Zines

Mission & Vision

The Ritz Library endeavors to use the Zine Collection to display our acquired zines, materials on zine creation and culture, and as a place for the creation of zines. Students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to make their own zines using our resources or those outside the Library, with the option to add their creations to our collection of Library materials if they choose. We strive to emphasize the value of zine creation as both a pedagogical tool and as something impactful independent of the classroom. As such, we envision our space as one reflective of the diversity, imagination, and interests of our campus community.  Our vision ultimately is to develop a welcoming space which highlights zines as valuable sources of creative expression and alterative information, a space which highlights examples of underground publishing, and that contains materials on a broad range of subjects.

Our Selection Process

The Library strives to cultivate a diverse and inclusive collection of zines which will engage, educate, enlighten the community at DCC. Our collection is intended for all Library users, but is also curated with innovate pedagogy in mind. We strive to add the work of zinesters from historically underrepresented communities and actively seek materials which addresses issues concerning race, gender, sexuality, mental health, and class. We do so through purchasing zines directly from distros, accepting donations of collections, and accepting donations directly from creators, which can include zines created by Library users.

We are interested in zines that cover a variety of subject. These include:

• Perzines, or personal zines, which concern themselves with the experiences, opinions, dreams, musings, or more of their creator.
• Social, political, or activist zines
• Film, photography, music or art zines  
• Comic zines
• DIY zines, which instruct readers on how to do something themselves
• Literary zines
• Fanzines, which can cover a variety of personal passions

Beyond individual copies of zines, we also purchase anthologies comprising collections from one or more creator, books devoted to zine culture, books on zine creation, and books focused on zines through an academic lens. Ultimately, we recognize the plethora of zine types and acknowledge the creative ways these categories often comingle. As such, we are open to suggestions and donations, but reserve the right to decline adding it to the collection if we feel it does not align with our goals.

Donation Policy

The Library will gladly accept zine donations. This can include personal collections of zines or zines created by the donor.

If you are donating a large collection we would prefer you contact us ahead of time using the details below. While we are very open to many types of zines, some may not align with our mission and goals. It would therefore be helpful to know the contents of your collection beforehand in case there are any zines we cannot accept.

If you would like to donate a zine you have created to our collection, we ask you complete the zinester donation form. By filling in the fields listed you’ll help us properly catalog your creation and assign proper attribution. After doing so you may mail us a physical copy of your zine, donate it in person at the Library, or upload a PDF. If you prefer not to use Google Forms for any reason, please reach out to us here. If you have mailed a physical copy and upon receiving and reviewing your zine we conclude it does not work with our goals we will mail it back to you.  

Deaccessioning

The Library will make every effort to maintain our collection of zines. In the event any zines become incomplete or damaged beyond use, we reserve the right to recycle those items.

This policy will be reviewed annually and updated in accordance with the needs of the Library, Dutchess Community College, and its community.