Our friend and zine scholar Kiyoshi Murakami recently gave a presentation on how important the local aspect of zine culture can be. You can see his presentation notes online: Zine Culture and Locality/Regionality: The Significance of Practices Derived from That Relationship (consider using DeepL for a more accurate translation). Murakami describes the significance of small local publishers to cultural formation in local communities. He also talks about the usefulness of zine events like workshops or zine fests, and recommends zine archiving as a valuable practice, suggesting that zine libraries might best be created in partnership with public libraries, public museums, and community centers.

The Read/Write Library in Chicago has a pop-up exhibit happening now through July 21st at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum. After being closed for three years, it’s great to see the library back in action! The Read/Write Library collects books, comics, journals, newspapers, and zines published by those in the Chicago area.

The pop-up also included an abridged history of the library written by founder and executive director Nell Taylor.

• February 2006: In the middle of a blizzard, forty strangers gather at the now-defunct Mercury Cafe in West Town to discuss the project. People bring materials to donate, and more keep coming after. Volunteer librarians and archivists convene weekly in my Humboldt Park apartment to devise new approaches to cataloging and presenting collections that prioritize representation and self-determination. At first, we would call it Chicago Underground Library, using media to connect the dots between different creative communities—ones that might exist for only brief moments in apartment galleries, basement DIY venues, or purely as ephemera. Very quickly, we expanded beyond creative material to draw connections between neighborhoods, cultural and political movements, and everyday residents of the city.
• Fall 2006: We move the growing collection into a filing cabinet in the basement of MoJoe’s Hot House, a coffee shop in Avondale. Anyone interested could learn how to catalog the library material through our Cataloging Socials.
• Fall 2007: MoJoe’s is sold. The collection finds a new home at Butchershop, a gallery and studios for artists and musicians on Lake Street. Still humble in size, the growing library now occupies two filing cabinets.
• Winter 2008: The arts and activism-focused publication AREA Chicago and the artist residency inCUBATE form the Orientation Center in a storefront at the Congress Theater in Logan Square, and invite the Underground Library to be a partner in the space.
• Winter 2010: Center closes. We move the collection into the lobby of Red Tape Theater, in the parish house of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in East Lakeview.
• January 2011: Another Chicago blizzard blows open the windows of the parish house and buries half the collection in snow. Thanks to quick work by conservation volunteers, most of the materials are salvaged (you may notice some crinkly zines here). The library leaves St. Peters; we begin programming Pop Up Libraries in Uptown, Logan Square, and elsewhere throughout the city to keep the collection public as we look for a new home.
• Fall 2011: The library returns to Humboldt Park in a new and permanent location, and we change its name to Read/Write Library in recognition of its unique, participatory, and community-driven nature. Pop Up Libraries continue as a regular part of the programming, tailored to the locations and audiences of our partner schools, arts and community centers, and others across the city—even in other cities and states.
• Winter 2017: After years of developing our programs, we triple the size of our Humboldt Park space, making room for expanded activities and collection access. As the collection reaches new audiences, it continues to grow, filling out the larger space.
• Winter 2021: The gentrification of Humboldt Park catches up with us. Rising rental costs force Read/Write Library to leave after a decade in the neighborhood, fifteen years after we first convened there. The collection goes dark, placed in storage.
• Spring 2024: Read/Write Library returns! With the summer Pop Up Library at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, one of Chicago’s historic centers of community-driven cultural production, we are excited to reopen the library to readers and contributors.

July is International Zine Month!! IZM was created in 2009 by Alex Wrekk (Stolen Sharpie Revolution, Brainscan, etc.) to celebrate zines and zinesters. There’s a list of suggested activities at Alex’s website, Stolen Sharpie Revolution. Use hashtag #IZM2024 to share what you’re doing. Make a special note of Sunday July 21st, which is Zine Library Day! The traditional way to recognize Zine Library Day is by visiting a zine library and bringing them a tasty snack. Consider planning an event in your library!

The 2024 International Zine Month flyer was created by Alex Wrekk.

Love this image! It was created by Nina Zina of Echo Zines, a feminist zine distro.

image by Nina Zina of Echo Zines

June 9th marked the launch of the South Side Zine Library, located within the Richard J Daley Branch of the Chicago Public Library (3400 S Halsted St in Bridgeport). The new library is a partnership between Chicago Public Library, Quimby’s Bookstore, Zine Club Chicago. Founded by Cynthia Hanifin, the library got an excellent kickoff with readings, zine making, and a punk a capella performance.

Really enjoyed this insight into the zine collection at the Asia Art Archive (AAA) in Hong Kong. In the article “Hong Kong zine librarian Sam Chao on the importance of keeping an accessible archive,” Kelly Ho of the Hong Kong Free Press describes the collection, of which 70% is created by artists based in Hong Kong. The collection includes what is likely the city’s first official zine catalogue. The Zine Librarians Code of Ethics also gets a shoutout.

Be sure to check out all four parts of the Hong Kong Free Press series on Hong Kong’s zine scene.

An article in Vassar College’s student newspaper by Luke Jenkins, “Library hosts Research Zine event,” highlights the library’s zine collection. Their recent “Zines For Research” event helps students see the potential for using zines in research projects and theses. Always great to see a Cats Hate Cops mention!!

Lovely to see a big celebration of twenty years of the zine collection at Barnard College! The article “Wild Words: The Zine Movement at Barnard Turns 20” has info about the idea behind the Barnard Zine Library and the Barnard Zine Collective, both started by zine librarian Jenna Freedman.

The first Reed Zine Fest, to be held March 30, 2024, was organized by Reed College (Portland, Oregon) librarians Ann Matsushima Chiu and Chlöe Van Stralendorff. An article in the Reed College magazine, Risograph Dreams by Megan Burbank, highlights their work coordinating the fest and offering other tools like a risograph machine and zine-making kits. If you’re in the Portland, Oregon area, go check out the new zine fest to support their work!