Zine Digitization Project

Patrick Sperry

PS

Bossaller, Jenny, Martin, Dylan, & Smith, Seth. (2018). Digitizing Local Zines in Public Libraries. Public Libraries, 57(6), 23.

This article is focused on a specific digitization project (called the Community History Archive, or CHA) at Daniel Boone Regional Library (DBRL) a Missouri library system. The focus of the project is to digitize and preserve local do-it-yourself (DIY) magazines, or "zines". What differentiates a zine from a tradition magazine is that a zine is often created by a single person and printed, stapled, and distributed independently. Zines can be of any topic, but often have a local focus in subject matter. Many libraries have zine collections. The New York Public Library possesses 136 zines in their collection, and explain "Collecting zines in libraries is important because they document contemporary popular culture, making them important primary source material for future scholarship, plus they’re a lot of fun!” ("Zines at the New York Public Library," 2020). 

The digitization project was undertaken without a grant and items were catalogued with an open-source software platform called Collective Access, which was easily integrated into the library's website and was also mobile-friendly. Although the software was free, some of the stumbling blocks outlined in the article concern knowledge, hardware and project time horizons. Working knowledge of HTML/XML is needed to produce a professional-looking database, scanners and photo-editing software are required, and a time horizon of 3-5 years to complete the project is a realistic projection.

Reference

Zines at The New York Public Library. (2020). Retrieved from https://www.nypl.org/about/divisions/general-research-division/periodicals-room/zines

A

A