Our first class meeting, and our first class readings

Image of the zine Ice Breakers Are Awkward: First Day of Class Edition — Photo by Alana Kumbier, CC BY 4.0

It’s really happening! Members of “Beyond the Riot: Zines in Archives and Digital Space” met at Hampshire College this week. During our first class, we got to know each other a bit by asking and answering questions posed in the zine Ice Breakers Are Awkward (based on a similarly-titled zine that Prof. Alana made with her friend Noah a couple of years ago).

We also reviewed our syllabus together, and previewed some of the projects we’ll be doing this semester.

For our first Tuesday class session on 9/13, we’ll read texts that will inform the zine cataloging we’ll do in our lab session on Thursday 9/16:

xZINECOREx: An Introduction – We’re collecting metadata from local zine collections and describing zines in alignment with the xZINECOREx standards. This zine provides context for the fields in our metadata collection form, and connects us with a wider community of zine cataloging practice.

Drabinski, Emily. 2013. “Queering the Catalog: Queer Theory and the Politics of Correction.” Library Quarterly 83 (2): 94–111. – Drabinski’s article helps us theorize the processes of cataloging and classification using a queer theoretical approach. Drabinski’s work also helps us think about the language we use to describe zines, to develop our own ethical cataloging practices, and to recognize the limits of library systems & strategize around them.

Freedman, Jenna and Rhonda Kauffman. 2013. “Cutter and Paste: A DIY Guide for Catalogers Who Don’t Know About Zines and Zine Librarians Who Don’t Know About Cataloging.” In Informed Agitation: Library and Information Skills in Social Justice Movements and Beyond. Columbia University Academic Commons. http://dx.doi.org/10.7916/D8K35RQR. – Even though we won’t be using the same standards and practices that institutionally-located library workers use to describe zines, we’re reading this chapter to help understand why librarians catalog zines in the first place, and what kind of thinking, decision-making, and labor people do when they create catalog records (entries describing library materials).

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