Tuesday 21 January 2014

Classification Party

On Saturday we had our classification party, an attempt to sort the collection into a handful of very broad categories. We're re-shelving everything this afternoon so, from tomorrow, it should be ever so slightly easier to find the kind of zines you're interested in. The categories are (Currently - we're open to changing the system!):

- Perzines (Autobiographical zines)
- Arts and crafts, which includes illustration, comics, photography, film, graphic design, fine art - all visual arts, basically
- Activism, which includes LGBT, gender, politics, that kind of thing
- Food and the environment, which includes cooking, veganism, vegetarianism, gardening, eco stuff, fair trade, animals and travel as well
- Creative writing, which includes poetry and short stories
- Sports - all the football and rugby league zines we have
- Music
- Other - as you would expect, most of the zines in the collection don't fit into these categories so the 'other' section is understandably large

These categories aren't perfect or very precise, but we think they'll be a useful guide when browsing the shelves. Obviously we'd encourage you to look at absolutely everything, but we understand if you don't have a spare few days to read every zine in the collection!


Thanks to all the people who came to help us sort the zines into categories. Thanks to Stef Bradley for making the posters and to Cherry Styles for taking some lovely photos of everyone hard at work. Enjoy!






Sunday 19 January 2014

New in: For the Sake of Magic and Wisdom #1, #2 and #3


For the Sake of Magic and Wisdom is a "collaborative three part zine" with illustrations by Thomas Hedger and writing by Faye Brooks.


New in: Candy Twist #5



"Candy Twist fanzine #5 features interviews with Good Grief, Making Marks, The Blanche Hudson Weekend, Shelflife Records, Tunabunny, Without Feathers, The Silhouettes, Dorothy Gambrell, Kill People You Like!, The Flatmates, The Middle Ones, The Very Most, and The Quirky Girl Crafter. Contributions by Kristin Gill (February Records), Andy Hart (A Fog Of Ideas), Jörgen Svennson (Fraction Discs), and Pete Bowers (Horowitz). A round table with Phil Wilson (The June Brides), Jyoti Mishra (White Town), Darren Hayman (Hefner), The Primitives, and Kip Berman (The POBPAH), eight mini-interviews and the usual articles by me complete the latest 96 pages of DIY pop".

New in: A Terror Beyond Falling



A Terror Beyond Falling is an account of "(just about) living with depression, anxiety, Avoidant Personality Disorder (AvPD), self-harming tendencies, suicidal ideation and a history of alcohol dependence. This includes everything that goes along with this, from day to day living to the various forms of treatment, medication (who needs to be happy when you can be numb) and spells of hospitalisation".



New in: Another big donation!




We recently received another big jiffy bag full of zines from Anne in Japan and they're all safely on the shelves in the library now. We won't detail each one individually, but there's things like Liz Yerby's Moscow Diary, Work in Progress by Gemma Flack and Longview by Maria Forde.

Thanks again for the donations! Are you clearing out your zine collection? We'd love to take them off your hands. Send us an email and we can discuss.

Tuesday 14 January 2014

New in: Kids With Puns #2


The second issue of Kids With Puns is here. Features more illustrated puns by Alex Screen, Sean Murphy, Katie Miller, Trevor Thompson, Peter Judson, Martin Grainger, Jaco Haasbroek, Haydn Symons and George McCallum.



New in: Shape & Situate #5



"In a nutshell, Shape & Situate is a zine of posters made by artists and DIY creative folk from within Europe, each poster highlighting the (often hidden) history and lives of radical inspirational women and collectives from Europe.

The zine aims to activate feminist cultural memory, inspire, and to visually bring women’s social and political history to life and into view.

This issue features 23 black and white posters of women who have acted as organisers, activists, agitators, pioneers, educators, or role models, from a wide range of disciplines including: art, space, music, emergency services, education, literature, ecology and environmental issues, astronomy, radio, NGOs, and beyond."