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The Secret Life of Stuff: Zines

This guide is for Camilla Sturm's First Year Seminar class.

Getting Started

Welcome to the Barnard Zine Library!

The Barnard Zine Library is part of the Barnard Library and Academic Information Services (BLAIS) in the Milstein Center for Teaching and Learning at Barnard College, Columbia University. The zines are described in the library catalog we share with Columbia University Libraries (CUL), CLIO.

Barnard's zines reflect the Barnard College student population with regard to gender. We have zines by women, nonbinary people, and trans men, with a collection emphasis on zines by women of color and a newer effort to acquire more zines by trans women. We collect zines on feminism and femme identity by people of all genders. The zines are personal and political publications on a wide range of topics, broadly addressing gender, feminisms, identities, political activism, and popular culture. Frequent topics include, for example, teenage girlhoods, punk cultures, COVID-19, riot grrrl, LGBTQIA experiences, BIPOC identities, travel, comics, physical and mental health, body image, gender nonconformity, discrimination, DIY and crafting, cooking, friendship, and much more. Our zines are at the lower end of the production level scale and typically cost $10 or less, with most of them in the $1-$5 range.

screenshot: • Barnard Special Collections (Non-Circulating) Contact the Barnard Zine Library (zines@barnard.edu) Call Number: Zines M365w Available Barnard Zine Library Call Number: Zines M365w ~ Available  Request for Reading Room, 4th In the open stacks, 2nd floor

There are two zine collections: circulating stacks and special collections.

photo of zines in the archives: several shelves of blue ephemera files with sticky note call numbers and barcodes. one box has two tassels hanging out of it

photo of zine stacks: three shelves of zines in plastic zigzag shelves

Circulating zines are located on the 2nd floor of the Milstein Center and can be borrowed by Barnard and Columbia students and members of the BorrowDirect and MaRLI networks and are also available via interlibrary loan. Barnumbia loans are semester long and renewable 99 times.

The zine library is open the same hours as the Milstein Center, and can be checked out during Circulation & Help Desk hours.

Questions?

bear wearing a pleather jacket, shades, crownZine Library Resources

Zine Library Events

Barnard Zine Club