The Zine Machine at the University of Iowa Zine Collection

I was recently at the Iowa City Zine Librarian (un)Conference, which was held (partially) at the University of Iowa.

The university has a pretty big collection of zines (including lots of old sci fi fanzines) and, to be honest, I kind of hate how they're organized (in boxes, in the archive, by collection, as opposed to title). They're also barely catalogued, which really bothers me.

(Some of the zines in a display case outside the special collections room.)

One thing that the library did have that was awesome, was the Zine Machine! A vending machine filled with zines that you could get for FREE! So cool! I think vending machines are pretty neat anyway, and I love it when they're used for art things. I didn't get any zines out of this one (I already had several of them), but I really want to get my own now. Someday!

(over)heard in a library

I made the cover and put together this collaborative zine that was created at the Zine Pavilion at the American Library Association conference in Chicago. It's filled with stories of weird things people have seen or heard in libraries.

If you go to the tumblr, you can download some PDFs. Check it out!

The ICZL(u)C

So this past weekend I got to attend the Iowa City Zine Librarian (un)Conference. It was a pretty awesome experience. I got to meet a bunch of librarians who deal with zines in their collections, participate in some great discussions, and volunteer to do more work. Yay! (Wait, more work? Yay?)

If you didn't get to attend there should be notes on each of the sessions up on the wiki (check the schedule page), and there are youtube channels with recordings of at least some of goings on too.

One of the things we decided on doing was putting more content on zinelibraries.info, so hopefully in the next few months you'll start to see photo tours of zine collections, zine reading lists on various topics, and more. Awesome!

I can't wait until the one next year. Hopefully I'll be able to attend!

The Zine Pavilion

Recently I got to help run the Zine Pavilion at the American Library Association annual conference. It was in Chicago, and the conference had about 27,000 people attend. Wow!

Overall the conference was really cool, I met lots of awesome librarians, got to interview some comic book creators and zinesters, ran a Call of Cthulhu game, and helped educate a lot of people about zines. You can check out the Zine Pavilion tumblr which has photos and videos and other stuff on it.

xZINECOREx An Introduction

By Milo Miller
Download the zine flats!

So I don't usually review digital zines, but occasionally I do. This is one such special occurrence, both because this is post #666 (!!!), and because it is a super nerdy zine about libraries, metadata, and zines. Plus I had to print it out to read it.

(Also! By the time this posts goes live I'll have been at the ALA conference, and I will have seen real live copies of this zine there that I didn't have to print.)

So this is a zine about metadata, and while I am currently in a program where I study metadata (and even meta-metadata), I'm sure most of you aren't. Metadata is data about data, and is all about how you sort and organize information.

xZINECOREx is an attempt to create a metadata system for zines, similar to ones that are already in place for other material in libraries. It covers stuff like genres, contributors, titles, etc. This is like hyper-nerdy stuff, and most people won't be into it, but as someone who used to catalogue zines _before_ I was even in library school, it certainly appeals to me.

This isn't a definitive guide to zine metadata, and it even says so right in the zine itself. Zines are still relatively new additions to libraries, and librarians are still discussing the best ways to catalogue them in collections. In fact, when I go to the Iowa City Zine Librarian (un)Conference next week we'll be discussing this very topic. I can't wait!

Two Fisted Librarians

You know, I was so busy not updating this blog at all (and then writing reviews for it), that I completely forgot to post about the new anthology zine that I'm editing!

Two Fisted Librarians is a collection of fiction, comics, and art created by librarians concerning libraries and librarians. The deadline is April 30th.

We’re looking for stories that fondly recall the pulp magazines of the ’20s, ’30s, and ’40s, and comics of the ’40s and ’50s. Mad science, weird fantasy, occult horror, spicy mysteries, noirish romances, thrilling adventures, and whatever else.

Want to write about a library that uses steampunk technology, a cataloguing system so obtuse that it drives those that try to use it insane, or a librarian who has to track down a Nazi zeppelin in order to get an overdue book? Go for it! Send an email or check out the blog for more info.