What’s a Zine, Anyway? The New Underground Press Collection at the Brooklyn College Library

What’s a Zine, Anyway?The New Underground Press Collection at the Brooklyn College LibraryAlyciaSellie

In Short, Zines Are:
Intentional print publications.
People make zines because they want to cut, paste, fold and stamp (zines are not blogs!)
Often created on a photocopier and distributed by hand, through the mail, or at events
Self-Published, Do-It-Yourself materials
No special equipment or permissions are needed to publish: All you need is a pen, some paper, and access to a photocopier to create a zine
Labors of love, usually sold for a few dollars to cover printing costs
Inclusive media: they welcome others to create their own work and to get involved

Zines“…can be about toasters, food, a favorite television show, thrift stores, anarchism, candy, bunnies, sexual abuse, architecture, war, gingerbread men, activism, retirement homes, comics, eating disorders, Barbie dolls-you name it. There are personal zines, music zines, and sport zines, zines about politics and zines about pop culture.”
-Julie Bartel, From A to Zine: Building a Winning Zine Collection in Your Library
In terms of content, zines are written about any topic that you can think of
(and perhaps more often, about topics that you haven’t ever thought about).
Often zinesters begin publishing because they feel that topics that are important to them are being overlooked or ignored in the mainstream media.

The New Brooklyn College Zine Collection
Our collection primarily consists of:
Print zines. This is a print zine collection, and thus no e-zines or online materials are accepted as part of the collection at this time.
Zinesthat are connected to Brooklyn, support the interests of the students at Brooklyn College, or would support the curriculum of Brooklyn College.
Zinesmade by Brooklyn College students or alumni–any zine made by our students or alumni will be accepted into the collection (regardless of where it was created or any connections to Brooklyn).
Zinesabout zines, zine-making and zine culture.

Opportunities for students:
The collection will show work being made here in Brooklyn, and contain viewpoints outside of the mainstream press
We’re creating a living archive:
Students can come and look at what materials have already been made, then also have their own work added to the collection
We hope the collection will inspire students to DIY and make their own zines, and share their thoughts and stories
Internships
This summer we will have our first zine intern, but many opportunities going forward for students who would like to work on collecting, organizing and studying print publications and working on special projects

Opportunities for faculty and classes:
The zine collection could become a resource for a variety of classes, from Art to English, or Communication and Media studies (and more!)
Classes could come to the library to view the collectionand to do research (about alternative publications, art history, book history, the history of Brooklyn, etc.)
Zine-making workshops, discussion groups, or zine portfolios?
You Tell us:
Do you have an idea of a way that the zine collection could support your curriculum? Please get in touch!

http://brooklyncollegezines.commons.gc.cuny.edu/
More information about the collection as well as special projects to come!
Alycia Sellie
Library Department
asellie@brooklyn.cuny.edu

What’s a Zine, Anyway? The New Underground Press Collection at the Brooklyn College Library

by Alycia on May 26, 2011

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What’s a Zine, Anyway? The New Underground Press Collection at the Brooklyn College Library — Presentation Transcript