Last month I started volunteering at the Independent Media Center in Urbana, IL at the organization’s tenth anniversary celebration. I have wanted to for a long time, but time was always a factor. There is a lot to offer at the UC-IMC, and one of the coolest things is the zine library. In the new year, I am planning on taking pictures of all the zines in the collection for the catalog. Last time we worked on organizing the zines physically, while other volunteers from GSLIS worked on cataloging them. You can learn more about the collection at the FAQ page: http://library.ucimc.org/content/faq
If you are unfamiliar with zines (pronounced zeens), they are self-published magazines that have small runs. Often they are cut and pasted together and photo-copied. The purpose of zines is not to make money, but rather expression. Be it politics, sex, body-image, or pop-culture; zines are often highly personal in nature and are truly labors of love.
Volunteers from GSLIS are organizing the UC-IMC Zine Library
