Interview with Zine Pavilion organizer Matthew Murray

Posted on February 28, 2018 by Violet

The latest episode of library podcast Circulating Ideas is an interview with Matthew Murray,Â Visiting Library Fellow at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and one of the long-time organizers of the Zine Pavilion. The first fifteen minutes of the episode are dedicated to discussing zines and zines in libraries. He also shares info about his own zine,Â Two-Fisted Library Stories! In the rest of the episode Matthew talks about his other pop-culture-inspired interests, including maker projects, comics, and podcasts, as well as the podcast he co-hosts,Â Book Club for Masochists.

Take some time to learn about all the cool stuff that Matthew makes happen!

ZLuC 2018 POC Travel Grant

Posted on February 2, 2018 by Violet

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 July 12-14 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Registration for all attendees is free; this grant is intended to help with associated travel and/or childcare costs.

If you areÂ Black, Indigenous, and/or a POC and would like to apply for the ZLuC 2018 POC Travel Grant, please apply here:Â https://tinyurl.com/ZLuC2018travelgrant. Former applicants are encouraged to apply again!

If you’re able to support the ZLuC 2018 POC Travel Grant with funding, please send donations via Paypal to violetfox [at the] gmail [dot] com. There’s also a Paypal donation button on the sidebar of this site. If you’d prefer to contribute without using Paypal, please email the address above and we’ll figure out an alternate method.

If you’re not able to donate funds right now, please help by spreading the word!

Applications and donations will be accepted until Sunday March 25 2018. All applicants will be contacted by Wednesday April 11.

Dates of ZLuC 2018

Posted on January 25, 2018 by Violet

The Zine Librarian unConference planning committee is happy to announce the dates for ZLuC 2018 in Minneapolis:Â July 12-14.Â We have so much exciting stuff that we couldn’t limit ourselves to two days!Â

The plan (so far…):

Thursday July 12 (starting around 1 pm-ish?) we’ll have a half day of ZLuC at MCTC (Minneapolis Community and Technical College). MCTC’s library has a huge zine collection and a zine lounge area! A potential field trip that evening will be the Walker Art CenterÂ (free on Thursday evenings).
Friday July 13 we’ll have a full day of ZLuC at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. The UMN Libraries holds the incredible Marshall Weber Culture Wars Zine Collection. We’ll likely have a mixer that evening.
Saturday July 14 we’ll have another half day to wrap up ZLuC at the Hennepin County Library’s beautiful Minneapolis Central Library. HCL is in the process of ramping up their zine collection and will be the host of this year’s Twin Cities Zine Fest in September. We hope to have another social event that evening, perhaps a zine reading.

All three locations are within central Minneapolis and easily accessible by public transit. (Here’s a map!) UMN dorm rooms will be available for reservation starting April 1st, with a cost of $61 per person, per day (tax included) for a private room, andÂ $46 per person, per day (tax included) for a shared room. We’ll also have a limited number of couches/guest rooms to offer.

We know no days/time will work for everyone, but hopefully many people can attend one, two, or all three days of ZLuC 2018. Registration, as always, is free. More details will follow this spring!

Tour of Denver Zine Library during ALA Midwinter

Posted on January 11, 2018 by Violet

If you’re in the Denver area or headed to Denver for ALA Midwinter 2018, please join in a tour of the Denver Zine Library on Saturday February 10th! We’ll be meeting at the Colorado Convention Center at 4:30 pm, and the tour will be from 5-6 pm.

Site of ZLuC 2018: Minneapolis!

Posted on December 21, 2017 by Violet

The site selection committee for the Zine Librarians unConference has selected the location for ZLuC 2018: Minneapolis, Minnesota! The proposal was hosted by a number of Minnesota libraries: the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Hennepin County Library, and the Minneapolis Community & Technical College. These libraries, plus others in the metro area, all have zine collections of varying sizes, and the Twin Cities is well-known for its support of literary and artistic creators. ZLuC 2018 will be jam packed with zine library goodness!

A date will be announced soon so travel plans can commence. Thanks to the ZLuC site selection committee (Ziba Zehdar-Gazdecki, Poliana Irizarry, ChlÃ¶e Van Stralendorff, Agatha Burstein, Marya Errin Jones, Liz Chenevey, & Katie Ross) for their deliberations.

“Zine Library Loveâ€ podcast episode

Posted on December 7, 2017 by Violet

The fourth episode of Read and Distribute, the zine-related podcast run by Canada’s Broken Pencil magazine, featured Marta Chudolinska,Â Learning Zone Librarian at the Ontario College of Art and Design University. Listen to hear more about Marta’s work in maintaining the OCAD zine library, along with members of the student organizationÂ OCAD U Zine Collective. The zine library recently celebrated their tenth anniversary!

ZLuC 2018: call for host site proposals

Posted on November 1, 2017 by Violet

The Zine Librarians UnConference has been held in Seattle, Portland, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Iowa City, Durham, Austin, Boston, Southern California and now … your town??

If you’re interested in hosting ZLuC 2018, throw your hat in the ring! Info about what would make a good ZLuC site can be foundÂ within the host site submission form. Submissions are due Friday December 1 2017.

Opening the Edinburgh Zine Library

Posted on October 31, 2017 by Violet

Our fellow zine librarians across the pond, UK and Ireland Zine Librarians (website, Facebook, Twitter), have a great guest post up from one of the founders of the newly formedÂ Edinburgh Zine Library. Lindsay talks about reaching out to the public library in Edinburgh to start a collection and some of the challenges their collective encountered along the way. It’s well worth a read for those who are starting (or growing) zine collections of their own! Check it out atÂ https://uizl.wordpress.com/2017/10/30/edinburgh-zine-library-opening/.

ZLuC 2017 is nearly here!

Posted on July 31, 2017 by Violet

Looking for info about the Zine Librarians unConference, happening in Long Beach CA August 4-5? Find all the details on the wiki:Â http://zinelibraries.info/wiki/zluc-2017-lgb/

As always, registration for ZLuC is free! Last minute registration? No problem! Fill out this easy breezy form and join the fun at the main branch of the Long Beach Public Library!

International Zine Library Day

Posted on July 21, 2017 by Violet

Perhaps you’re aware that July is International Zine Month, but did you know that July 21st of every year is International Zine Library Day?? It’s true! A day just to celebrate zine libraries of all shapes and sizes as well as those who keep them running. You can find a brief FAQ and some simple celebratory images on this very site.

A long-standing tradition has been to bring your favorite zine librarian a treat: vegan donuts are a particular favorite, but treats of any kind are welcome. If you’re a zine librarianâ€”treat yourself!! Be sure to share your celebrations with the hashtag #IZM2017.

Thanks to Stolen Sharpie Revolution for making IZM a time to share the zine love.

black and white text flyer with title "July is International Zine Month" and suggestions for how to celebrate each day

Ideas to celebrate International Zine Month courtesy Stolen Sharpie Revolutionâ€”click to embiggen!

Podcast featuring Zine Librarians Code of Ethics

Posted on July 5, 2017 by Violet

Delighted to have the Zine Librarians Code of Ethics featured on episode 8 of Print Fold Staple! Print Fold Staple is a podcast about zine culture with Bruce Otter & Melissa Black, brought to you by the Denver Zine Library. Zine librarians Kelly WootenÂ (Sallie Bingham Center for Womenâ€™s History and Culture at Duke University) & Kelly ShortandqueerÂ (Denver Zine Library) talk about privacy, preservation, accessibility, organization, and other joys and challenges of zine librarianship.

Listen to “Zine Librarian Code of Ethics” on Spreaker.

Work on the Zine Librarians Code of Ethics began at the 2014 Zine Librarians unConference held in Durham, North Carolina and was released in late 2015. We’ve gotten great feedback about it, but the ZLCoE was intended to be a living document, and we’re always looking for more input. If you have thoughts about the code, we’d like to hear what you have to say! Did we get something wrong? Are there things we didn’t address that we should have? Please leave a comment on this post or chime in on the Zine Librarians email listÂ so we can ensure that the next version of the Code of Ethics is even better!

Zine Pavilion in Chicago June 23-26

Posted on June 1, 2017 by Violet

The Zine Pavilion will be back atÂ the ALA (American Library Association) annual conference June 23-26th! This year the conference is in Chicago at McCormick Place convention center.Â If you’re a librarian attending ALA, please stop by the exhibit hall booth 1838 to say hello, browse our zines, and talk about getting zines into your library!

Our hours are the same as the exhibit hall:
Friday June 23, 5:30 pm – 7 pm
Saturday June 24, 9 am – 5 pm
Sunday June 25, 9 am – 5 pm
Monday June 26, 9 am – 2 pm

And we’ve gotÂ lots of events planned (UPDATED LIST as of June 11):

From Zine Pavilion 2015 in San Francisco!

From Zine Pavilion 2015 in San Francisco!

“Engaging the Future of Zine Librarianship”

Posted on May 19, 2017 by Violet

We haven’t frequently highlighted scholarship about zine librarianship on this site, but when I read Ann Matsushima Chiu‘s chapter onÂ “Engaging the Future of Zine Librarianship” in Librarians with Spines (Los Angeles : HINCHAS Press, 2017), I wanted to recommend it to other zine librarians. Chiu writes from her own experience as well as interviews with two experienced zine librarians, Cathy Camper (Multnomah County Public Library) and Jenna Freedman (Barnard College). The chapter moves beyond discussing how to establish zine collections within libraries, and focuses on the need for creating sustainable collections. Topics include the importance of institutional buy-in from the library as a whole, strategic and effective succession planning, and building communities through zine networks (including shout outs to the Zine Librarian email list, the Zine Pavilion, and the Zine Librarian unConference!).

I’d highly recommend this chapter as a promptÂ for thinking about establishing zine collections which are not just one librarian’s pet project, but instead are seen as integral parts of building more holistic library collections.

Ordering information for the Librarians with Spines book: from the publisher. Library info: WorldCat record.

Looking for Chicago-area zinesters

Posted on May 10, 2017 by Violet

The Zine Pavilion will be held this June 23-26 at McCormick Place in Chicago during the American Library Association (ALA) annual conference. We’re still looking for tablers, so if you’re a Chicago-area zinester please consider joining usâ€”you’ll get a free table and registration to the library conference! For more information, check out the Zine Pavilion page and the sign up form.

ZLuC 2017 POC travel grant

Posted on April 17, 2017 by Violet

We’re collecting money for a POC travel grant for the 2017 Zine Librarians unConference (ZLuC), happening August 4-5 in Long Beach, California!

If you identify as black, indigenous, or a person of color and are interested in attending ZLuC 2017, please fill out this application formÂ by Sunday April 30th. Registration is free for all attendees–this grant is designed to help with associated travel and/or childcare costs of attending.

If you’d like to donate to the fund, please send funds via PayPal to violetfox at gmail (or use the Paypal donate button on the sidebar). Thank you!