Zine (ZEEN) (noun) – a noncommercial often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject matter (Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary) (More about zines on Wikipedia)

This fall semester, myself and three other instructors are working with one of our campus faculty librarians to have students construct zines for our first-ever [Penn State] Brandywine Zine Fest! Now none of us have ever made zines ourselves, much less instructed students on how to do so. But my library colleague is doing an outstanding job working with us instructors by providing information for course library guides, visiting our classes to discuss zines with students, and even having an entire “zine cart” set up in the library with the materials (stickers, stamps, markers, etc.) for students to be creative.

In my own online search to learn more about zines, I discovered that Philadelphia was having a zine festival on November 1st! So I added that to my calendar and took the regional rail to Temple University for the event.

I arrived at Philly Zine Fest with such curiosity. This event was going to be so different than any science or communications conference I had ever attended – which is why I also wanted to attend. I learn so much from expanding my learning in non-STEM environments.

And Philly Zine Fest did not disappoint! There were over 100 artists/vendors sharing their zines on a range of topics – fear, allergies, prison, horror, UFOs, giraffes, bookworms, taxes, cats, coffee… the list goes on. As I’m having my students generate research zines (where they have generated an annotated bibliography to gather information to source the content of their zines), I was pleased to see educational and informative zines, such as Cool Things on Common Birds.

A view inside Mitten Hall at Temple University of the Philly Zine Fest. There was one main room and two side rooms filled with zines, stickers, fabrics, and more.

The zines were in all different sizes, from the small zines that are folded from one 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper to ones the size of a cereal box. One of the more unique zines were ones that required you to fold them into 3D structures. The smallest zines were ones I found inside a machine that you could put quarters in (like you would see at a grocery store) and out would come a plastic ball filled with a tiny zine with jokes. One unique zine format required you to hold a red lens (think of those red/blue glasses you need to see in 3D) to reveal part of the text.

There were zines with only images and empty text bubbles for you to write the story in the zine. There were zines to color. You could even use a manual typewriter to type a story! In addition to the zines, there were people there that would write you a poem, or sketch your profile… the artists as well as the zine makers were present and sharing/selling their work.

The diversity of zines, in addition to the diversity of zine creators, really made this an enjoyable event. I loved chatting with different zine makers, as well as the Temple staff and faculty that are facilitating students and the greater community in making and sharing zines. I learned more about what I can do with my students this semester and in the future, as well as how our campus zine event can be more interactive and engaging for all students. I look forward to our first campus zine event, as well as the next zine festival in Philadelphia!