Library Workers Zine

WorkshopOliver Bendorf@ohbendorf

SLIS Laboratory Library, UW-MadisonApril 4, 2014

Breathe.

Today’s mission:

• Zines• Zine librarianship• How to make a mini zine

What if I told you there is a new technology sweeping libraries?

What if I told you it was these?

What’s a zine?

"...zines are noncommercial, nonprofessional, small-circulation magazines which their creators produce, publish and distribute themselves.”

-- Stephen Duncombe, Notes from the Underground: Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture, via Jenna Freedman

Thirty Second History of Zines

• Printing Press, leaflets, pamphlets, Paine

• Revolution, Franklin, Lovecraft, SF fandom

• Punk, Xerox, Factsheet Five, Boing Boing

• Riot Grrrl, feminists in Olympia, Bikini Kill

That brings us to the 1990s. What happened?

That brings us to the 1990s. What happened?

The internet.

(& Livejournal, Geocities, Tumblr. Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, eHow.)

Why zines? Why again? Why now?

• Participatory learning• Crisis in scholarly communication• Openness to new publishing models• Declining budgets and storage space• Renewed interest in special collections, craft,

design, DIY, artists’ books, etc…• They’re mobile and spreadable

Are zines just like blogs?

Kathleen Hanna on zines, blogs, and “object-ness”

How do you make a zine?

“As digital information creation and sharing becomes ubiquitous, there is also a renewed interest in what we’re leaving behind. Hello zine comeback!”

--Hack Library School, “[Series] Emerging Careers in Librarianship: Zines (Yes, zines!),” June 28, 2012.

A bright future in zine librarianship!

Types of Zines

• Personal (“perzine”)• Political (all views/persuasions)• Informational (many topics)• Compilation (multiple authors/creators)

Zines for STEM Librarianship

“In a world where scientific knowledge is increasingly complex and technical, the participatory literacy of zines can foster a sense of

ownership that is often lacking…”

--Andrew Yang, who teaches biology to art students at SAIC and runs the Small Science Collective

"The goal of the Small Science Collective is to get everyone thinking about science through handy and inexpensive one page mini-zines. Our contributions

come from researchers, students, artists, and seriously curious folk who want to share their love

of nature – from gluons to gastropods – with fidelity and creativity.”

--Small Science Collective

Is a zine still a zine if it’s peer reviewed?

Possibilities

• A student-made zine?• Or a zine for your reference desk?• Or to review new books in the field?• Or a collection of zines in your field?

Zine Collections at Libraries

Collecting Zines

Brick and mortar resources:• Rainbow Book Cooperative• Madison Print and Resist• Quimby’s (Chicago)• Powell’s Books (Portland)

Web resources:Zine “Distros”:• Division Leap • POC Zine Project• Queer Zine Archive Project

Evaluating zines

• Who made it? • How recently?• Is there a bibliography?• Do other libraries have it?• What kind of information need does it serve?

Cataloging Zines

• Irregular frequency• Monographs might become serials and vice

versa• Sometimes anonymously published

Displaying ZinesZine Machine at University of Iowa Main Library Fly Away Zine Mobile

Displaying Zines

Brooklyn College Library Salford Zine Library• https://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=1rbx-dHI86o&list=UUOqgctUQUc4ut7DSA2RVoFA

Enough! Let’s make some zines.

Enough! Let’s make some zines.

• What should my zine be about?• Anything. Here are some ideas. That question

you get asked all the time at work that you are SICK AND TIRED of answering. OR, the question you WISH someone would ask!– A cataloging rant or rave– Ghost stories from a haunted library– Or memories of going to the library as a kid?

The one-page fold method that doesn’t even need a stapler.

aka the “micro-mini zine”

References• Elichko, Sarah. “Zines in Libraries.”

http://www.slideshare.net/selichko/zines-in-libraries-8506566• Freedman, Jenna. “Zines in the Classroom.”

https://zines.barnard.edu/sites/default/files/inline/zinesinclassroom.pptx• Small Science Collective.

http://smallsciencezines.blogspot.com/• Yang, Andrew. “Engaging Participatory Literacy Through Science Zines.”

https://www.academia.edu/365039/