Keeping Up With… Zines
This edition of Keeping Up With... was written by Mandy Choie.
Mandy Choie is a Special Initiatives Librarian at Western Carolina University, email: achoie@wcu.edu.
What is a Zine?
Zines (pronounced “zeens”) are self-published print or online works that are often handmade on paper. They are produced in limited quantities using non-commercial printing (typically a photocopier) and generally geared towards a niche audience. Zines can represent a wide variety of viewpoints, narrative styles, and artistic media. The word “zine” derives from “fanzine,” a portmanteau of “fan” and “magazine.”[1] While Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses (1517) is considered by some to be the first historical example of a zine, zines as we know them today emerged in the 1930s across science fiction communities.[2] The low production costs, ease of distribution, and accessible format of zines avoid the barriers that come with traditional publishing, making zines a more inclusive medium for marginalized communities. In 1947 Edythe Eyde made the first queer fanzine, Vice Versa, which she wrote on a typewriter in the Hollywood film studio office where she was employed as a secretary, for her group of friends.[3] The process of reading, making, and sharing zines promotes nuanced points of view, experimentation in information-sharing, and free expression.
Zines and Academic Libraries
Today, zines can be found in many academic library collections. Libraries at institutions such as Barnard College, Bowling Green State University, Duke University, Harvard University, Michigan State University, and Reed College house zine collections across numerous topics, styles, and creators. Each library’s resources on zines vary; the ones above include ways to access their respective zine collections, tutorials on creating zines, links to zine communities around the world, instructions on incorporating zines in the classroom, zine-related events at the library and across campus, and/or the history of zines and zine culture.
Because of their status as places of scholarship and learning, academic libraries are uniquely positioned to elevate zines as research objects and a legitimate mode of disseminating research. Academic libraries can “create a cycle of creation and inspiration” that “encourage[s] patrons to create their own zines,” offers opportunities for student work to be included in the library’s collection, and enable patrons to “become contributors, inspire other patrons, and communities continue to grow.”[4] Academic libraries can achieve this by housing zine collections, hosting zine-making activities and events, and sharing zine resources with the campus community. Because of their broad reach across campus, academic libraries have the potential to gather and share a wide range of student perspectives via zine-making and can consider collecting student-made zines in their Special Collections.
Zines and Student Success
Reading and creating zines bolsters student success both in and outside of the classroom. Zine-making can help students explore or explain a particular cause or issue in a compelling and personally meaningful way. The flexible format of zines may be especially appealing for students who find academic writing and traditional written assignments challenging. Zine-making also enhances student learning by giving students a platform to voice their research and opinions.
Zines expand the possibilities of information sharing. They can be considered “open pedagogy” that encourages students to be creators – not just consumers – of information.[5] Zines can be used in the classroom to supplement or synthesize research as “creative scholarship” with “potentially higher impact than traditional research papers.”[6] Zine-making enables active participation in a community-centered, hands-on activity that does not require a screen.
Additionally, librarians can partner with professors to bring zines to the classroom. In the spring of 2024, Baylor University Libraries collaborated with a history professor who taught a course on the Chicano movement, which is rooted in activism and marginalized communities – a topic that is especially conducive to zine-making. Librarians introduced their zine collections and Makerspace, which provides zine materials, to the students. For their final project, students created their own zines using primary and secondary research on the Chicano movement. Students were given the option to submit their zines as part of a library exhibit. They were also invited to submit their work to the Libraries’ Book Arts Special Collections. The Libraries’ involvement with this class through zines succeeded in “strengthening the visibility of student scholarship (and creative scholarship) on campus and amplifying voices of Chicano history and culture.”[7]
Zine-making projects and events can serve as an effective form of community engagement and advocacy. Because of its low barrier to entry, making zines can be an inclusive but casual practice. Although we lack formal zine collections, Western Carolina University’s (WCU) Hunter Library hosts drop-in zine-making events hosted by zinester WCU students, who make use of free zine-making materials available in the Library’s Scholar Studio. In addition to making a bespoke zine on the spot, students can learn more about the tools and resources Hunter Library has for different creative ventures.
Conclusion
Zines are a self-published and low-cost medium of expression. Based on the number of institutions with zine collections, academic libraries in the United States see the value in collecting zines and encouraging zine-making among their patrons. Zines enhance student success by encouraging students to creatively disseminate their research through a physical platform that does not require digital tools. Academic libraries can use zines and zine-making to collaborate with professors and encourage the use of library resources. Regardless of whether or not they house zine collections, libraries can host zine-making events as a form of outreach and community engagement.
Notes
[1] “Zine,” Britannica, accessed April 25, 2025, https://www.britannica.com/topic/zine.
[2] “Zine,” Britannica.
[3] “Zine,” Britannica.
[4] Evan Bobrow, “The Role of Academic Libraries in the Shifting Landscape of Zines,” College and Research Libraries, accessed April 30, 2025, https://crl.acrl.org/index.php/crl/article/view/26688/34587.
[5] Carmen Cole, “Zines as Open Pedagogy: Fostering Equity in Knowledge Production and Dissemination,” Poster presented at ACRL 2025 Conference, Minneapolis, MN, April 2025, https://custom.cvent.com/7473937172574D83922896B076666C45/files/49dd16827d6a4ceeaba98b2d33ed6cc1.pdf.
[6] Laura Semrau and Sha Towers, “Zines as Creative Scholarship: Crafting Chicano Narratives,” Poster presented at ACRL 2025 Conference, Minneapolis, MN, April 2025, https://custom.cvent.com/7473937172574D83922896B076666C45/files/0f2aae81f1444614abb3dc7a2432fb4e.jpg.
[7] Semrau and Towers.
