Interested in joining zinesters & library/archives workers from across the U.S. and beyond to talk about zine librarianship? Registration is now open for the 2023 Zine Librarians unConference, happening August 4-5 in San Francisco. Registration is free and capped at 100 in-person attendees; virtual options will be available.
Find more information and a registration link at the ZLuC 2023 page.
Every year, the zine librarian community gathers at the Zine Librarians unConference, which will be held this year in San Francisco on August 4th and 5th. And every year, the community crowdfunds money for travel grants for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to attend ZLuC. If you’re a BIPOC library worker or zinester interested in attending ZLuC, please fill out our travel grant application. Previous awards have ranged from around $250 to around $750. The number of recipients and the amount distributed depends on how many donations received—if you’d like to contribute to the ZLuC BIPOC travel grant fund, send money via PayPal to julia.huddleston [at] gmail, or get in touch at that address to discuss other ways to donate.
The Zine Librarians unConference will be held in person this year! This year’s ZLuC will be held in San Francisco, California on Friday August 4 and Saturday August 5. There may be additional events (like tours of zine stores/zine libraries or a zinester reading) held on Sunday August 6, too, so consider keeping your schedule free that day as well.
If you’d like to support the travel needs of one or more zine librarians to attend ZLuC, please consider donating to the ZLuC BIPOC Travel Grant. The travel grant is a no-strings attached yearly tradition that has allowed several zine librarians of color to attend ZLuC without worrying about finances. Send donations via Paypal to juliahuddleston [at] gmail [dot] com (specify “ZLuC Travel Grant” in the comments). If you’d prefer to contribute without using Paypal, please email that address to coordinate an alternate method of payment. Thanks for considering!
This event was originally scheduled for October 2022 but was rescheduled due to a strike.
Spineless Wonders is a network of artists, writers, academics and librarians, creating and researching small press publications including artists books, based in the Slade School of Fine Art at University College London (UCL). On Friday February 10, they’ll be hosting an all-day event titled Spineless Wonders: The Zine, Type And Script, consisting of in-person and virtual sessions. An online panel discussion titled “Zines: In/Out: The Institutional Dilemma: Zine Libraries and Collections” will happen at 1:30 pm London time:
As institutions, libraries and archives follow sets of rules for access, development, and description of their collections. Increasingly, libraries and archives are collecting zines – do-it-yourself, short-run publications created and distributed outside mainstream channels. This panel is made up of library and archive workers who have developed and organised zine collections in a range of institutions. The session will have four short presentations followed by discussion and will consider the ethics, challenges, and joys of zines in library and archive settings.
The chair is Kirsty Fife (researcher into digital information and curating, Manchester Metropolitan University) and speakers will be Holly Casio (Queer Zine Library), Kyle Gibbens (Queer Zine Library), Nicola Cook (Wellcome Library), and Tavian Hunter (Stuart Hall Library at Iniva). There will also be an online tour of the Manchester Poetry Library.
Spineless Wonders is a network of artists, writers, academics and librarians, creating and researching small press publications including artists books, based in the Slade School of Fine Art at University College London (UCL). On Friday October 21, they’ll be hosting an all-day event titled Zines: Reading, Preserving, Making, consisting of in-person and virtual sessions. An online panel discussion titled “Zines: In/Out: The Institutional Dilemma: Zine Libraries and Collections” will happen at 11:45 am London time:
As institutions, libraries and archives follow sets of rules for access, development, and description of their collections. Increasingly, libraries and archives are collecting zines – do-it-yourself, short-run publications created and distributed outside mainstream channels. This panel is made up of library and archive workers who have developed and organised zine collections in a range of institutions. The session will have four short presentations followed by discussion and will consider the ethics, challenges, and joys of zines in library and archive settings.
The chair is Kirsty Fife (researcher into digital information and curating, MMU) and speakers will be Holly Casio (Queer Zine Library), Kyle Gibbens (Queer Zine Library), Nicola Cook (Wellcome Library), and Tavian Hunter (Stuart Hall Library at Iniva). There will also be an online tour of the Manchester Poetry Library and Gloria Kiconco’s exhibition ‘Queering the Form’.
This year’s Phoenix Zine Fest is happening Saturday and Sunday September 9-10. The panels will be held on Zoom, including a session titled “Zine Libraries: Communities Archived,” happening Saturday September 9th at 4 pm Arizona time. For more information and the Zoom link, visit phxzinefest.org.
Zines ASSEMBLE is a one-day online symposium on Friday 9th September 2022, with formal and informal talks, presentations and sharing, hosted by folks at the Wellcome Collection in London. The following day Saturday 10th September 2022 will include in-person and online zine making at the Wellcome Collection. Find a full program and lots more info at zinejam.com/zines-assemble.
The ZINE & LIBRARIES CONFERENCE is a two-day virtual conference happening Thursday July 7th and Friday July 8th that will gather together librarians, zine artists and educators to learn about all things zines! Presenters will go over zine history, cataloging, starting a collection as well as provide tools, resources and tips on how to successfully integrate zines into libraries and instruction.
For more information about the schedule and free registration, check out the Zines & Librarians Conference 2022 page. Note that all times listed are in the U.S. Pacific time zone!
The Zine Pavilion makes its triumphant return to the annual American Library Association conference Friday June 24 through Monday June 27, 2022. This year’s ALA will be in sunny Washington, D.C., so look for the Zine Pavilion on the exhibit floor at booth 3009 in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Find more info about what the Zine Pavilion is, and all the up-to-the-minute details at the twitter account @zinepavilion.
Zine librarians and zinesters will come together on Wednesday January 26 as part of a Zineklatsch hosted by the Archiv der Jugendkulturen in Berlin. The online/Zoom event will be held at 4-8 pm Central European Time (that’s 10 am-2 pm U.S. Eastern time). The folks from the archive and Schikkimikki zine distro & library will be sharing info about what they’ve been up to in the past two Covid years. Find more details and a Zoom link at the Archiv der Jugenkulturen site.
The Portland Zine Symposium will be held online on Saturday July 24 and July 25, and along with workshops and talks, there will be a casual, drop-in session just for zine librarians. Kelsey Smith and Aggie Burstein will host the session, which will be Sunday July 25 from 3:30-4:30 pm on Sunday July 25.
Registration is free for all and all are welcome, but you must register in advance for each session during #VirtualPZS2021 that you want to attend in order to receive the Zoom links. Find the full schedule at portlandzinesymposium.org/virtualpzs.
Welcome to International Zine Month 2021! IZM is a project created by Alex Wrekk, of Stolen Sharpie Revolution fame, as a way to celebrate many aspects of zines and the zinester community. Every year Alex creates a flyer which provides day-to-day events: find a printable copy and a text version of the info in the flyer at Alex’s IZM page.
Please note that July 21 is Zine Library Day! Plan something special in your library!
On Wednesday May 19th, zine librarians Ziba Perez and Jenna Freedman will be presenting a workshop titled “Overthrow the 10-Page Paperarchy: Manifesto Zines.” They’ll be modeling zine-making as a means of challenging the white patriarchy and exploring the capacity for zines to highlight skills beyond those recognized and valued by the academy.
The workshop is part of the Critical Pedagogy Symposium cosponsored by METRO and ACRLY/NY. Registration is free; find more info at mnylc.org/cps.
The International Zine Librarians unConference 2020 was a breathtaking experience and collaboration. Let’s document how we made it happen and our feels about it.
We want to cover the topics listed on this spreadsheet and welcome others. Contributions can take the form of narratives, lists, recipes, limericks, comics, or whatever you’ve got, but note that the mission is providing documentation for next time. You can layout your own piece or leave the design to the co-editors. Just be sure to leave us a nice margin!
Faciliator: Kelly M
Notes: Jenna
Attending: André, April, Ella, Jenna, Kelly, Kelsey, Matthew, Milo, Ziba
