Zine collections: An Australian perspective

Zine collections: an Australian perspective Jessie Lymn (UTS) John Stevens (State Library of Victoria)

Introduction
RAILS5 - linking research with practice
Practitioner and research perspectives
Early-stage research into emerging field of information and cultural studies
Unique communities
Zine makers, consumers, collectors
Site of resistance, non-conformance
Opportunity for interdisciplinary research

Zines?

A problem of definition
I use ‘zine’ as something more akin to a roughly held culture of literary productions and consumption, rather than a set object or a specific style of writing (Ware, 2004)
Challenges collection practice
Materiality/form
Content
Context

Sometimes the point of making the zine can be lost in preserving or historicizing the moment or subculture.
Archiving zines – it's a sensitive matter. People write zines not expecting them to be around forever. Well, some people. They're intended to be disposable.
(Interview participants, 2008)

Working from this, what needs to be considered when collecting and organising zines, and making them accessible?
This is the focus of current research in zine collection

Existing research
Focus on definition and enlightenment
Highlights emerging area for libraries
Most research presents case studies
North American focus
Analysis of implementation and management issues
cataloguing and acquisition
Limited discussion of ideological/contextual issues

Local collections
Compare two Australian collections to each other and situate them internationally
State Library of Victoria collection
Octapod collection, Newcastle
smaller collections in state, national & public libraries, anarchist/community spaces, galleries
out of scope for this project

State Library of Victoria zine collection

State Library of Victoria
Rare printed section
Uncatalogued
Approx 5,000 titles
Collected since 2000
Zines sourced from bookshops
Polyester Books
Sticky Institute
Current cataloguing project

The Octapod zine collection

Octapod collection, Newcastle
Developed as part of National Young Writers Festival (run annually since 1998)
Grew from the festival and local zine collection
Nationally significant collection
Estimated 3000+ zines
Grows by donation each year
Current stocktaking project
Future plans for Community Heritage funding

Comparisons
Both motivated by zine makers and consumers
Institutional collection vs community space
Differences in
Preservation standards
Accessibility
Acquisition policies
Long term sustainability

Australian perspective?
Small, disparate community of zine ‘librarians’ and collections
Outside of established North American networks
ALA recognised
ALA published ‘From A to Zine’ (Bartel, 2004)
Greater community recognition and support
Extensive public library collections, independent collections

Anchor Archive, Halifax, NS Photo: Keg de Souza

Independent Publishing Resource Centre, Portland, OR

Implications for future research
Further examination of how resistant cultures challenge and inform library practice
Impact of non-traditional objects on information management
Value of collections within community spaces, not just institutional spaces
Engagement between institutions and other spaces

Further examination of Australian collections
Awareness of ideology and culture in library studies research and practice
Opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration
Value of case study methodology

The idea of zine preservation … is more than a means of conserving memorabilia of an interesting period in the history of popular communication – it is a matter of protecting a cultural form whose very materiality is both its strength and its potential limitation (Leventhal, 2007, 1)

Bartel, J. 2004, From A to Zine: Building a winning zine collection in your library, ALA Editions, Chicago.
Leventhal, A. 2007, 'Imperfect Bound: Zines, Materiality, and the question of Preserving Ephemera', Canadian Association for the Study of Book Culture, Saskatoon, Saskatchwan
Ware, I. 2004, 'An Introduction to Zines and their Definition', New Media Poetics, vol. 3.

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Zine collections: An Australian perspective

by jessie lymn

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