BIPOC Travel Grant for ZLuC 2024

The BIPOC Travel Grant application (Google Form) is now available.  We are accepting applications through May 1 and awardees will be notified the week of May 13th, 2024.

Violet Fox will be organizing donations to support this fund, so please consider a contribution.  Violet can be found at:

Please mention “ZLUC” in the notes!

If you’d like to arrange an alternate form of payment, email violetfox@gmail.com

Cost Proposal

The Zine Librarians unConference community is overwhelmingly in support of charging a registration fee so that organizers can have a realistic sense of attendance, as well as to fund the BIPOC travel grant [link to come] and other unconference costs.

Based on discussions held at an “all-staff” meeting (to which all ZLuC volunteers were invited), we have determined that the lowest recommended registration fee will be $10. (Email the organizers if that amount is prohibitive!)

This is our recommended sliding scale. (We’re not going to audit your books!)

 

People from no budget zine libraries/archives $20
People whose travel is not funded $20
People with $1000 or less in travel funds $100
People with more than $1000 in travel funds $200
People from organizations that are willing to sponsor a meal, a service, a grant, etc. $250-$$2000
Other amount $??

Conference coordinators Gina, Jenna, and Lauren will share expenses and spending reports to the group at regular intervals and by request (with some lead time). Any funds left over at the end of the event will be used for travel grants for ZLuC 2025.

Structure Proposal

Introduction

The impetus to update how the (un)conference is run is that zine librarianship has evolved substantially since the first ZLuC, which was held in 2009. Zine librarians and archivists have discussed and enacted programs, instruction, cataloging, etc., based on these last 15 years’ worth of informal events. We’d like to keep the open spirit of the unconference alive by blending proposals as warranted (no proposal will be rejected) and playing program jenga at the beginning of the conference so people can attempt to attend as many of their priority sessions as possible.

Therefore, we will issue a call for proposals and, with a volunteer subcommittee, develop a tentative schedule. That schedule will be subject to reorganization by local and remote attendees. If interest warrants, we will also arrange for “birds of a feather” meetings for people who prefer discussion-based sessions.

Friday, August 2, 2023

Afternoon: Totally optional, only-small-groups-can-even-be-accommodated visits to:

  • Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
  • Riot Grrrl collection at New York University

Saturday, August 3, 2023

Full day, something like 9:30-5, leaving a good amount of time in the beginning for introducing the event, how it will work, breaking the ice, and adjusting or affirming the schedule.

Saturday evening: possible zine reading, maybe at Bluestockings?

Sunday, August 4, 2023

Half day, something like 9:30-1. Hack sessions

  • Zine Librarians Code of Ethics (honestly this could be the only hack, with 6-8 section groups)
  • ZineWiki
  • ?

Wrap-up

Afternoon visits to:

  • MoRUS (Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space)
  • ABC No Rio
  • Barnard Zine Library
  • Interference Archive

Schedule (just a sketch)

Friday, August 2, 2024

Afternoon library/archive tours, potentially

  • Riot Grrrl Collection at NYU
  • zines from the Schomburg Center

Evening: karaoke

Saturday, August 3, 2024

Conference all day

Evening: zine reading maybe

Sunday, August 4, 2024

Morning/early afternoon: unconference

Later afternoon library/archive tours, potentially

  • ABC No Rio
  • Barnard College
  • Interference Archive
  • Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space
  • Pratt Institute

Call for Propsosals

The CALL FOR PROPOSALS is up!!! Yes, we’re SHOUTING!

We would love your participation in this year’s 2024 Zine Librarians unConference (New York City) on August 3rd and 4th at NYU. https://www.zinelibraries.info/wiki/zluc-nyc-2024

***The programming working group will endeavor to accept every proposal made***. We may combine proposals if they cover similar topics or to make a miscellaneous panel with proposals that don’t overlap. *

We will consider proposals for remotely facilitated sessions, as well as in-person.

People may make as many proposals as they like, but we will limit presenters to two (2) sessions total so that we hear from a wider variety of zine librarians.

Proposals are due on April 30, 2024, and responses will be given by June 3rd. We will ask you to confirm your acceptance by June 15.

*(unless the consensus is that the topic is inappropriate for whatever reason, like any kind of bigotry)

For transparency’s sake, the programming committee, who will be deciding on the proposals consists of: A’misa Chiu, Emma Karin Eriksson, Jenna Freedman, Joshua Barton, Kelly Wooten, Libby Coyner, and Sharaya O. We will ask for additional feedback from people holding a wider range of identities, as needed.

Here’s the application form!

zluc-nyc-2024

Hand drawn NYC cityscape with a light blue sky and a giant red apple floating above the buildings. Sky text reads "Zine Librarians Unconference." Around the apple "Save the date! 2024." Inside the apple "Aug 3-4 @ NYU."

Graphic by Gina Murrell

The Zine Librarians unConference will take place at New York University on Saturday and Sunday August 3rd and 4th (with library tours on Friday afternoon, August 2nd).

Here’s the call for proposals! They’re due April 30.

The BIPOC Travel Grant application is now available.  We are accepting applications through May 1 and awardees will be notified the week of May 13th, 2024.

There are six subcommittees

  • BIPOC Travel Award
  • COVID, Accessibility, and Code of Conduct
  • Programming
  • Social media
  • Tech
  • Tours

We will use the Zines & GLAM Discord server for organizing communications. You can contact Gina, Jenna, or Lauren for more information or a Discord invite code.

Find us on social media! @zineluc on most platforms (or coming soon)

Schedule

This is a rough schedule for ZLUC 2023. The sessions are firmed up the day of and we are working on getting more details as we confirm. If you are joining us remotely, only Day 1 will have virtual sessions and we will get the links and info out about that soon. Help us decide on topics for ZLuC 2023!

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

East Bay Outing — Sign up for Sunday, August 6 East Bay activities!

Note: Details have yet to be confirmed but this is the tentative schedule.

  • 11am-12pm: Rock Paper Scissors Collective
    • Address for RPSC is: 2120 MLK Jr. Way, Oakland, CA
  • 12pm-1pm: Lunch and Travel
  • 2pm: ABO Comix
    • Address for ABO Comix is: 2520 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94612
  • 3pm: Oakland Public Library — Tour of OPL’s zine collection!
    • Address for Oakland Public Library: 125 14th St, Oakland, CA 94612

Code of Conduct

The Zine Librarians unConference (ZLuC) is a safer space, which means that it is intended to be a welcoming, engaging, and supportive environment free of oppressive actions, behaviors, and language. Participants are asked to consider how their language and behavior impacts others in attendance.

Harassing or abusive language or behavior will not be tolerated at ZLuC, including:

  • racism, sexism, classism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, and all other forms of discrimination
  • sexual harassment, stalking, or intimidation
  • inappropriate physical contact
  • disruptive or disrespectful behavior
  • action or language that makes other participants feel unwelcome or unsafe

Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.

Should an issue arise with a participant before the event, ZLuC organizers will listen to concerns and find a solution that is in the best interests of the community and the event being a safer space. ZLuC organizers reserve the right to limit attendance to the event for any reason.

Should an issue arise with a participant during the fest, ZLuC organizers will be available to mediate on-site and attempt to find a solution. ZLuC organizers reserve the right to ask any participants who are violating the safer space policy to change or address their unsafe behavior or language, or to leave the event. If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please notify one of the ZLuC organizers immediately.

We expect participants to follow these rules at all ZLuC event venues, including social events.

Accommodations & Getting Around SF

We looked into the dorms at USF but unfortunately they were not available to be booked for this event. We’re sorry about that, but we did try!

Lodging in the Bay Area can be a little more on the pricey side compared to other cities in the United States so we want attendees to know that:

  • Both ZLuC locations are easy to get to via public transportation
  • We do not endorse hotels 🙂 just offering as potential options on this list

Hotels Close to USF/SFPL

The majority of hotels in San Francisco are downtown and closer to SFPL. Hotels near USF are few and far between, since the university is in a residential area close to Golden Gate Park. ZLuC attendees looking to book a hotel might consider these options:

You can also look at hotels through websites like Kayak, Booking.com, or Expedia to compare prices of hotels.

Other Lodging Options

Lombard street has a number of motels that may be a little further from the venue but a little more economical. If you select a motel on Lombard between Fillmore and Van Ness you will be a short walk from a single bus ride to either venue.

There are a number of hostels in San Francisco and this travel blog has compiled a list.

Folks might have better luck looking at AirBnb or Vrbo and look in adjacent cities like Oakland, Berkeley, or Daly City. The Bay Area has public transportation that can get you to both ZLuC sites.

Transportation & Parking

Clipper Card

To ride public transportation, you will want to get the Clipper Card which you can buy at a machine in MUNI/BART stations or you can also download the app onto your phone.

ZLUC 2023 San Francisco

The 2023 Zine Librarian unConference (ZLuC) will be held in San Francisco!

What: ZLuC is an inspirational, informative, and fun gathering of people who care deeply about zines and their ability to change lives for the better.

Where: the University of San Francisco and San Francisco Public Library (plus field trips hopefully to the East Bay!)

When: Friday August 4 and Saturday August 5, 2023. Additional events (such as tours or zine readings) may be held on Sunday August 6.

Who: Everyone is welcome! The primary audience is workers and volunteers from academic, public, and special libraries, as well as community-oriented independent libraries and archives. If you’re interested in zines in libraries and archives, we’re happy to have you join in the fun.

Why: To share the zine love!

How much: Registration for the conference is free.

Registration: Registration is now CLOSED! The last day to register was July 10, 2023. We have hit our 100 in-person limit but you can still register for the online portion or be wait-listed for in-person.

For registered attendees!

Resources

Teaching With Zines — IZL(u)C 2020

This page has resources from the Teaching With Zines session.

Before our session, we invite you to take 5 or 10 minutes to reflect on the following questions. (You can also download and print a zineier version here.)

So you wanna teach with zines! That’s great. Here are some questions to help you think through a zine activity, whether it is a standalone thang or part of a longer-term course or series. You might answer all of these questions, or just a few. 

  • What do you want people to learn? This could be a specific skill, some information, or even a set of feelings.
  • How do you see zines fitting into that? For example, as content (they’re legit learning about zines as zines), as a container for content (they’re learning about cooking by reading zines), or as a container for sharing what they’ve learned (making a zine about science they’ve learned), or something else altogether?
  • Who are your learners or your audience? What is important to know about them?
  • What’s the timeframe? For example, will this all happen in one hour, or be spread over a series of meetings?
  • What do you need to make it happen? Say, a long-arm stapler, or ideas for potential topics, or a stack of kid-friendly zines to browse.
  • Write out the steps for what you expect learners to do:
  • What are you worried about?
  • What are you excited about?
  • How will you know if it worked?

Additional resources

There’s a whole page on this very website filled with resources for teaching with zines: http://zinelibraries.info/running-a-zine-library/teaching-with-zines/. You can also download the Teaching With Zines zine (pdf).

Cover of the Teaching With Zines zine

This zine features recommendations for teaching with zines for all different ages and audiences.

If you’re working with children, this post about zines for kids may be helpful.

Our panelists recommended the following:

Barnard Zine Library:  https://zines.barnard.edu/

 

 

Meeting Accessibility Best Practices

General Resources

Closed Captions for meetings

  • All presenters should be encouraged to use a web captioner.  Alternatively, program attendees can use the captioner on their own devices (which will require using a separate browser from Zoom).  Suggested captioning software:

Making the presentation accessible

  • Have well defined roles and responsibilities:
    • Presenter(s)
    • Note Taker(s)
    • Facilitator/Coordinator(s) (Representatives from IZLuC who could be co-host of meeting)
    • Chat monitor
  • Include broad trigger/content warnings at prior to or at the beginning of the session if potentially sensitive topics are being discussed
  • To minimize cognitive load for larger meetings, it is suggested that most attendees turn off their video (except for the designated roles above and anyone who is controlling the floor, i.e. participant asking a question, which there should only be one person at a time holding the floor) with a max of four videos shared at any one time.
  • Establish clear and consistent ways for audience participation: i.e. use the chat and raise hand function of Zoom (please note that the raise hand tool is limited because it is difficult to see the order in which hands are raised).
  • Try and minimize your background noise when/if you are speaking or facilitating. Utilize the Spotlight feature when possible/necessary

Presentation materials best practices

  • Make presentation materials accessible:
    • Share slides/documents or other shared materials before the presentation
    • Ensure that the materials are built accessibly, i.e. heading structure, alt text for images, avoid big blocks of text, and do not use acronyms or jargon, etc.  Automated tools available for this include built in accessibility software like Microsoft suite or Grackle for Google or Adobe Pro DC.
  • Speak clearly and slowly.  Take pauses and breaks to check in with the audience.
  • Verbally describe any visuals you use, i.e. an image on a PPT slide should be described for audience members that may not be able to visually see the image.

Recording the meeting

  • Let the audience know the meeting is being recorded.
  • Provide captioning and transcript.

 

Social Media Accessibility Best Practices

General Resources

  • Guidelines for Creating Image Descriptions via American Anthropological Association
    • Includes an explanation of the difference between alt text, image descriptions, and captions
  • Use Instagram Threads to create automatic captioning for your videos that you can then download to your device (can also upload existing videos);
    • IGTV videos also have an automatic captioning feature

Consent to Post

  • Do I have permission from the creator to feature their work in a social media post and/or tag them?

Accessible Content

  • Does the order of content in an Instagram Stories post, multi-photo post, and/or Twitter thread make sense?
  • Did I capitalize the first letter of each new word when using hashtags?  Often referred to as “Camel Case.”
  • Can I use a link shortener when posting long links?
  • Can I indicate what kind of link it is/where it will be taking users? Ex. www.content.com/388 [form]
  • Did I use acronyms or other terms that may need to be explained?

Alt Text and Image Descriptions

  • Have I written alt text for all images for users using screen readers?
  • Have I written and included an image description for each image?

Video captions and Audio Transcripts

  • Can I include captions in the video?
  • If not, can I include a transcript of the video or make it available via another publicly available file/link?