{"id":192308,"date":"2022-11-30T07:30:17","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T12:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=192308"},"modified":"2023-06-27T12:57:56","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T16:57:56","slug":"get-away-from-screens-make-and-read-zines-at-homer-babbidge-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2022\/11\/get-away-from-screens-make-and-read-zines-at-homer-babbidge-library\/","title":{"rendered":"Get Away from Screens; Make and Read Zines at Homer Babbidge Library"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAsian American Feminist Antibodies: Care in the Time of the Coronavirus\u201d sounds like something that might never make its way to a university library. \u201cBeginner\u2019s Guide to Necromancy\u201d may only seem fit for a magic shop. UConn\u2019s Homer Babbidge Library, however, not only houses a circulating collection of these and many other small, creator-produced booklets known as zines, but also provides students the resources to create and submit their own for inclusion on the shelf.<\/p>\n

Since it opened in September, the Liberated Zine Zone in the library\u2019s Leisure Reading Room on Level B has grown to about 100 zines. The authors of these publications include zine makers from across the United States, many from Connecticut, and several from the UConn community.<\/p>\n

\u201cZines can basically be about anything, and they have many formats, so we wanted to get a good arrangement and a good sample of all of them,\u201d says Metadata Management Librarian Rhonda Kauffman \u201903 (CLAS) who uses she\/they pronouns and catalogs and curates the library\u2019s zine collection.<\/p>\n

But what exactly is a zine? According to \u201cWicked Meta: A Zine About Zines no. 2,\u201d a zine Kauffman made and contributed to the library\u2019s collection, \u201c[z]ines (rhymes with \u2018beans\u2019) are low-barrier, low-budget photocopied publications in which authors are in full control of the entire process of creating a publication, from writing and layout to printing and distribution.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Zines
Zines that are available in the Liberated Zine Zone on Level B of the library sit in front of the display on Nov. 17, 2022. (Sydney Herdle\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since authors have control from start to finish, zines have often allowed people, especially those in underrepresented and marginalized movements and groups, to share their uncensored thoughts and experiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s this element of being able to be anonymous if you wanted to, but also be very explicit, or be very much informative about your own experiences, and that\u2019s not something that has typically been available to the majority of people for a very long time,\u201d says Graham Stinnett, an archivist who works at UConn Archives & Special Collections, overseeing the library\u2019s human rights and alternative press collections.<\/p>\n

Kauffman and Stinnett sought and gained approval for the \u201cLiberated Zine Zone\u201d as a project to further the UConn Library\u2019s Strategic Framework, which has three main goals: to connect, empower, and engage the UConn community at the library.<\/p>\n

Stinnett notes that the zine zone takes inspiration from the work of another UConn archivist, Richard Akeroyd, who wrote in the 1970-71 Special Collections Annual Report about his desire to establish a \u201clibrary liberated zone.\u201d From Akeroyd\u2019s efforts, Stinnett says he and Kauffman got the idea for \u201ccreating a space that was somewhat autonomous within the library that had some nontraditional, academic, but also personal creations.\u201d<\/p>\n

UConn Archives & Special Collections at the Dodd Center for Human Rights has unique and older copies of zines. The archives staff welcomes classes to schedule a visit to engage with these zines, but access to them is ultimately limited. At the \u201cLiberated Zine Zone,\u201d however, Kauffman emphasizes the zines are \u201cjust like any other book on the shelf.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a legitimate resource and thing that you can check out from the library and bring it back. You can treat it like any other resource there,\u201d says Kauffman.<\/p>\n

While some may be skeptical about using zines for research, Kauffman notes that they are great primary source materials that often relay \u201ca firsthand account of somebody\u2019s lived experiences or opinions.\u201d In addition to the physical copies on level B, all of the zines are also available online on the library\u2019s website and WorldCat.<\/p>\n