[RM_Form id=’3′]

Programming blocks are color-coded to help you find sessions that are live during a time convenient where you are. The Blue Scissors Block begins each day around late morning if your time zone is near the Melbourne time zone. The Yellow Photocopier Block begins each day around late morning if you are in a time zone that lines up with Mumbai’s. The Pink Stapler Block begins in late morning each day if you are in a time zone close to Berlin’s. The Purple Glue Stick Block aligns with late morning in places that line up near the longitude of Los Angeles. For more information and to find your UTC time zone code, check out this tool:
https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

To confuse things, the clocks in the US go back on Sunday at 2am – which is why you’ll see that from the yellow photocopier block onwards, the time relative to UTC has changed! Don’t get caught out!

All programming will be in English unless otherwise noted. There are 15 minute breaks built into blocks between talks, tours and unconference sessions.

Sunday, 1st November

00:00 – 03:30 UTC – Blue Scissors Block 3

Register Here

Bilingual Zine Workshop with Yago Cura of Hinchas Press

https://linktr.ee/HINCHAS_Press

Yago Cura of Hinchas Press will talk about the James Foley Scriptorium project and then facilitate a hands-on workshop. This bilingual zine workshop aims to share the language acquisition capacity of 6-fold zines, in and out of the classroom, while illustrating several generative trajectories that zinesters can take to satiate their language-nerding. The workshop will not only impart best practices for making polyglot zines, but provide several made by HINCHAS Press and used in workshops, classroom, and public library programming. This workshop will be followed by two hours of unconference sessions.

What’s an Unconference session?

An unconference session is a space where the topic and form of discussion is decided by the people in the (zoom) room. For a better idea of what, why and how, see: http://zinelibraries.info/wiki/zluc2020/unconference-sessions/

05:00 – 08:30 UTC – Yellow Photocopier Block 3

Register Here

Athens Zine Bibliotheque Tour
Presented by Panayiota and Tassos – https://theathenszinebibliotheque.gr/
@theathenszinebibliotheque (ig)

Join Panayiota & Tassos from the Athens Zine Bibliotheque for a tour of their space, and some zines from their collection. This tour will be prerecorded with closed captions. This will be followed by a live Q&A, and then two hours of unconference sessions.

What’s an Unconference session?

An unconference session is a space where the topic and form of discussion is decided by the people in the (zoom) room. For a better idea of what, why and how, see: http://zinelibraries.info/wiki/zluc2020/unconference-sessions/

10:00 – 13:30 UTC – Pink Stapler Block 3

Register Here

Zinedabaad Collective – @zinedabaad (ig)

Presenters: Riya and Devashree

Join Riya and Devashree from the Zinedabaad Collective to hear about the history of self-publishing in India and what led them to it.

This will be followed by two hour long unconference sessions in a space facilitated by Zinedabaad. The first will draw from the talk to broadly look at tracing our relationships with zines and self-publishing. The second will be a discussion and hands on exploration of the questions raised throughout this block – expect some zine making, so come prepared with paper and your zine crafting tools of choice.

What’s an Unconference session?

An unconference session is a space where the topic and form of discussion is decided by the people in the (zoom) room. For a better idea of what, why and how, see: http://zinelibraries.info/wiki/zluc2020/unconference-sessions/

18:00 – 21:30 UTC – Purple Glue Stick Block 3

Register Here

Principles of Zine Cataloging

Presenters: Joshua Barton, Rhonda Kauffman, and Kelly Swickard

Join Joshua Barton (Michigan State Univ.), Rhonda Kauffman (Univ. of Connecticut), and Kelly Swickard (ProjectMUSE) as we philosophize on the principles and issues of cataloging zines. Topics will cover identifying creators, titles, subjects, and more. Perfect for a novice or experienced cataloger, curious or skeptical, this session will provide foundations for describing your own zine collection. This session will be followed by 2 hours of unconference sessions.

What’s an Unconference session?

An unconference session is a space where the topic and form of discussion is decided by the people in the (zoom) room. For a better idea of what, why and how, see: http://zinelibraries.info/wiki/zluc2020/unconference-sessions/

21:30 – 23:00 UTC – Rainbow Block One and Only

BONUS session: UnZineFest! 

To close out this year’s International Zine Librarians (un)Conference, please come say hello to some amazing zinesters as they share their creations and informally chat about zinemaking. Tablers include Hope Amico, Charlie Birch, Jonas Cannon, Kassi Grace, Avy Jetter, David Lasky, Liz Mason, Liz Yerby, and Ziba of ZebraRadar Zine. Brown Recluse Zine Distro will also be represented in some capacity. More tablers being added soon!

>>>>>Friday, 30 October Schedule >>>> Saturday, 31 October Schedule

Programming blocks are color-coded to help you find sessions that are live during a time convenient where you are. The Blue Scissors Block begins each day around late morning if your time zone is near the Melbourne time zone. The Yellow Photocopier Block begins each day around late morning if you are in a time zone that lines up with Mumbai’s. The Pink Stapler Block begins in late morning each day if you are in a time zone close to Berlin’s. The Purple Glue Stick Block aligns with late morning in places that line up near the longitude of Los Angeles. For more information and to find your UTC time zone code, check out this tool:
https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

All programming will be in English unless otherwise noted. There are 15 minute breaks built into blocks between talks, tours and unconference sessions.

Saturday, 31st October

00:00 – 03:30 UTC – Blue Scissors Block 2

Register Here

The State of Zines in Australian Libraries Panel Discussion
Presenters: Dr Jessie Lymm, John Stevens, and Daniel Wee

While we know a lot about zine libraries in the UK and USA, what is happening with zines in libraries down here in Australia? What libraries are collecting zines? How are these being made available to the public? And what does the future look like for zines in Australian libraries and those who are passionate about them? Join a group of knowledgeable people on the subject: Dr Jessie Lymm, John Stevens, and Daniel Wee, in conversation with Kassi Grace. This will be followed by two hours of open unconference sessions.

The facilitator will be Kassi Grace

What’s an Unconference session?

An unconference session is a space where the topic and form of discussion is decided by the people in the (zoom) room. For a better idea of what, why and how, see: http://zinelibraries.info/wiki/zluc2020/unconference-sessions/

05:00 – 08:30 UTC – Yellow Photocopier Block 2

Register Here

Sister Library Tour
Presented by Aqui of Sister Library – @sister.library (ig)

Join us for this presentation from Aqui of Sister Library, along with a showing of a short documentary. This presentation will be followed by two hour-long open unconference sessions providing space to discuss the presentation and the questions, actions and topics raised as a group.

What’s an Unconference session?

An unconference session is a space where the topic and form of discussion is decided by the people in the (zoom) room. For a better idea of what, why and how, see: http://zinelibraries.info/wiki/zluc2020/unconference-sessions/

10:00 – 13:30 UTC – Pink Stapler Block 2

Register Here

Archiv der Jugendkulturen and Museum of Youth Culture

Presented by Lisa Schug and Daniel Schneider from @archiv_der_jugendkulturen (ig) and El Affleck from the Museum of Youth Culture, UK

Join Lisa Schug & Daniel Schneider from the Archiv der Jugendkulturen, Berlin, and El Affleck from the Museum of Youth Culture, UK, as they introduce us to zines in their collections, share their experiences and discuss the how, what and why of collecting youth cultures. This block will involve two pre-recorded tours of the respective collections, an unconference session, and end with a live Q&A.

What’s an Unconference session?

An unconference session is a space where the topic and form of discussion is decided by the people in the (zoom) room. For a better idea of what, why and how, see: http://zinelibraries.info/wiki/zluc2020/unconference-sessions/

18:00 – 21:30 UTC – Purple Glue Stick Block 2

Register Here

Lightning Talks! Smashing Zine Folks Giving Snappy Presentations

Presenters: Hope Amico, Amy Drayer, Violet Fox, Jenna Freedman, BluRaven C. Houvener​​​​​​​, Avy Jetter, Michelle Nitto, Raul Rodriguez, Aldiman Sinaga of PTK Distribution, and April Ibarra Siqueiros​​​​​​​

Please join us for a series of captivatingly concise five-minute talks related to zines and/or libraries! This will be followed by two hours of open unconference sessions.

The facilitator will be Kelsey Smith.

What’s an Unconference session?

An unconference session is a space where the topic and form of discussion is decided by the people in the (zoom) room. For a better idea of what, why and how, see: http://zinelibraries.info/wiki/zluc2020/unconference-sessions/

>>>>Friday, 30 October Schedule >>>Sunday, 1 November Schedule

Programming blocks are color-coded to help you find sessions that are live during a time convenient where you are. The Blue Scissors Block begins each day around late morning if your time zone is near the Melbourne time zone. The Yellow Photocopier Block begins each day around late morning if you are in a time zone that lines up with Mumbai’s. The Pink Stapler Block begins in late morning each day if you are in a time zone close to Berlin’s. The Purple Glue Stick Block aligns with late morning in places that line up near the longitude of Los Angeles. For more information and to find your UTC time zone code, check out this tool:
https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

All programming will be in English unless otherwise noted. There are 15 minute breaks built into blocks between talks, tours and unconference sessions.

Friday 30th October

00:00 – 03:30 UTC – Blue Scissors Block 1

Register Here

Quarantine Zine Library
Presented by Sticky Institute – www.stickyinstitute.com

From Melbourne’s Sticky Institute comes a conversation about making and selling zines in the time of COVID-19. Sticky Institute is a zine shop and making space normally open in the subway under Flinders Street station in Melbourne. As the whole city closed to COVID-19 lockdown, the volunteers at Sticky created Quarantine Zine Library as a way to keep us together even while we’re apart. This will be followed by two hours of open unconference sessions.

What’s an Unconference session?

An unconference session is a space where the topic and form of discussion is decided by the people in the (zoom) room. For a better idea of what, why and how, see: http://zinelibraries.info/wiki/zluc2020/unconference-sessions/

05:00 – 08:30 UTC  – Yellow Photocopier Block 1

Register Here

Asia Art Archive
Presented by Sam and Elaine –
@asiaartarchive (ig) @asiaartarchive (twitter)

Zines at the Asia Art Archive: Join Sam and Elaine from the Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong to hear about the origins of the zine collection at AAA, the scope of the collection and how they have approached cataloguing. They will discuss how acquiring zines created by artist run spaces, creators and independent publishers active in Asia enriches narratives of collective authorship and hybrid collaboration in shared urgencies and alternative spaces. This will be followed by two hours of open unconference sessions.

What’s an Unconference session?

An unconference session is a space where the topic and form of discussion is decided by the people in the (zoom) room. For a better idea of what, why and how, see: http://zinelibraries.info/wiki/zluc2020/unconference-sessions/

10:00 – 13:30 UTC – Pink Stapler Block 1

Register Here

Zine Librarian Code of Ethics
Facilitated by André Wenzel

Come and join us in discussing the Zine Librarian Code of Ethics . What does being an ethical zine librarian mean? Are there changes to the Code that should be made? This will be followed by two hours of open unconference sessions.

What’s an Unconference session?

An unconference session is a space where the topic and form of discussion is decided by the people in the (zoom) room. For a better idea of what, why and how, see: http://zinelibraries.info/wiki/zluc2020/unconference-sessions/

18:00 – 21:30 UTC – Purple Glue Stick Block 1

Register Here

Teaching With Zines

For learners of any age, zines can be an engaging and even transformative way to learn — whether you are teaching about science, information literacy, or even zines themselves. In this session, a panel of librarians will speak to their experiences teaching with zines with youth, college students, and the broader community. Then, we will host breakout groups for you to talk through your own dreams, fears, and ideas for teaching with zines in your own context. This will be followed by two hours of open unconference sessions.

Our panelists are:

• Ann Matsushima Chiu is the Social Sciences Librarian at Reed College in Portland, OR. She teaches instruction and critical thinking skills through zines, leads zine workshops in the community and has organized zine fests and events for more than a decade.
• Cathy Camper works as a youth services outreach librarian at Multnomah County Library, where she’s also a zine librarian. She’s the author of the Lowriders in Space graphic novel series, a founding member of the Portland Women of Color Zine Collective, and co-editor of the candy zine Sugar Needle.
• Maria Cunningham is the Head of Special Collections and Archives at Reed College in Portland, OR. She started the Reed Zine Library and curates the collection rare book collections, college archives and often conducts instruction sessions and tours featuring zines.
• Nicky Rodriguez is a queer, Puerto Rican comic artist with a passion for pushing the bounds of storytelling to explore inclusive, diverse narratives and the deconstruction of traditional narrative form. She uses comics to explore Puerto Rican culture and the multi-faceted nature of identity and has an MFA in Comics and BFA in Animation from California College of the Arts. She currently teaches art to youth virtually from Colorado on top of doing freelance illustration and comic work.

The facilitator will be Kelly McElroy.

Before the session, we invite you to take a few minutes to reflect on the questions listed on this resource page.

What’s an Unconference session?

An unconference session is a space where the topic and form of discussion is decided by the people in the (zoom) room. For a better idea of what, why and how, see: http://zinelibraries.info/wiki/zluc2020/unconference-sessions/

>>>Saturday, 31 October Schedule >>> Sunday, 1 November Schedule

What is an unconference?

This is from Eric Goldhagen’s blog and was written about Drupal Camp in NYC but applies to the IZL(u)C, too.

• An unconference is a participant centric conference, the structure is more concerned with the value to the participants than the value for the sponsors or organizers (in a similar way that the GPL Free Software license is more concerned with the rights of the software user than the software owner)
• At a normal conference, the hallway conversations tend to be the best parts. At an unconference, it’s all hallway!
• unconference tries to replicate the community centric nature of Free Software projects in the way we organize an event. Everyone is a participant.
• Whoever shows up are the right people to have here
• Whatever happens is what is supposed to happen
• If you find yourself in a place where you are neither learning or contributing, be respectful but use your feet to find another room where you can learn and contribute
• Your participation is not only welcome, it’s necessary

Possible discussion topics

• Collection development for zines in a language you don’t speak
• Promoting zines in the classroom
• Multi-language zine collections — how do you put them on the shelf?
• Cataloguing: examples of catalogues, sharing practices, zine categorization/digitization, information security
• Keeping zines safe (protecting from wear & tear and stealing)
• Budgets & zine acquisition
• writing funding apps for zine libraries – a how to
• basic archival practice / record keeping skill share
• Zines in a public library: how to start a collection, where to put a zine collection, age group
• working with space/location limitations
• Running a zine festival within a library
• Experience organizing virtual events
• Zine clubs
• Working with young people, age appropriate zines for young people, engaging young people with zines
• Pandemic – organizing without being physically together
• Community Building
• Activism & Zines/Zine Libraries
• Showing the value of zines to administrators

Steps for facilitating an unconference session by Zoom

• Give folks some time to get oriented and do some brainstorming of the topics they would like to discuss. You can use the chat for folks to enter their ideas, cull from the list above, and see if anything is being shared on Discord. This could take some time, but that’s okay!
• Help get a sense of what folks are interested in — you might use the Whiteboard feature so that people can annotate, or just ask people to list their top two topics in the chat, for example. Your goal is to end up with a schedule for the rest of the time together, so people can decide where they’d like to go, when.
• Make sure that every session has a facilitator and at least one note-taker. The facilitator role is to help keep the conversation moving and keep an eye on the time. The notetaker should jot down notes in the shared documents (links to those are posted on the main IZL(u)C page).
• Use breakout rooms if there are multiple topics of conversation, or if any groups of people want to split off.
• Leave up a slide or the whiteboard feature to help people get oriented if there is more than one room. Someone should stay in that main room to direct in folks who join late.
• Zoom transcription (captions) is not a capability in breakout rooms. If someone needs live transcription, they should be a part of the main room, not a breakout room. Otter transcription may be a possibility for breakout rooms.

Tips and tricks for facilitators/participants

• Be flexible! This is all an experiment. We will share tips throughout the weekend as we learn together how this works.
• Make space for awkwardness and mental processing, acknowledge there will be silences and fumbling for Zoom controls, acknowledge the challenge of coming from different spaces.
• Participants’ initial expectations may be just to sit back and watch, not necessarily active engagement, so let people know how unconferences differ from regular conferences (see the list above).
• Make clear the different ways people can participate in Zoom: chat, have your video on, adding to shared notes, raise hand feature, etc.
• Explore in advance tools you might want to use such as Google Jamboard and Cryptpad so you’re familiar with them before sessions.

July 21st 2020 was International Zine Library Day! As a way of celebrating, we held virtual and multimodal events that spanned the globe and created a way for zine librarians to meet up from around the world. Three programming blocks ran from UTC 20:00 to UTC 04:00 with all kinds of events, from workshops to panels to readings (and, of course, more). The notes and recordings from these are available below. Added:

Cook Zine Presentation

Notes

Zines and the Borderlands

Notes
Video

Teaching with Zines

Notes

Tabling Round 1

Notes

Zine Librarian Pets

Notes

ZineWiki Info Sessions

Notes
Video

Make a Mini Zine

Notes
Video

QZAP Tour

Notes
Video

Tabling Round 2

Notes

Zine Libraries and Zine Librarianship Panel

Notes
Video

Australian Zinester Readings

Notes
Video

Zine Library Talk

Notes
Video

 Fran Chang and Ella Vonholtum
 UTC – 23.00

Resources from Presenters:
Padlet for Top Million Pets in Zines
Fran’s website and her Etsy store

Resources from Chat:
Rochester film festival, submissions are due next week!  

Session Notes: 
Fran Chang read from her zine: Picklezine #1. She also publishes Disquiet, a halloween zine. Participants showed off their pets. Everyone’s pets are so cute! About 40% of participants have cats. 23% have dogs.

The padlet for top million pets in zines had lots of contributors add to it during this session. The discussion mostly centered around our pets and zines about pets and why do cats want to eat zines? The chat went something like this…

  John Stevens, State Library of Victoria
  UTC – 3:30

Resources from Chat:
Polyester Books

Session Notes: 
John started at the State Library of Victoria as a new graduate in 2007, and maintained a connection with the collection zine throughout the years. He is now in a new role as full time cataloger. The zine collection at SLV started in the late 1990s, with active collection beginning in 1999. This was an uncertain time for zines and zinesters due to the blossoming of the Internet, which allowed for widespread distribution of information. Some people thought that other people wouldn’t make zines anymore, now that there were online alternatives available. 

Two librarians at SLV went to Paul, the owner of Polyester Books (see image below) in Sydney, asking Paul to collect one of each new zine that was sold by the store. While some zines shifted online, people were still making zines, but less about sharing information and more about personal connections and insights. The base of people making zines continued increasing through the early 2000s. Eloise at the Victoria State Library was connected with the Sticky Institute, and a new connection between SLV and Sticky was formed. Polyester Books closed in 2016.

Zines are difficult to classify and describe, they often lack standardized information and don’t have ISBNs or other standard numbers. The Octopod in Newcastle (This is not art conglomerate) accrued zine donations, but struggled to arrange/collect them (arranging by size, by color, etc.); eventually their collection became part of Newcastle Public Library. SLV is a “gatekeeping institution,” and zines are in special collections, which makes dealing with zinesters fraught with institutional rules–they can seem off putting to creators and people who wish to view the collection. No browsing is permitted, which curtails serendipitous discovery. 

The value of the SLV’s zine collection will be revealed in time, especially for its usefulness to researchers and academics, e.g. those looking into third wave feminism. There’s so much zine material being published, but it’s ephemeral which makes it difficult to collect everything. There will never be an exhaustive collection of zines. Also, some creators do not want their zines to be added to the collection. It’s important to respect that, zine collections can not exist without the goodwill of the zine community.

In 2017 there was a touring zine exhibition of zines and artists’ books started at SLV, which toured art spaces, libraries, and rural areas throughout Australia. Zines were made for the exhibition that people could handle freely. Another event Zine-a Warrior Print-fest happened in the library [or at Museum of Contemporary Art??? missed this], multiple zinesters tabled. 

As for the future of zine librarianship and zines in Australia: John sees collecting of zines continuing in libraries. He sees the need for those in libraries to recognize zines as a medium which is distinct from other media, and is driven by an ideological approach to DIY production. The zine community continues to grow. John sees an emerging interest in zines in librarianship as ephemeral creative production. Libraries have been impacted strongly by COVID and adapting quickly. Distances in Australia lead to challenges in connecting to each other; there is a need for libraries to be intentional in maintaining connections and keeping momentum in supporting zine communities.

Mia Nie, Bailey Sharp, Tegan Webb 
UTC – 3:00

Resources from Presenters:
Tegan’s zines available through Small Zine Volcano distro or Etsy 
Mia’s Twitter, Insta and Comics
“Lone Shadow” comic and companion essay “You, Defeated” 
Bailey’s Insta and works at Glom Press

Resources from Chat:
All three readers volunteer
at Sticky Institute
Other Worlds Zine Fair in Sydney (2020 online version) 

Session Notes: 
Tegan read the first four pages of their contribution to April 7th, 2020 zine. It was about getting back into heavy metal which you used to listen to, but felt like you grew out of, specifically Lacuna Coil. Is one responding to nostalgia when you enjoy it or do you actually like this music once again? She tries an experiment to listenTrying it back out with a heavy metal radio show hosted by a woman on ____ (radio station)

Mia read Lone Shadow, a comic about Sekiro, a video game where you play a one armed ninja who through death and rebirth becomes honed into an “untouchable killing machine”. She related the game to transitioning, and touched on phenomenology, creating the self, and the possibility of transitioning as an exploration and play with ways of being in the world. What kind of life do I want to live with others? 

Bailey read “The Big Report” a comic about zoomers, and their future reactions to environmental catastrophe, about living in the end and how new children come into the world nihilistic. In it even the apocalypse disappoints in the end when the world is saved. But when those nihilistic children inevitably have children of their own, and they see how sloppy those children become, the zoomers then in turn destroy the world for their own children because that is the “decent thing to do–as we all do”. 

Marya Errin Jones, Rhonda Kauffman, Kiyoshi Murakami, Ziba Zehdar

UTC – 2:00

Resources from Presenters:

Morning Zine Circle at Cafe Phalam in Kyoto
http://www.arsvi.com/w/mk02.htm
http://www.washingtoncenterforthebook.org/covid-19zine/
https://quarantinezineclub.neocities.org/
https://zines.barnard.edu/news/who-better-document-experience-everyone
https://view.joomag.com/our-stories-matter-life-in-the-time-of-covid-19-june-2020/0356379001591036473?short&
https://www.sherwoodforestzinelibrary.org/
https://glasgowzinelibrary.com/
https://www.portlandzinesymposium.org/

Session Notes: 

Introductions:
Rhonda Kauffman is moderating this panel discussion about zine libraries and zine librarianship, hopes, dreams, etc. Rhonda is a cataloger and metadata management librarian at the University of Connecticut, and tries to start a zine collection wherever they go. Has been making zine since they were a kid. There a punk rock zine archival collection at the current library, and they donated their own personal collection of 90s punk zines to it.  

Marya Erinn Jones is based in Albuquerque. Marya is a librarian for a 600-700 title zine collection hosted at the Tannex, a “room of requirement” like performance space she also runs. This is located in Barelas. Marya came to zines from friends and lovers, and is the founder of ABQ zine fest, 10 years ago. 

Ziba Perez Zehdar currently works at the Los Angles public library and has run a circulating zine collection for the past three years there. Ziba had previously worked at the Long Beach public library, and founded a circulating zine circulating while there. First came across circulating zines at the library during a visit to the Salt Lake City Public Library in 2014 while doing other zine programming within the Orange County Public Library System.  Loves zines and working with zines in the public library. 

Kiyoshi Murakami‘s main research subject is the zines, anarchy, and  demonstration movement. Visiting researcher at the Ritsumeikan University, Institute of Ars Vivendi in Kyoto and is a part time lecturer. He is a barefoot zine librarian, and since 2016 has organized a zine library.  Missed a lot about where they work/connection to uni. Facilitator of the monthly Morning Zine Circle at Cafe Phalam in Kyoto – Nijo, Japan since October 2016. There, a small zine library is collected, consisting of zines donated by visiting zinesters, and articles about zine culture. 

RK: How has your zine library affected your community?

KM: The zine library was made by the zine circle, ad has been run as a co-op. The zine circle is not composed of just zinesters, but has members who didn’t know about zines or DIY culture. has taught its community about DIY and zine culture. The zine circle library is not only a place for zines, but has acted as a communication hub and learning spot in the local community.

ZPZ: LBPL has in partnership with LB zine fest collection. This draws in many visitors to the collection, and the library receives donated copies of zines people table there. LAPL tries to localize zinesters zines to their 73 local branches, trying to collect at a branch zines from zinesters in that neighborhood.  

MEJ: Albuquerque had a very strong anarchist culture in the 90s, but it went underground. ABQ zine fest was founded 10 years ago, and the library was seeded from that, as well as submissions gather from other zine fests in the surrounding area.  The zine library has been able to sometimes offer open hours, it varied seasonally, but had been able to open the collection for browsing before performances in the space. zine culture has helped the community blossom, in terms of communicating in a literary form. Zine fest happened last year out of the National Hispanic Cultural Center. Zine outreach, encouraging both people to come to the zine fest, as well as make their own zines, happens throughout the year. Its really important to get folks to create their own because their are so many stories that need to be told. 

RK: An important part of community is getting people have a tactile experience, having a zine workshop or having folks get hands on with zines, learning about their use as a primary source, and then having them go to the archive and actually use them for research. Having sessions with different parts of the community, and letting them know what is around, and being able to speak their truth, can be pretty magical. 

RK: We’ve been speaking a lot about zinefest, what is your connection to them?

ZPZ: One of the co-organizers of the Long Beach Zinefest.. During the ZLuC which was hosted by the Long Beach Public Library there was a panel at the fest of zine librarians speaking. It was great to introduce the public to the library.

RK: Zines in times of strife? What role do zines play during times of social unrest? Do you have any special collections of zines that document social movements or zines that help people work through social movements?

MEJ: I’m not sure that you see the effects right away of the work you are doing, but several years ago in Sweden there was an incident after a womens march where women were attacked. Marya collected about 200 zines from all over and took them with her to Sweden to donate to the Stockholm library, where 6+ years later that collection still circulates today. 

Zines have a shelf life, and don’t last forever in a circulating collection, but not after you’ve read them and put them somewhere inside your body, you will carry them with you. That’s the power of  writing zines today, through the pain, that they might not have power in that moment, but it might ignite something later. Reading, sharing, and looking at zines is very inspiring. 

KM: The collection contains zines relating to environmental, anti-base, desegregation, and other local grassroots movements. The zine circle usually discusses zines about these topics. Try and promote a strong connecting between zine culture and local grassroots organizing. 

The most recent publication of the zine circle consisted of writing from five members which were edited together and posted online. Next month, they will collect again for the next issue. 

ZPZ: Baldwin hillis library has a weekly bilingual adult zine workshop, hosted by a non-profit called DSTL arts. They would have different topics, and library patrons contribute pages to it. 

RK: BIPOC in zines and zine librarianship, what stories do you have? Both about being a librarian and collecting.

RK: Interesting intersection of roles between being a librarian of color, a person of color, zinester, and working in academia. Large movements happening right now about collection development and librarianship about embracing the values of diversity, inclusion, equity, and social justice. But talking the talk  and walking the walk are very different things. 

At her last institution, had applied for a grant to get collection off of the ground, 3 different times they tried to get it off the ground. Had a group of people who were excited about the project, but felt like while the institution said they wanted diverse, marginalized voices, when it came down to it, they didn’t want to deal with the collection, and acted in racist ways. These kinds of collections are an easy way to get access to marganizaled voices, who don’t have a voice in major publishing streams.

MEJ: At many zinefest where she is one of only very few brown people there, or all the brown people end up grouped together at the same table. Founded ABQ Zinefest to try and change this. One of the only black women founding a zine fest. How can I be a part of a culture that doesn’t reflect me? Just because she writes a zine doesn’t make it a “black zine”. Population 3% black, 1% black female. She often “has to look in the mirror to see another black woman”. Tries to use the ABQ zine fest to broaden inclusion, getting people to write their zines and their stories.  

There is a zine in being a black woman working from home. About how you live that life and how you get that life. Working from home has changed her life in a major way. Why its important to have flexibility as a person of color in your work life.  Microaggressions and similar things build up, and take time to release. Learning how to wield her writer and zinester self at home. Zines are for transformation. 

Albuquerque Zine library is a very feminist zine library, with lots of POC zines (although there always could be more). Figuring out how to grow that in this time take some time to figure out. 

KM: Zine library has not have a BIPOC category. In japan there are different minorities in Japan, who have been discriminated against historically. The few zines that specialize about their issues. We have to realize the power that the majority has over the minority in our work.

ZPZ: In last 5 years as a zine librarian, has been collecting bilingual and foreign language zines. Has been buying spanish language zines in Mexico. Goes to Tijuana zine fest to collect as well. Once she went looking for zines in Cuba. She hopes to find zines in Farsi some day. 

RK: Hopes and dreams for zine libraries?

MEJ: Accessible, in a multitude of languages, that stories that want to be told and need to be told are available to us. We need to take stock of our lives, realize that they are worth sharing, and document what is important. 

Not having a zine fest in October to organize has left her wondering what to do, she has been looking at what other zine communities are doing right now to still move on and hopes for support to make something happen because we need something at this time. Embracing digital is new, but still wants to capture some of the tactileness even without touch. She hopes that future zine fest will be accessible to all of us. 

RK: Loves the idea of college kids sharing, Has had professors bringing up zine programs, wanting to make zines as a part of class. What can digital zines become? Animations? What will the next iteration hold? Record those voices not being heard otherwise or being shut out of conversation. 

KM: Cooperation between zine libraries within Japan. Further, expanding the network to Asia. Japan zine scene weak links to grassroots and radical networks in Asia, and wants to grow and strengthen those connections.

ZPZ: A public zine collection for every public library. Online browseable zine catalogs. More partnerships between zine fests and zine libraries!

Q&A: What are folks doing in their zine communities to maintain it during this time?

RK: Has had zooms groups to do show and tell of crafts, knitting groups, could use this approach to have people show off their zine areas,   

MJ: Hasn’t been having virtual programs, this time has been a time of recovery. But has been meeting weekly with zine fest co organizer weekly. Wants to figure it out, and feels like it has to be through zoom. 

Z: Has attended Portland zine symp has a zoom event, has attended a number of events. Recently with Liz Yerby and it had a series of illustration prompts and folks shared their artwork. 

RK: Thank you for speaking about zine libraries! 

 UTC – 1:00

Presenters:

Liz Yerby Etsy and Insta

Ziba Zehdar  Instagram

Jonas: find at distros: antiquatedfuture.com, brown recluse zine distro, Portland button works and Quimby’s Bookstore, or on Insta 

Cathy Camper website

Avy Jetter  Etsy or Instagram

Jenna Freedman Store or Instagram

Other Resources from Chat:

Jessica shared distro info: bottlesonthesilland Instagram.

multiple shout outs for Antiquated Future distro

zines from Kassi https://twitter.com/kassi_grace

Presented by Chris Wilde

Session Notes: 
Chris Wiles lead a virtual tour of the the Queer Zine Archive Project in Milwalkee, WI. He began by introducing the history. QZAP began as a website in 2003. The idea emerged from Queer Eruption where Chris and Milo met in the San Francisco Bay Area. Folks identified need for archive for queer radical thought and queer zines. 

A brief history of queer zines: They first began circulating in the late 70s, but are recognized as having their heyday in mid 1980s. Of course, this is still happening and the tradition continues. QZAP rejects that zines have ever gone away, and rejects that zines are incompatible with the internet.

Chris identifies queer zines as primary source documentation especially for marginalized communities, particularly queer and queer people of color. He identifies queer zines as having started as punks scanning zines that they got and sharing them widely at low to no cost. Zines help prevent queer voices from being erased, especially QPOC voices.

Chris then delved into the history of the physical QZAP space and gave a tour of the facilities. River West neighborhood in Milwaukee was established in the 1880s: mixed working class and immigrant neighborhood. German and Polish families originally lived in the house which now holds QZAP. 

Now River West is one of the most integrated neighborhoods in one of the most segregated cities in America. The QZAP house is considered a Polish flat. To expand the house it was raised on stilts and a basement would have been built rather than being built on top of the house. Chris estimates that the basement was probably built during the great depression.The house was owned by the same family from 1920s-1999. It is now owned by Milo’s family. As a community based archive, the security of owning the physical space is foundational.

Chris then moved his camera around to show the physical space of QZAP. It is accessible and open to visitors, researchers, and friends. It is not a fully open call. Prior to the pandemic, QZAP hosted volunteers as well as researchers.

The main space has a series of file cabinets. It all started with 2, over time has grown 22 filing cabinets plus 3 drawer vertical files. 

The collection originated as Milo and Chris’s personal zine collections which were collected through zine swaps, zine fairs, and other collecting practices.

Chris uses an interesting versatile cabinet labeling system: magnetic numbers and letters! They make rearranging titles much easier. The organization of the collections are according to a bit of provenance, a bit of alphabetization. One of the collections which was donated all together was the Honza collection. Honza was a radical fairy whose zines were donated by friends. This collection includes ephemera such as screen printed shirts from the Queeruption. 

Another collection is the Billie rain collection. Billie Rain was a part of Riotgrrl in the 1990s and ran Riotgrrrl press at the time. Chis is exploring how to decolonize collecting queer zines. This is one example! Billie posted on FB that they wanted to get rid of their collection, but wanted it to stay together. The queer community suggested QZAP, and the collection was donated. The collection is accompanied by vinyl records (including original Bikini Kill, Babes in Toyland, Bad Brains, Dead Kennedys, The Fake’s, and much more. QZAP facilitates listening to records or cassettes while researching for more holistic experience. To allow for this, they built a whole stereo system! The idea behind this is to expand on the multimodal interactive element of engaging with queer materials. 

Another collection came from the University of Milwaukee deaccessions. This includes a set of One magazine, which was the first publication in the United States to cover LGBTQ topics in the 1950s. There are also physique magazines and other materials from the 50sand 60s.

Accompanying all of these materials QZAP has began collecting monographs.

The space also offers a kitchen, a futon, and a bathroom!

The work station has in QZAP offers access to an iMac and an overhead document camera. This was developed through local fundraising events and donations.

Chris then switched over to using the overhead camera to get a better look at some of the materials in the collection. Of course, digitizing zines is a whole ethical can of worms. QZAP always gets permission before scanning and uploading materials. Some of the materials displayed, they do not have permission to fully scan and upload. This presentation was accompanied by a historical accounting of the zines.

Some of the zines that were presented included:

• Homeboy Beautiful from 1978. It was recently reissued by a Los Angeles collective. It is a chicano queer zine.
• Yes, Ms. Davis created by Vaginal Davis, a very famous queer zine creator.
• An israeli trans zine.
• An indian queer zine – The Gaysi Zine.
• Tuententinte which began in the early Berlin drag scene.
• Dykes and Their Hair
• Lesbian Herstory Archives
• An original RIOT GRRRRL zine
• Ring of Fire, a queer crip zine. “Queer crips rock my ass off!”
• Lezzie Smut

Chris concluded by inviting everyone to come and visit the archive when the pandemic is over!

Presenter: Lou Marie from the land of the Nashua people, New Hampshire

Session Notes: 
Lou Marie lead the assembled group through folding a 1 pager using vegan directions and the line “squish in toward the center” for the trickiest languaging part.   The directions are brief and end at 4:44.  Lou Marie puts on a record while everyone present is invited to create an original zine.  Lou Marie demonstrates the page layout on an unfolded sheet and Kassi backs her up.  Joni Mitchell’s Ladies of the Canyon and the work session begin in earnest at 8:10.  Lou Marie shares her favorite song, “Conversation,” at 14:55.  About 11 people are on camera, mostly working on their zines in a together quiet until moderator Stephanie states at 21 that now is a good stopping point as the QZAP atour is about to begin.  At 22:56 Chris opens the QZAP visit.

Resources from Presenters:
http://zinewiki.com/
https://zinecat.org/

Session Notes: 
Potential Action Items:

1. Who is hosting the site? Alex will ask Allen.
2. Milo and Jenna will check in with Jerianne.
3. Form a task force for zinewiki dev
4. Plan an editathon for zinewiki

Milo and Jenna have been tagged as responsible for ZineWiki, and need a lot of help. It’s obvious that currently the database has issues, and it needs to be repaired. The web page’s CSS is broken, and the database isn’t generating the site like it should. The site also needs to be moved to new hosting so that folks who have more time to work with it can work on it.

Jerianne Thompson and Denny are currently hosting, and Denny was previously doing most of the tech stuff, but currently they are having vision issues and can’t keep up with the site. Also it’s constantly getting hacked, and spammed with fake accounts, and in general the site needs tech people to step up to help. There was a suggestion to move hosting to DigitalOcean. 

Current site uses the MediaWiki suite, which includes WikiBase. The wiki could be used to both structure articles and well as serve as entity descriptions of zinesters, genre, titles, etc. There are current experiments in libraries with WikiBase to serve these purposes. We need to determine if we want to create our own ontology, thesaurus or base it off existing ones, like the GSSO? Also, long term, but there are methods to store data so that it can be used in the future, but is  protected now to keep private, personal data secure until those security concerns are no longer relevant. 

ZineWiki has been very useful for catalogers and cataloging. It was started by a couple of zinesters, Alan and a friend. Dan Halligan was a very active contributor and took it over with Jerrianne after the folks who started it left for other projects. There was a contribution boom for a few years, but it’s not as busy now, and is having issues. Someone needs to step in and get it up and running again. There are still active contributors. There is work happening on other platforms that isn’t being captured by ZineWiki, like on Facebook, and it would be great if that information was captured. ZineWiki needs people to add pictures and add data. 

Right now, ZineWiki moderates all contributions. This is in response to heavy spam issues. The Zine Union Catalog is hoping that ZineWiki can serve as a name and authority record, but has gone in a different direction with its catalog in the past decade. 6-7 years ago, it was suggested that ZineWiki act as an external authority record. For example, when you click on an author you could get more information from ZineWiki. This was from before the wiki broke down. 

It would be great if there were easy, obvious ways for people without a lot of technical skills to contribute. Everytime it was suggested an edit-a-thon should happen somewhere down the road, after stabilizing. 

Resources from Tablers:
https://portlandbuttonworks.com/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/PortlandButtonWorks
https://busstoppress.bandcamp.com/album/copy-destroy
https://twitter.com/kassi_grace 
https://twitter.com/kellymce (or kellymce@gmail.com)
https://charliebirchzines.wordpress.com/ (or https://www.instagram.com/tendersasquatch/)

Resources from Chat:
Zine vending machine and Twitter
Free zines, you just pay for postage

Session Notes: 
Alex Wrekk introduced Portland Button works and showed some of their zines!

Kelly McElroy showed a table with zines very inspired by personal experiences and thoughts from DnD to learning italian to raggedy femme.

Kassi Grace presented a table of zines she put together. She prefers to sell them at zine fairs, but you can purchase from her directly by messaging her on twitter. She is also down for swaps!

Charlie Birch had a table with zines covering topics such as gender, sexuality, animals (cute ones), self care, and other awesome stuff.

Amy Leigh runs a zine machine project that is a roving zine vending machine, based off of distro roboto.