Debrief notes

> ZLuC 2019 Salt Lake > Debrief notes

Saturday July 20

Breakout session 3, 2:30-3:45pm

Session name: Debrief group time! All together now!

Facilitator: Rebecca

Note takers: Jenna, Lauren, & Honor

A ZLuC assessment will go out before too long. 

ZLuC has been going on since 2009

  • Everyone is part of it as much or as little as you want to be. 
  • Please follow up as you like, on the email list or however, all throughout the year. 
  • The community is open and meant to be welcoming. 
  • Hey, you can do this, in this remote community, but also in your own communities. 
  • Shout-out for POC travel grant. 

Loves (Jenna note taker)

  • Thanks organizers: got to see a lot of SLC, got to know it a little and how cool it is, what the zine scene is like x2
  • Thanks organizers helped people find housing, providing home stays, coordinating them
  • First conference where I didn’t actively think about leaving librarianship
  • Awesome mix of people who are experienced and people are new to zine librarianship. Thank you for sharing. 
  • Loved the program zine: space for notes, something to review later, inspiring and fun
  • Had a lot of fun
  • The idea of zine librarianship is relatively new, so excited that it’s something I can do
  • Gratitude, positive experience, glad boss let me come. 
  • Glad to have academic librarians to connect with. 
  • Meeting folks from all over, but also meeting librarians from nearby to where the ZLuC is hosted. Connecting with folks from region of where the unconference is hosted.  Friendship and accountability.
  • “Punk rock nerd camp” looks forward to it every summer, real-time interactions. Shit gets done. 
  • Being part of ZLuC has helped my project evolve as it has. 
  • This community, the connections I’ve made, amazing group of people. Love being part of it. Thank you all! Organizers especially. 
  • Appreciated vegan options at every meal and snack
  • Appreciated the existence of a quiet room, even if I didn’t use it
  • Loved having so many people who are not from SLC, seeing your interest in our city, taking time from your jobs and your lives to come here. (acknowledges preconceptions about Salt Lake City). 
  • My heart is full. 
  • Liked having a facilitator who set an agenda, shared it, etc. 
  • Outreach session was my favorite. 
  • Loved the zine reading and the Q&A with readers afterward, how they feel about having their zines in libraries. Great to have folks who are zine makers but not also zine librarians and zine fest organizers like we are. 
  • Inspirational that zine librarians are so willing to be ourselves, to share ourselves (be multiple selves). “It’s hard to be weird and a competent professional.”
  • Cool to get to know more about zines, and get to know more about unconferences. 
  • Public transit, especially from the airport

Takeaways (Lauren notetaker)

  • What the zine scene is like in SLC and how that can transfer to different communities
  • So many questions answered about zines in libraries and zine librarianship
  • Connecting zine creation with standards in k-12 education to get teachers more engaged in using zines in the classroom
  • Donate a zine to their collection and making copies to distribute
  • Inspired to do zine work in libraries.  Not just workshops, but throughout many aspects of job responsibilities
  • A lot of notes and ideas that are percolating 
  • Possibility of mentorship from people met at ZLuC.  Affinity/Interest group formation.
  • Energized from real time interactions.  Being in the same space together, shit gets done.  
  • Each ZLuC is special and unique, process for planning is iterative and ongoing.  Thinking about what can be coordinated in one’s hometown.
  • Favorite session was outreach and storytelling – how zines are the medium to tell so many different kinds of stories.  Tactile. Visual. Keep, save away, throwaway (recycle). Can be taken anywhere and shared with anyone. The work that we do in libraries, and as zine enthusiasts, we are the best advocates for this community.  
  • Great to connect with zinesters at the zine reading.  Important to not just talk to librarians about perspectives.
  • Experience of attending an unconference – anthropologist.  

Improvements (Honor)

  • Handouts of recommendations for facilitators; guidelines/how to/encouragement to participate
    • This could be a zine! ACTION ITEM!
    • Note takers Identify action items; spend 5 minutes at end of session and identify folks willing to take on action items
    • Establish goals for start of conversation, maybe better use of whiteboards
    • +1 for facilitators toolkit; 
  • Quick recap on first day about this is an unconference, this is what that means/context for owning your experience
  • One library has meeting standards/best practices posted in every room, does a quick check in before each meeting
  • Ice breaker on first day would have been a good way to ease into the conference, meet folks you might not be in sessions with
  • Contacts for attendees: Juli meant to do an attendee list, now she has an ACTION ITEM!
  • For attendee list: it would be helpful if folks could identify their area of interest
  • Housing was expensive; issue with multi-level marketing scheme convention jacking up all the prices–future organizers should be mindful of external events that might eff everything up; maybe the local tourist office could help with this?
  • Never made it to zine making space b/c so much other awesome stuff happening, but if it were more central, maybe they might have
  • Jargon dictionary zine to help bridge conversation between folks with tons of zine experience but less library experience/librarians with not so much zine experience
  • Acronym finder 
  • New articles for zinelibraries.info
    • Is anyone willing to take on this work? wrangling/delegating
  • Make zine at each as part of feedback; action items
  • Next year have program with cut outs for use in creating feedback/takeaways/words advice zine  
  • More consideration/programming for early career folks/students
  • More zine recommendations! Because we like reading things!

ZL(u)C 2020

Facilitator: Jenna

Notes: Honor

Better long term planning: announce two years out if at all possible

Maybe can’t make decisions here, but would like to have a conversation and get things moving

Also mini ZL(u)Cs–we are us, you can declare at will; we can be one or many (we contain multitudes!)

Community has tried to move around to different regions, not having too many in a row on one coast/on region

Violet Fox wants 2020 in Montreal, not clear what the details are, but should be nailed down soon

Discussion points:

Advantage to having organizers who have attended; but this may limit locations/limit to folks able to travel elsewhere

  • Local organizers have always had the option of asking past organizers; but didn’t necessarily realize it; can this be made explicit; 
  • Would be great if a current organizer had formal advisory role;
  • If planning 2 years out; possibly organizer elect; organizer; organizer advisor
    • Juli felt like Violet’s toolkit so awesome that this might be overkill

Accessibility:

  • Financial
  • Physical

Location considerations:

  • Extant zine culture?
  • What zine collections are in the city? 
  • Multi-institution vs. single space
    • Bureaucratic issues with larger institutions
    • Grid Zine Fest strongly embedded in community, so able to organize social events in conjunction with SLCP/Marriott Library; for Marriott, longer time line might have helped pushback against some bureaucratic stuff
  • Public transit super important
    • Especially from airport

Can we form a 2020/2021 deciding committee here? 

  • What is time commitment, when is it most intensive
  • Deciding committee process:
    • Criteria for being considered
    • Call for submissions
    • Assess submissions

Deciding committee:

Ari (2 years), Josh (either year), Juli (this year), and Matt (this year)