ZLuC 2024 BIPOC Travel Grant

Every year, the zine libraries community raises money to help a person of color attend the Zine Librarians unConference (ZLuC). This year’s ZLuC will be held Sunday August 3rd and 4th in New York City. This grant is intended to help with associated travel and/or family care costs. No receipts are requested or required: we just give you money to attend!

If you are Black, Indigenous, and/or a POC and would like to apply for the ZLuC 2024 BIPOC Travel Grant, please fill out this application. Applications will be accepted until May 1st. All applicants will be contacted by the week of May 13th.

Would you be willing to support the grant to ensure BIPOC attendees are supported? If so, please consider donating! 100% of donations go directly to grant recipients.

  • Paypal: @violetbfox
  • Venmo: @violetfox
  • Cashapp: $violetbfox

Be sure to mention “ZLUC” in the notes! To arrange an alternate form of payment, please email violetfox @ gmail. com.

New zine fest organized by Reed College librarians

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! screenshot of the article "Risograph Dreams" with an image of a librarian replacing the ink in a risograph machine

New pagan zine collection at San Diego State

Here’s a new collection that I’d missed when it was first announced in October: the new Pagan Zines Collection at San Diego State University. The blog post Exploring Paganism Through A New Zine Collection by Rebecca Williamson describes the collection:

The Pagan Zines also augment SDSU’s larger collection of materials regarding spirituality and religion. This new collection consists of periodicals and books published primarily in the United Kingdom and Europe during the 1980s and 1990s. It represents a wide range of strands within the pagan movement, including Wicca, Druidry, Asatru, Heathenism, Slavic Native Faith, Finnic Native Faith, and similar movements. Topics include cultural history, archaeology, anthropology, folklore, and current events.

New zine library at University of North Texas

fun, brightly colored graphic with words reading Artist Books to ZinesHere’s an interesting event taking place on Saturday March 23rd at the University of North Texas (near Dallas/Fort Worth):

From Artists’ Books to Zines is a new initiative from UNT Special Collections in conjunction with our Biennial Artists’ Book Competition to provide students and other attendees interested in the book arts field an opportunity to connect with other artists and creators working in the medium, foster engaging scholarship and discussion related to the field, explore and promote the reemergence of zines and their connections to the book arts field, and to honor and celebrate the participants and winners of the 2023-2024 Artists’ Book Competition cycle.

During From Artists’ Books to Zines, attendees will have the opportunity to listen to curated panels related to the book arts featuring UNT and TWU faculty, community organizers, and artists, hear a keynote presentation with recognized book artist Candace Hicks, view a pop-up exhibition of 2023-2024 Artists’ Book Competition entries, take part in a collaborative zine workshop, attend the official opening of UNT Special Collection’s new browsable zine library, and attend the reception for the Artists’ Book Competition where winners and honorable mentions will be recognized and announced. The symposium will be free to attend and food and refreshments will be provided throughout the day, but registration will be required due to space constraints.

ZLuC 2024: get excited!!

Planning for this year’s Zine Librarians unConference is heating up! ZLuC 2024 will be held on the campus of New York University in Manhattan on Saturday August 3rd and Sunday August 4th. There will also be optional library tours on the afternoon of Friday August 2nd.

There’s now a call for both remote and in-person presentation proposals. Consider sharing your passion and knowledge about zine librarianship at ZLuC 2024.

You can find all the information about the event as it is announced at the wiki for ZLuC 2024. Hope to see you there!

hand drawn flyer with a big apple and skyline of Manhattan and text reading "Zine Librarians unConference 2024, August 3-4 at NYU."

New traveling zine library based in Los Angeles

Always exciting to see a new zine collection! Zine librarian Alice is starting the Autonomous Zine Library, a mobile zine library that is autonomous of any parent organization. Patrons can receive a library card, check out zines, and return zines by snail mail or by dropping them off at select local businesses.

Zines will be collected by donation, highlighting these topics:

  • Los Angeles
  • Politics
  • History
  • Mental health
  • Music
  • Punk & subculture
  • Arts & crafts
  • Nature & environmental justice

If you’re in the area, be sure to keep an eye on the website for future events!

Disabled Community Zine created by zine librarian

Very cool to see this Westfield News article about the work zine librarian Anna Boutin-Cooper is doing to host zine workshops relating to disabled community members in Westfield, Massachusetts. The article, Westfield State librarian’s zine workshops focus on disability community by Mike Lydick, describes the $10,000 award she received from the Radical Librarian Institute (part of the California Rare Book School at UCLA) to fund the workshops and a $40 gift card for zine creators contributing to the Disabled Community Zine.

New circulating zine collection at Kansas City Public Library

A blog post titled Representing More Voices and Connecting Patrons With a Second Zine Collection (Coming Soon) shares info about zines at the Kansas City Public Library. While they currently have a non-circulating collection in the Missouri Valley Special Collections which were collected by donations, the new circulating collection will be purchased from the creator. Anyone in the KCPL area can suggest a purchase just as they would for books by local authors.

 

Zine kits at Oregon State University

screenshot of the toolkit website featuring a photo of seven zines

Oregon State University has circulating Zine Kits which contain the following supplies:

  • Miscellaneous zines to read, not cut up! (Located in plastic bag)
  • Swivel stapler
  • Xacto knife
  • 8×11 cutting mat
  • Bone folder
  • Glue sticks
  • Sharpies
  • Inkpads
  • Bookbinding kit – needle, thread, thumbtack, small clip, brass fastener
  • Old magazines
  • Clipart
  • Folders
  • Paper of various texture and size

Seems like a great way to inspire patrons to create their own zines!

“Cooperative and creative networking” through zine librarianship

From zine scholar Kiyoshi Murakami in Japan comes a series of posts titled “Zines, Archiving, and Activism—the Horizons Opened up by Their Interlocking Developments” published in the webzine AMeeT (Art Meets Technology). Part 4 of 4, “Grounds and Structures That Librarians and Archivists Have Worked Together to Build,” describes the unique aspects of the Zine Librarians unConference (ZLuC), including the work done to support the BIPOC Travel Grant and the Organizer Toolkit. She goes on to discuss the Zine Librarians Code of Ethics and its creation and promotion. Kiyoshi then describes the International Zine Librarians Unconference in 2020, when people from around the world came together to share their zine libraries and scholarship. Very exciting to see our “autonomous activities” described as “cooperative and creative networking”!!!

Be sure to check out part 1 ( about the tension of DIY publications being collected and processed by institutions), part 2 and part 3 (both about London’s 56a Infoshop) of the series. Thank you to Kiyoshi for beautifully encapsulating the joyous and extraordinary work that’s being done in zine archives & libraries around the world!

If you don’t read Japanese, Kiyoshi suggests using DeepL Translator for a translation.

screenshot of the title of the article in Japanese text along with the logo for the Zine Librarians unConference in 2020

Partnership between Denver Zine Library and Denver Public Library

Appreciated this fascinating interview with Denver Zine Library co-founder Kelly Costello and Denver Public Library Neighborhood Services Director Annie Kemmerling. In the post “Lessons in Co-Locating: A Q&A with the Denver Public Library and Denver Zine Library” on the American Alliance of Museums blog, Adam Rozan talks about the unique relationship between DZL & DPL, which provides space for both organizations to thrive.

screenshot of the blog post titled Q&A with the Denver Public Library and Denver Zine Library, featuring a photo of multiple shelves full of boxes of zines

Zine Outreach Project at Río Hondo College

I was excited to read about the Zine Outreach Project at Río Hondo College in Whittier, California. Librarian Claudia Rivas attended the Radical Librarianship Institute at UCLA California Rare Book School and was awarded $10,000 to fund a zine fest and zine workshops. Part of the funding includes paying students who contribute a zine to the zine library with a $25 gift certificate to the campus bookstore. Very cool!

flyer that describes being paid for contributing zines. The text reads: "Interested in earning $25? Participate in RHC Library's ZIne Outreach Project! Step 1: attend 1 day of zine fest and 1 workshop or attend 2 zine workshops. Step 2: Make an original zine (during zine workshops). Step 3: Donate your zine (or a copy of it) to the RHC Library Zine Collection. Step 4: Your zine will be included in the printed book of all zines created during the workshops. Step 5: Enjoy your $25 at the RHC Bookstore (without restrictions) flyer for a zine making workshop. The text reads: "Let's make zines! Zine making workshop October 17 & 24, 5:30 pm. Whittier Public Library in partnership with Rio Hondo College."

Indigenous zines at Harvard

 

a screenshot of the blog post "Everyday Indigenity" featuring a photo of a map-shaped board game called "Spirit Island"

Really enjoyed this short article in Harvard Magazine about the Indigenous-focused collection at the anthropology-focused Tozzer Library at Harvard University. “Everyday Indigeneity: Championing Native Voices” by Ryan Doan-Nguyen highlights the resources that resources that represent modern (post-2000) life of Native Americans, including zines, comics, graphic novels, cookbooks, board games, and language learning tools. Librarian for American Indigenous studies Julie Fiveash curates the Indigenous Knowledge Collection, which attempts to show Indigenous communities “as they live now, how they see themselves, and how they see their future.”

“Zines like Portals of Indigenous Futurism and Rez Bot rethink Indigenous pasts and envision limitless futures, integrating ancestral wisdom with elements like aliens and robots. Others, like Settler Sexuality, push the fluidity of gender and sexuality beyond Western conceptions, highlighting the intersectionality within Native identity that’s often sidelined in traditional archives.”