Zines in libraries: A culture preserved

International Encyclopedia of Communication , 2008

A zine is an independent publication produced by an individual or collective on a low budget and distributed on a small scale primarily for personal, artistic, or social aims rather than for profit. Because zine communities arise outside of mainstream media systems, they represent ways in which people understand and engage with media that diverge from consumer capitalism. While there is some question as to whether modern self-publishing can foster social change, scholars (as well as zine producers themselves) have observed that many common practices of zine culture are guided by democratic ideals of expression, inclusion, and participation.

As the curator of Zineopolis-Art-Zine collection at the University of Portsmouth, I set the aim of the collection to archive and reflect the diversity of thought and talent that exists outside the traditional publishing arena. Zines are one of the few areas left where creative people can speak without censorship to an audience beyond the gallery. This makes the world of zines new and exciting as well as challenging, with Art-Zines especially-the tactility and aesthetic of the self-published artifact is an important consideration. The nature of production, often cheap and quick, means these Art-Zines reflect the thoughts and hopes of the day (quite literally). Zineopolis is located within the School of Art and Design so it was a deliberate choice to focus upon image-heavy zines, although we have examples of poetry-zines, personal-zines and fan-zines. The culture of zines shows us that people do still have opinions, it also shows us that traditional conduits for sharing thoughts are probably not as accessible as we'd like to think. The Zineopolis collection seeks to archive and celebrate the self-publishing boom. Zineopolis is primarily a non-virtual collection where items can be handled and flicked-through, many have novelty items, unusual packaging, unconventional bindings, or unusual materials, this collection (although archived online) is sensorial delight in the 'physical'. This paper will show examples of what, zineopolis considers, constitutes the Art-Zine.

Kentucky Libraries, 2017

2015

Zines (as in magaZINE), are independent self-published, Do-It-Yourself (DIY) magazines, created out of a desire for self-expression rather than profit, and distributed in small runs. They’re highly personal, can be on any subject imaginable, and are made with an eclectic variety of materials, such as twine, string and glitter. Zines are awake and immediate in a manner that is unlike any other medium. To me, they are powerful tools used to represent the underrepresented in society. They offer a platform to people on the fringes, whose voices are ignored or misrepresented in mainstream publications and traditional libraries.

Dictionary of Contemporary Esotericism , 2020

The term "zine" is an abbreviation for "fanzine", a self-published, non-commercial periodical customarily distributed at cost through the mail. The North American culture of fanzine publishing originated in the 1930s, and reached an apex fifty years later with the heterogeneous "zine scene". By the late 1980s, the practice of making and distributing zines spread beyond fandom (and specifically the small clusters of "correspondence clubs" that networked science fiction fans) to a wide range of other outsider subcultures. Now largely forgotten, the vast reserve of material that circulated in these small-circulation print periodicals represents an undiscovered continent for scholars of esotericism.

Zines are increasingly becoming seen as legitimate subjects of collection development in libraries and archives. In this article, the author expands on a poster he co-created for the 2014 ALA Annual Conference that discussed the genesis and development of a zine collection at Cushing Memorial Library, Texas A&M University. This process involved the creation of a workable collection policy that slotted into existing library collection strategies, the initial and ongoing acquisition of zines, and the development of a promotional event that publicized the zine collection and brought to Texas A&M’s campus several zinesters and examples of their alternative voices.

2019

Zines are small, informal, non-professional publications; creative outlets devoted to idiosyncratic self-expression, and are often used by members of different minority groups and subcultures as methods of cultural expression and communication. By their very nature zines are hard to pin down, but distinguishing common characteristics of zines include a small circulation (sometimes via subscription but often distributed informally among interested parties) and a raison d'etre stressing free expression over profit. The zine collection started at the archives is designed to preserve these alternative voices and provide users a new and deeper understanding of different cultural experiences. This poster will show how zines in library and archival collections can be used as an effective medium for giving a voice to the joys, concerns and beliefs of outsider cultures and communities.

Ethnologies, 1997

Feminist Collections, 2006

English and Drama Blog, British Library, 2016

Considers the situation of zines and fanzines in the British Library. It highlights the vibrancy of the 'zine scene' and the level of interest in zines, both as a resource for social research and as a means of expression for people who are marginalised by mainstream publishing or who favour a DIY aesthetic to retain control over their work.