Want to create and share a zine and receive ten zines from other zinesters? Check out this rad zine exchange event hosted by Hudson Valley Artists River Wharton and Katie Ford!

Here’s some information from their website:

So, how does this work?

You create a zine, send us 11 copies, then receive 10 zines from other contributors

All finished zines must be 5.5”x8.5” or smaller

(Here’s a hint: this is 8.5”x11” folded in half)

Mail or deliver 11 copies of your zine to: 468 Main Street, Apt 2, Catskill, NY 12414

Include $12 with your mailed zines or Venmo to @katieford for organizational costs

Zines MUST be received by July 1, 2020

To sign up, visit Reciprocal’s website

Patrick Derilus shows off his 2018 24-hour zine. Credit: Sanford Fels.

July is International Zine Month – a fabulous excuse (not that we need one) to embark on four weeks of zine reading, making, and sharing! Maybe this is the summer you make that compilation zine idea that’s been kicking around a reality, or you read all the zines posted on Issuu by POC Zine Project.  Looking for other ideas? Here are a few ideas we’ve heard for how to celebrate this holiday month.

1. Make a one page zine about something you care about
2. Leave some of your zines in a public place for folks to find
3. Teach a friend or family member about zines
4. Send your zine to a distro for consideration
5. Explore a specific genre of zines – cookzines, compilation, poetry zines
6. Send some of your zines out snail mail to faraway friends
7. Make a zine about a social or political issue
8. Make a zine about your pet
9. Submit to a compilation zine
10. Read more zines by POC zinesters
11. Read more queer zines on QZAP
12. Read zines made by folks in your area
13. Read a zine made by a non-US zinester
14. Look up zine fests in your area – consider attending or even applying to table
15. Read a zine every day
16. Make something using instructions from a DIY zine
17. Make a zine with tactile elements – fuzz, glitter, ribbons, you name it!
18. Write a review of a zine and share it on social media
19. Write a fan letter to a zinester
20. Start your own mini-zine library
21. Visit your local zine library!

Hey everyone!

Did you know we have something called “Zines of the Moment”?

Over at our zine collection there’s a display that we update roughly once a semester, featuring zines from our collection on a different theme/topic.

Our last theme for Zines of the Moment was “Black Lives Matter: Race & Resistance” and featured zines about racial identity politics and resistance movements. It was up from Fall ‘16 through midterms of Spring ‘17 (though of course the topic is always relevant).

This time around we’re featuring how-to & D.I.Y. zines, so zines that are intended teach you a particular skill. They range from practical (such as “A Rough Guide to Bicycle Maintenance” and “Hot Pantz: DIY gynecology”) to humorous (like “How to Swear Successfully in Polish” and “How to Park at SUNY New Paltz”) to just plain good for you (“How to Sleep” and “The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Fighting the Big Bad Motherfuckin’ Sad”)!

Feel free to come by, sit back, and enjoy the many zines we have to offer. And don’t forget! You can check zines out of the library with your student ID- even over the summer! Happy reading. 

–Jasper, Zine-brary Intern

If you haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, come stop by the Create Space on the Concourse level of the library! There are all kinds of materials for your creative and tinkering endeavors, including scissors, rulers, wrenches, beads, old cassette tapes, doorbells, telephones and more!

There are also plenty of tables to work at, and white boards for working things out. Consider having a group or club gathering in the space to work on a creative project!

Here is a sneak peak of one of the typewriters that will be available for checkout in the fall – from the original manual. Many thanks to STL student staff member Miriam Marx for tracking this down, and for all her hard work putting together quick start guides for our fabulous new fleet!

The New Paltz Zine Library has been busy with summer projects and presentations. We’re getting caught up on cataloging new zines for the collection and moving into our lovely new shelving!

We’re also working on getting our zine-making kits and typewriters ready for you to check out in the fall, and planning for a proposed “Create Space” on the Concourse level of STL.

On June 10th we’ll be presenting on zines at the SUNY Library Association Conference in Binghamton.  We’ll be talking about the hows and whys of starting a zine library and former Zine Library Intern Kelly Lindberg will be sharing excerpts from her film Aboveground and the Underground Converge: the New Paltz Zine Library.