Catalog. There are thorny metadata issues involved in collocating such disparate metadata as are found in catalogs that describe zines, and their investigations of the problems and potential solutions are getting us closer to the idea of a shared zine catalog. Read more about the project they just wrapped up this semester in their latest blog post: “Doing Things with Novels: Final Project (aka Catalogers as Authors, Metadata as Annotation or how Jenna and Lauren used ZineCat to write a paper using catalog records).” We’re all grateful for the time and effort Lauren and Jenna have given to this effort!
Master of Arts in Liberal Studies in Digital Humanities at the CUNY Graduate Center, and as part of their studies they’ve been able to work on various projects around the Zine Union Catalog. There are thorny metadata issues involved in collocating such disparate metadata as are found in catalogs that describe zines, and their investigations of the problems and potential solutions are getting us closer to the idea of a shared zine catalog. Read more about the project they just wrapped up this semester in their latest blog post: “Doing Things with Novels: Final Project (aka Catalogers as Authors, Metadata as Annotation or how Jenna and Lauren used ZineCat to write a paper using catalog records).” We’re all grateful for the time and effort Lauren and Jenna have given to this effort!
ZLuC 2019 will be held in Salt Lake City!
The ZLuC 2019 Site Selection Committee is pleased to announce that the 2019 Zine Librarians unConference will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah! They’ll have three organizations helping to make ZLuC 2019 happen: Grid Zine Fest, the Salt Lake City Public Library, and the Marriott Library at the University of Utah. Their exciting and thoughtful proposal made it clear that ZLuC in SLC will be absolutely amazing!!
Organizers will announce a date as soon as possible, but they expect it to be in the summer of 2019.
Thank you so much to the folks who submitted proposals and to the members of the 2019 selection committee: Sharon McKellar, Violet Fox, Jolie Braun, Elissah Becknell, and Elizabeth Bastyr.
Michigan State punk exhibit highlights zine collection
Michigan State University has an extensive collection of zines, and many of them are on display on the new punk exhibit in MSU Libraries Special Collections. Exhibit curator Joshua Barton describes the zeitgeist of punk zines and highlights the uniqueness of the collection in this article from the Lansing City Pulse.
Accepting proposals to host ZLuC 2019
We’re now looking for proposals to host the 2019 Zine Librarians unConference! Find the proposal submission form here: https://goo.gl/forms/RdJKOqJpuvZVKPq62.
Please note the shorter submission period this year: the proposal submission deadline is Friday November 30th.
For more information about hosting ZLuC, explore the websites of previous ZLuCs and view the newly created ZLuC Organizers Toolkit. The ZLuC 2019 site selection committee (Elizabeth Bastyr, Elissah Becknell, Jolie Braun, Violet Fox, and Sharon McKellar) is excited to see your proposal!
ZLuC Organizers Toolkit
The ZLuC Organizers Toolkit is now available! The document is intended to be a living document, so feel free to add or edit information.
ZLuC organizer toolkit draft
The Zine Librarians unConference (ZLuC) is an annual-ish gathering of library/archives workers, zinesters, and anyone who cares about zines in libraries and archives. ZLuC started in 2009 and has moved around the U.S. in order to allow people from a variety of areas to attend.
In order to facilitate the organization of this unconference, a draft of a ZLuC Organizer Toolkit has been created. This document should be useful to people who are interested in hosting ZLuC at their institution. If you’ve attended or organized ZLuC or a similar unconference, please take a look at the draft and add content or let us know what’s missing.
Thoughts on zine librarianship from Salford
Ingrid, one of the folks who helps run the Salford Zine Library in England, has a great post up about zine librarianship. She discusses issues that come in a zine library and the approaches the volunteer staff take in addressing those issues, which are informed by but can be different than those in traditional libraries.
In this post Ingrid touches on digitization, cataloging, and the broad concern about respecting and seeking out zinesters’ consent in having very personal material available within a public space. Looking forward to reading more of Ingrid’s thoughts as the SZL volunteers thoughtfully contend with these important considerations.
International Zine Library Day
Once again the time is upon us to commemorate International Zine Library Day, observed every July 21st! Read more about the event and figure out a great way to celebrate, whether by visiting your local zine library, donating your zines to a library that collects zines, or sharing your thanks with those who make zine libraries happen. Find a zine library near you using Barnard Zine Library’s worldwide list. Use hashtag #IZM2018 to follow along with all the International Zine Month events.
A heartfelt thank you to all the zine library workers out there who help to make zines accessible to everyone in a myriad of different ways. Please be sure to take time to treat yourself today!
