• About the Barnard Zines
• What are Zines
• Zine Community
• Zine Discourse

• Visitor Info
• Circulation + Search
• FAQ
• Exhibits

Barnard Library Zine Collection FAQ

What is a zine?
"Zine," which rhymes with spleen, comes from the words "magazine" and "fanzine." Definitions of the word vary tremendously, but most publications that call themselves zines have several of these characteristics:
*Self-published, no editor or censor
*Small, self-distributed print run
*Motivated by desire to express oneself rather than to make money or get famous
*Outside the mainstream
*Low budget

Is a zine a print version of a blog?
Zines and blogs have common qualities, but they are not entirely the same. Addressing this topic, the Barnard Zine Librarian has written an article called Zines Are Not Blogs: a Not Unbiased Analysis.

When did Barnard start the zine collection?
The idea for the collection was pitched and accepted in the summer of 2003. It was awarded an initial materials budget of $500. It took about a year of planning to get the zines onto the shelves.

What kind of zines do you have at Barnard?
There are a lot of different types of zines at Barnard, but since the collection was launched to complement our women's studies holding, much of the emphasis is on feminism. In addition to focusing on feminism, we try to collect works by writers of color and zine writers from the NYC area. Popular topics include personal and political publications on activism, anarchism, body image, third wave feminism, gender, parenting, queer community, and a range of other feminist concerns. All of the zines in our collection were written by women (biological and transgendered) or people of all genders with a femme identity.

Who reads these zines and why?
This collection aims to serve the needs of current readers and scholars and those of future researchers, Barnard and Columbia students and faculty, scholars from other academic institutions, and writers doing research for a major publishing house have used zines to research topics such as the Riot Grrrl movement, Sassy magazine, girls and education, radical parenting and other topics. Library science graduate students from around the city have visited and worked with us to learn more about collecting, cataloging and preserving alternative publications.

We believe the collection will be an invaluable resource for future scholars. Zines are primary source documents that tell the story of contemporary life, culture, and politics in a multitude of women’s voices that might otherwise be lost.

We also hope that current readers will enjoy the collection simply for its vibrancy, humanity, and artistic value.

For more information on local zine sources, check out our zine links; there are lots of great organizations in the zine community.

How many zines are in the Barnard Zine Collection?
There are over 1100 zines in the open stacks, where they can be pored over, photocopied, and we hope not spilled upon by readers. We have several hundred more in the archives. We currently own nearly 3000 individual issues of zines, but many of them are awaiting processing and so are not yet fully represented in the catalog. We collect zines in several categories, including:

*Art zines
*Compilation zines
*Fanzines
*Mamazines
*Minicomics
*Personal zines
*Political zines
*Split zines

How many zines are by Barnard students and/or alumnae?
A few, but not enough. If you want to add your zine to the collection, please contact the zine librarian. All zines by Barnard and Columbia women will be accepted. We'll even pay for them! There is one Barnard compilation zine in the collection, made at a workshop held at the library in Spring, 2006. We also have zines created by BC/CU organizations like ClubQand SEEJ.

Could you give examples of some cool titles/subjects
There are so many wonderful zines that this is an impossible task. Since that's a completely inadequate response, we'll highlight a zine or two from each genre in an attempt to give you some idea of what's cool in our zine collection. Please be aware that this is totally subjective!

ART ZINES

Chinese Sweatshop, Elsie Sampson
Elsie's zines are bursting with art, handwritten comments, attached objects, recipes and all of the other accoutrements of exuberant creativity. She generally writes about her life as a resident alien Chinese living in White Plains, NY. She makes arts, goes to school, and attends zine and craft events. This has nothing to do with sweatshops.

Mirror Tricks, Robin Hustle
In contrast to Chinese Sweatshop's jumbling richness, Mirror Tricks is spare and subtle. It's a visual and written account of the author's experience as a prostitute.

COMPILATION ZINES

Hard as Nails: the Tough Girl Compilation Zine, Lauren Jade Martin
Lauren interviews and celebrates her strong female friends, many if not all of whom are women of color, and ask them about their own heroines. It's done in a respectful, yet playful and fun manner, with hand drawn self-portraits and other art elements.

Ladyfriend: for Ladies and All Their Friends, Christa Donner
Each issue has a different theme, e.g. hair, age, shoes, or food. It tackles some serious and some less serious topics in a playful, yet respectful manner. There have been articles about riot grrrl, Internet dating, women's self-defense, eating disorders, and other topics, and there are usually zine and music reviews, as well. It's muy third wave!

DIY ZINES

Dropping Out (for Students), Cavegirl
DIY instruction units in this radical zine include shoplifting, dumpster diving, squatting, and other freegan survival techniques. It tells one woman's story of rejecting high school and many societal norms. Even if you're not ready to leave town with $60 and a sleeping bag, you may wish you were after reading about Cavegirl's adventures and beliefs.

SEEJ Operating Manual, SEEJ members
This cut and paste zine by Barnard and Columbia members of Students for Environmental and Economic Justice is a great primer on collective processes and dynamics and recognizing one thing that keeps a movement going, throws in some vegan recipes, too. The physical object conveys the students' generosity, creativity, sense of humor, and commitment to political change. They're cute, but very serious.

FANZINES

All Slay #3: The Sex Issue, Katy Stevens
This is a scholarly zine about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Do you really need to know more? Unfortunately, it's out of print, and other issues have been impossible to get. Therefore we'll have to content ourselves with just the sex issue, which looks at the Angel series, as well as Buffy. They investigate gender issues, queerness, feminism, sex and violence, and there's also the obligatory slash fiction.

Judy!, Andrea Lawlor-Mariano
Judy is a Judith Butler fanzine from 1992. The existence of a Judith Butler fanzine alone is enough to crack up anyone involved in women's studies and zines. Dr. Butler's response to the zine, made by a college  undergrad, is documented in the zine and in Lingua Franca. There are also quizzes, letters, photos and paper dolls.

LITERARY ZINES

Beautiful People, Heather Lynn.
Many people in zinedom don't care much for literary zines. They will need to make an exception for this 21 year-old punk rocker who tricks you into reading her short stories by interspersing them with goofy letters to celebr/ities. The fiction is startlingly good.

I Hear You Like Stories, Meg Favreau
Same goes for Meg's stories, and with hers you have to try to guess which are true and which are not. Visually the zine has an 1890s aesthetic, but the fiction is plenty topical. A crafty girl, Meg makes her zine very pretty and tidy, as well.

MAMAZINES

East Village Inky, Ayun Halliday
Ayun's zine is about raising her kids in br/ooklyn, NY, and trying to do so in an ethical and artistic manner. Issues normally include recipes, advice from the father (written by her spouse, br/oadway show author Greg Kotis), comix, photobooth photos, recommended NYC spots and events, and articles on local and national politics, international travel, and the trials and joys of parenting

The Future Generation, China Martens
Having started her zine in 1990, China is one of the pioneers of the genre, especially when it comes to mamazines. She was a young anarchist punk rock mother who didn't feel that the mamas in her community had enough support, so she began delivering articles on radical parenting to her compañeras in an age before the Internet made that easy. This zine really makes you think about how you should deal with children and respect them. China is still making zines, as is her 18 year old daughter, Nadja (also known as Clover).

MINICOMICS

I Like Girls, Erika Moen
This is a coming out zine/comix by a queer college student. The drawings are simple and direct, but also quirky and creative.

On Being Jealous of Invertebrates, Jess S.
This zine was a huge hit with the school teachers who attended a workshop we gave in Ohio. It's a series of one panel drawings with short captions on all the things Jess envies about invertebrates, particularly sea monkeys, including how easy it is for them to maintain a vegan diet.

PERSONAL ZINES, also known as PERZINES

Baby Girl Lindsey Morrison
This is a touching and very personal zine about a young woman dealing with her mother's terminal illness, while at the same time trying to live her own life and deal with her relationships with her other family members and her partner.

Fuck You, High School, Lauren Jade Martin
Zines have historically been a particularly powerful 14pt for young people including junior and senior high school students. Lauren collected contributions from her readers (virtually all of whom she met through her participation in zine culture) about the joys and horrors of the high school years. This is a special issue of her first zine series, Boredom Sucks

Glossolalia, Sarah Contrary
In some ways Sarah is the stereotypical zine publisher--she is in her 20s, rides a bike, lives in Portland, and attends the occasional punk show. Her zine features many of the typical elements--lists, travel stories, drawings, contributions from friends, and recommendations. Still, she manages to make each story and graphic smarter and funnier than those seen in many other zines. Her story of her bike trip down the west coast is inspiring, and her skewering

I Dreamed I Was Assertive, Celia C. Perez
Librarians are one of the 16ptst professional demographics in zine publishing, probably trailing only students, the semi-employed, and baristas. Celia is one of the most intelligent and thoughtful bibliozinester. Her zines chronicle her experiences on public transportation in Florida and Illinois, her marriage and recently, having a child, and work in various libraries. With her working class Latina background, Celia also addresses issues of race and class.

I Was a Teenage Mormon, Caitlin
It's just what it sounds like--a big, fat zine about a young woman coming of age among the Mormons of Utah and her eventual escape.

POLITICAL ZINE

Evolution of a Race Riot Mimi Nguyen
This empowering zine takes on racism in punk rock, anarchism, feminism, and zine publishing. The second issue contains a valuable race riot project guide, as well.

Figure 8, Krissy Durden
Durden, a proponent of the fat acceptance movement and founder of FATASS (the Fat Action Allstar Spirit Squad) writes about health, politics, and emotional issues facing women of size.

What other colleges have zine collections, and how does Barnard's collection compare?
Check out our lists of academic, public, and other types of library zine collections. There aren't very many zine libraries to begin with, and few of them fully catalog their zines in the worldwide union catalog known as WorldCat. The zines existence in WorldCat makes it easy for people around the world to know that we have zines in our collection and facilitates their ordering them via Interlibrary Loan. Another advantage to having the zines included in CLIO, our online catalog, is that researchers who may never have heard of zines can discover them serendipitously.

To our knowledge there are three other libraries that have collections specializing in women's zines: Duke University, Smith College, and Tulane University. We believe those collections are all closed stacks, meaning you have to ask for the zines you want and use them under supervision. Along with Colorado College and Pratt Institute, Barnard is one of the few academic collections that has zines available in the open stacks.

How can I access the zine collection?
The collection is easily accessible to anyone with a Barnard or Columbia ID or to people from schools to whom we grant site privileges (e.g. NYU, SHARES institutions). If you are not a member of one of these communities, just contact the Zine Librarian to make an appointment. It's NO BIG DEAL. We just have to let the desk attendant know to expect you. If you prefer phone to email, call 212.854.4615.

Once you get here, remember that there are two sets of zines: stacks and archives. There are twice as many zines in the archives and hundreds more that haven't been processed yet and are in the Zine Librarian's office or in Technical Services. If there is something in particular that you are looking for and can't find it, please ask for help at the reference desk!

Does the Barnard Library accept zine donations?
Yes! At the moment, we are especially interested in acquiring zines that document Riot Grrrl, though we are eager to accept zines from any time period or subject as long as they fit our collection policy guidelines. Our guidelines specify that the zines must be written by people who identify as female or did when the zine was published or by people of all genders writing about their femme identity.

When possible, we like to get two copies of each zine--one for the archives, and one for the stacks. Please contact us before making your donation. We will be happy to provide a letter acknowledging the donation, but we cannot provide a valuation with it.

Can I borrow zines from the library? Yes! In November 2007 we became the first academic library that we know of to circulate zines.

Can the zines be loaned to other libraries?
Stacks zines are available via Interlibrary Loan. Please go through the normal ILL channels at your local library.

I am looking for a particular zine. Will it be in the catalog?
Many of the zines available are currently in CLIO, but some others have yet to be processed. When in doubt, you can always ask the Zine Librarian.

How will I find the zine I'm looking for on the shelf?
The zines are shelved on the zine bookcase, which is on the second floor of the library, between the newspapers and current periodicals. The call numbers start with "ZINE" followed by a Cutter number, "An alphanumeric scheme ordinarily based on the author or main entry." (From the University of North Carolina's Serials Cataloging Graduate Manual - Glossary. Accessed October 20, 2006.)

Do you have a mailing list for programs, events, workshops and other zine stuff?
Yes! Sign up at http://muse.barnard.edu/sympa/info/zinelist. Another way to keep in touch with us is by following us on FaceBook, LiveJournal, MySpace, and Twitter.

This page last updated 07/13/2009.