“From Indie to Institution” article

Posted on February 12, 2020 by Violet

This From Indie to Institution article in The Harvard Crimson by Elyse D. Pham describes the differing environments of the zine collections of the Papercut Zine Library and Harvard’s Schlesinger Library. Though the institutions are less than a mile apart in Cambridge, Massachusetts, their differing focus is clear, with preservation and research access being key at Schlesinger while Papercut establishes a more reader-friendly vibe. The article is a short but excellent description of the wide range of what a zine library can be!

Still accepting ZLuC 2021 site selection proposals!

Posted on January 10, 2020 by Juli

The Zine Librarians unConference 2021 host site proposal form is accepting proposals until January 31, 2020.

You can find the form here: https://forms.gle/kp3Xxfk2PfQ96J387

Proposals are due Friday, January 31, 2020.

If you’d like to know more about what hosting ZLuC looks like, check out the websites of previous ZLuCs, the ZLuC Organizers Toolkit, and/or feel free to email juliahuddleston@gmail.com with any questions.

Zine library visit during ALA Midwinter 2020

Posted on January 10, 2020 by Violet

flyer featuring a photo of Debbie Harry reading a newspaper celebrating zines along with details about the zine library tour (same as in the post)

If you’re in Philadelphia or if you’re attending ALA Midwinter, please consider joining me on a visit to the East Falls Zine Reading Room on Sunday January 26. We’ll be leaving from the Philadelphia Convention Center at 12:10 pm (meet at the “meeting point” near registration) and taking the bus; we’ll be back by 2:30. This is free and unaffiliated with the official conference; no need to RSVP or be registered for ALA.

Article on zine fests at libraries

Posted on January 7, 2020 by Violet

“On the Zine Scene” is a new American Libraries article written by Diana Panuncial discussing how libraries have partnered with zinesters to bring zine fests to life. Libraries discussed include the Milwaukee Public Library, Hennepin County Library, Chattanooga Public Library, and San Antonio Public Library.

Master List of Zine Fests Around the World: 2020

Posted on January 1, 2020 by jenna

Alex Zamora, who runs the @fanzines accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, also maintains a lists of zine fests around the world. As of January 1, 2020, there are 52 events listed in 17 countries on 5 continents!

Tweet events @FANZINES or post them on Facebook.

Zine Union Catalog updates

Posted on December 3, 2019 by Violet

The team working on the Zine Union Catalog has been busy! Check out these recent blog posts to keep up with their work: Data Cleaning in OpenRefine, Ingestion, and Bibliography.

Podcast episode on zines in libraries

Posted on November 8, 2019 by Violet

CMLE (the Central Minnesota Library Exchange) is a regional multitype library system which supports collaboration between public, academic, school, and special libraries. Their Reading with Libraries podcast explores a specific genre each episode and features guest hosts who help give recommendations for great reading materials.

Episode 409 focuses on zines and features long-time zine librarian Violet Fox (me!). During the show we discuss zinelibraries.info, the Zine Librarians unConference, and the Zine Pavilion, as well as some recent young adult and middle grade fiction that includes zine making as a significant part of the storyline.

Sharing zine cataloging procedures

Posted on November 1, 2019 by Violet

The Franklin & Marshall College Library in Lancaster, Pennsylvania has a zine collection of a few hundred titles. In October, librarians Anna Boutin-Cooper and E Marcovitz gave a presentation at the ArLiSNAP virtual conference titled One Summer, Two People, & a Zine Backlog: a How-To for New Catalogers. (The presentation was recorded and should be available this month, I’ll update this post when it’s available.)

Their library has a zine collection of a few hundred titles, check out their LibGuide at library.fandm.edu/zinelibrary for more information about its scope. The presenters were also kind enough to share their library’s zine cataloging procedures for their WMS catalog, which have been added to our Zine Cataloging resource page.

If you have zine library related procedures or policies that you’d like to share, please get in touch, we’d be glad to link to them or host them on this site to help other library folks!

Queer Zine Library’s new online catalog

Posted on October 14, 2019 by Violet

Queer Zine Library, a London-based roaming DIY queer zine library, announced their new online catalog which describes about 25% of their collection of over 400 zines. They’re using LibraryThing to catalog their zines, with LibraryThing’s TinyCat as a front end to enable advanced searching on the collection.

Volunteer catalogers at the Queer Zine Library shared their thoughts and experiences in a blog post that’s well worth reading. They’ve also published their cataloging manual online which gives guidelines for choices made in cataloging zines.

Become a Zine Pavilion organizer

Posted on October 1, 2019 by Violet

The Zine Pavilion is a four-day celebration of zines in the midst of the American Library Association annual conference, which provides librarians from across the world the opportunity to talk with zinesters and learn more about getting zines into their libraries.

The organizers of the Zine Pavilion are library folks from the U.S. and Canada who once a year come together to make this magic happen. We’re looking for people who would like to help become part of the team to help plan the ninth Zine Pavilion, in Chicago from June 26-29, 2020.

Responsibilities of being a Zine Pavilion organizers include (approximately) monthly phone meetings and being willing to volunteer for tasks, which can include: arranging events, contacting zinesters, staffing the Zine Pavilion during the ALA conference, or other tasks. If you’d like to be a part of the fun, please fill out this form to indicate your interest or ask any questions: https://tinyurl.com/ZinePavilionOrganizerSignup.