[Zine Librarians] Stats or facts showing that zines are relevant now
Hi friends!
Besides being a librarian, I'm also a writer, and I'm currently putting together a pitch to write a book for teens about zines. I need some statistics or facts that might convince a marketing guy who's never heard of zines (or thinks of them as something from 1994) that they're still a vibrant, important resource that has relevance to young people.
So what might help me would be stats for things like: the number of zine libraries that exist, number of zine fests held in a recent year, attendance at the recent Zine Librarians UnConference just held in NYC this year, any stats from the ALA Zine Pavilion that would indicate interest or participation, number of people who signed up to table at a recent zine fest (I might be able to get this for the upcoming Portland Zine Fest), or whatever else you think might be helpful.
What I've found so far:
This articlehttps://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2019/07/02/by-the-numbers-international-zine-month/ https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2019/07/02/by-the-numbers-international-zine-month/ says 138 libraries in the United States that have zine collections as of 2019, according to Barnard College Zine Library in New York City, but the other facts aren't as helpful. (Jenna, maybe you have an updated figure?)
I'll mention the recent Brooklyn Museum exhibit “Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines.”
I'll also mention recent politics, from the feds down to local school boards, to get kids off of phones and screens - making zines in the classroom as an alternative activity that fosters self-esteem and self-empowerment.
I'll also mention that academic libraries now have zine collections, zine librarians etc.
I'd be super grateful for anything you could share, and it doesn't have to be super uptight accountant type statistics - I mostly need stuff that would show how vibrant the scene continues to be.
Many thanks
Cathy Camper
ZineLibrarians mailing list
ZineLibrarians@lists.zinelibraries.info
http://lists.zinelibraries.info/listinfo.cgi/zinelibrarians-zinelibraries.info
These lists are probably not comprehensive, but here's a couple of lists of zine fairs and other small pub fairs: https://brokenpencil.com/zine-festivals-and-small-press-fairs/, https://www.printedmatter.org/services/the-bulletin/book-and-zine-fairs. There's some overlap in the lists, but actually there's a few things that one list has that the other doesn't, for both of them.
It might also be fun to see how many zine projects have been/are being crowdfunded on various crowdfunding services:
- https://www.kickstarter.com/discover/advanced?category_id=329&sort=end_date&seed=2872022&next_page_cursor=&page=1
- https://www.indiegogo.com/explore/all?project_timing=all&product_stage=all&ended_campaigns_included=true&sort=most_funded&q=zine
- https://www.patreon.com/search?q=zine
- I searched on Seed & Spark also, but there was only one zine-related thing on there and it's a digital zine, which is not quite what you're looking for.
Also, in addition to the zine library collections, it may be worth mentioning zine-making programs that are offered at libraries. Anecdotally, one of my library's branches has a regular monthly drop-in zine making workshop: https://bpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/events?q=zine
Puck
Robin Goodfellow (Puck) Malamud
Pronouns: ve/ver/vis/verselfhttps://transadviceblog.wordpress.com/pronouns/#ve or they/them/theirs/themselfhttps://transadviceblog.wordpress.com/pronouns/#they (example sentences at link!)
Cataloger and Classifier I
Cataloging and Processing Dept.
Boston Public Library, Boston, MA, USA
Meeting availabilityhttps://outlook.office.com/bookwithme/user/6d639607bf0b4183ad6b067778168b6c@bpl.org?anonymous&ep=plink
From: ZineLibrarians zinelibrarians-bounces@lists.zinelibraries.info On Behalf Of C Fastwolf
Sent: Thursday, August 8, 2024 12:49 PM
To: Zinelibrarians zinelibrarians@lists.zinelibraries.info
Subject: [Zine Librarians] Stats or facts showing that zines are relevant now
You don't often get email from cfastwolf@hotmail.commailto:cfastwolf@hotmail.com. Learn why this is importanthttps://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification
Hi friends!
Besides being a librarian, I'm also a writer, and I'm currently putting together a pitch to write a book for teens about zines. I need some statistics or facts that might convince a marketing guy who's never heard of zines (or thinks of them as something from 1994) that they're still a vibrant, important resource that has relevance to young people.
So what might help me would be stats for things like: the number of zine libraries that exist, number of zine fests held in a recent year, attendance at the recent Zine Librarians UnConference just held in NYC this year, any stats from the ALA Zine Pavilion that would indicate interest or participation, number of people who signed up to table at a recent zine fest (I might be able to get this for the upcoming Portland Zine Fest), or whatever else you think might be helpful.
What I've found so far:
This articlehttps://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2019/07/02/by-the-numbers-international-zine-month/ https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2019/07/02/by-the-numbers-international-zine-month/ says 138 libraries in the United States that have zine collections as of 2019, according to Barnard College Zine Library in New York City, but the other facts aren't as helpful. (Jenna, maybe you have an updated figure?)
I'll mention the recent Brooklyn Museum exhibit "Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines."
I'll also mention recent politics, from the feds down to local school boards, to get kids off of phones and screens - making zines in the classroom as an alternative activity that fosters self-esteem and self-empowerment.
I'll also mention that academic libraries now have zine collections, zine librarians etc.
I'd be super grateful for anything you could share, and it doesn't have to be super uptight accountant type statistics - I mostly need stuff that would show how vibrant the scene continues to be.
Many thanks
Cathy Camper
ZineLibrarians mailing list
ZineLibrarians@lists.zinelibraries.info
http://lists.zinelibraries.info/listinfo.cgi/zinelibrarians-zinelibraries.info
Thanks Robin, these are great resources, and I think will be a helpful way of sharing zines' current reach.
Cathy
From: Robin Malamud rmalamud@bpl.org
Sent: Friday, August 9, 2024 7:38 AM
To: C Fastwolf cfastwolf@hotmail.com; Zinelibrarians zinelibrarians@lists.zinelibraries.info
Subject: RE: Stats or facts showing that zines are relevant now
These lists are probably not comprehensive, but here’s a couple of lists of zine fairs and other small pub fairs: https://brokenpencil.com/zine-festivals-and-small-press-fairs/, https://www.printedmatter.org/services/the-bulletin/book-and-zine-fairs. There’s some overlap in the lists, but actually there’s a few things that one list has that the other doesn’t, for both of them.
It might also be fun to see how many zine projects have been/are being crowdfunded on various crowdfunding services:
- https://www.kickstarter.com/discover/advanced?category_id=329&sort=end_date&seed=2872022&next_page_cursor=&page=1
- https://www.indiegogo.com/explore/all?project_timing=all&product_stage=all&ended_campaigns_included=true&sort=most_funded&q=zine
- https://www.patreon.com/search?q=zine
- I searched on Seed & Spark also, but there was only one zine-related thing on there and it’s a digital zine, which is not quite what you’re looking for.
Also, in addition to the zine library collections, it may be worth mentioning zine-making programs that are offered at libraries. Anecdotally, one of my library’s branches has a regular monthly drop-in zine making workshop: https://bpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/events?q=zine
Puck
Robin Goodfellow (Puck) Malamud
Pronouns: ve/ver/vis/verselfhttps://transadviceblog.wordpress.com/pronouns/#ve or they/them/theirs/themselfhttps://transadviceblog.wordpress.com/pronouns/#they (example sentences at link!)
Cataloger and Classifier I
Cataloging and Processing Dept.
Boston Public Library, Boston, MA, USA
Meeting availabilityhttps://outlook.office.com/bookwithme/user/6d639607bf0b4183ad6b067778168b6c@bpl.org?anonymous&ep=plink
From: ZineLibrarians zinelibrarians-bounces@lists.zinelibraries.info On Behalf Of C Fastwolf
Sent: Thursday, August 8, 2024 12:49 PM
To: Zinelibrarians zinelibrarians@lists.zinelibraries.info
Subject: [Zine Librarians] Stats or facts showing that zines are relevant now
You don't often get email from cfastwolf@hotmail.commailto:cfastwolf@hotmail.com. Learn why this is importanthttps://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification
Hi friends!
Besides being a librarian, I'm also a writer, and I'm currently putting together a pitch to write a book for teens about zines. I need some statistics or facts that might convince a marketing guy who's never heard of zines (or thinks of them as something from 1994) that they're still a vibrant, important resource that has relevance to young people.
So what might help me would be stats for things like: the number of zine libraries that exist, number of zine fests held in a recent year, attendance at the recent Zine Librarians UnConference just held in NYC this year, any stats from the ALA Zine Pavilion that would indicate interest or participation, number of people who signed up to table at a recent zine fest (I might be able to get this for the upcoming Portland Zine Fest), or whatever else you think might be helpful.
What I've found so far:
This articlehttps://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2019/07/02/by-the-numbers-international-zine-month/ https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2019/07/02/by-the-numbers-international-zine-month/ says 138 libraries in the United States that have zine collections as of 2019, according to Barnard College Zine Library in New York City, but the other facts aren't as helpful. (Jenna, maybe you have an updated figure?)
I'll mention the recent Brooklyn Museum exhibit “Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines.”
I'll also mention recent politics, from the feds down to local school boards, to get kids off of phones and screens - making zines in the classroom as an alternative activity that fosters self-esteem and self-empowerment.
I'll also mention that academic libraries now have zine collections, zine librarians etc.
I'd be super grateful for anything you could share, and it doesn't have to be super uptight accountant type statistics - I mostly need stuff that would show how vibrant the scene continues to be.
Many thanks
Cathy Camper
ZineLibrarians mailing list
ZineLibrarians@lists.zinelibraries.info
http://lists.zinelibraries.info/listinfo.cgi/zinelibrarians-zinelibraries.info