More about:
entering zines into the catalog
explanation of cataloging form fields
WHAT IS A ZINE?
No one knows for sure. The book “Whatcha Mean What’s a Zine” by Mark Todd and Esther Pearl Watson is one of the best places to begin understanding what the practice, the scene, and this website are all about. Many other resources tackle the issue as well. The problem with answering the question of what makes a zine is that zines are often defined by what they are not: they are not books, they are not magazines, they are not even “little magazines” as they are sometimes called because the word “magazine” implies a certain style of formatting that may not be true of any particular zine. Zines are productions of creative minds; they may be written, drawn, painted, printed, or pasted; they are outlets of expression, beginnings of ambition, or fulfillment of class requirement. True, there are stylistic and otherwise aesthetic trends among many zines, but the essence of a zine, much like that of a poem, is that a zine is anything that calls itself a zine.
SLC PUBLIC LIBRARY ALTERNATIVE PRESS COLLECTION
The overriding intention of collecting alternative press materials is to present them as easy to find as possible for those who wish to explore the minds of others, connect with people of common interest, search for inspiration, sympathize or get involved with a cause, or learn to self-publish for oneself.
The Salt Lake City Public Library’s Alternative Press Collection is the continuation of what began in the mid ‘90s as the Zine Collection. Beginning with one zine, SLCPL’s Main library now houses the largest zine collection of any in a public library, and one of the largest anywhere in the world with over 1,900 unique titles and more than 3,500 items. Materials selected for the AP Collection come from a wide variety of sources including networks of zine makers, independent publishing companies, alt press review journals, partnerships with high school, college and university courses, library affiliated programs, and wherever else there is literary and artistic creation being disseminated.
The primary collection is house on Level 2 of the Main Library (210 East 400 South) near the recent periodicals. Each of the branches also house very limited collections. AP materials are organized on the shelf according to the first letter of their title. A print copy of the catalog, arranged by subject, is available for shelf browsers. However, the primary search tool for the collection is this webpage http://altpress.slcpl.org/content/zines/titles. Once there you may search by keyword, browse the catalog by title, or browse by descriptive tags which link similar zines together. While viewing the record for any zine the website will suggest similarly tagged items in the right sidebar. As the site grows, we anticipate keywords to be linked from zine descriptions, searchable author records, and more ways to help you find exactly the sort of creative material you’re looking for. Naturally, the more people who use the site, the better we will be able to adapt it to fit the needs of our patrons so please spread the word and give us feedback!
GET INVOLVED
Want to help SLCPL collect and organize AP materials? There are various volunteer opportunities open to those who wish to pitch in with our efforts. Our most immediate need at present is for volunteers to help enter our enormous collection of zines into the catalog. If you would like to be involved in this or some other capacity, feel free to email Clint, cwatson@slcpl.org.
Salt Lake City Public Library
Alternative Press Collection
210 East 400 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84111
Clinton Watson, Selector
594-8632
cwatson@slcpl.org
