Presented by Sydney Jordan (University of South Florida) (Pronouns: she/her)
This presentation will discuss the use of zines and do-it-yourself mentalities of collections promotion to market LGBTQ+ archival and book collections in an accessible, inexpensive, and meaningful manner. Qualitative assessment on the emotional impact of library resources can be hard to measure, but the decision to promote LGBTQ+ Studies library resources at the University of South Florida Libraries was adopted after the observation of patron interaction with a collection of zines that touches on multitudinous experiences of gender, race, sexuality, mental illness, activism, subculture, and community engagement. Drawing on scholarship from information science and queer studies disciplines, this presentation will speak to the importance of maintaining zines in academic library to help capture marginalized voices outside of the barriers of traditional publication venues and dictates of archival collecting. Based on these principles and an intention to engage students and community members to utilize library collections, an initial series of four zines were created and distributed both on and off campus to inform, pique curiosity, and promote resources from finding aids to online exhibits in a digestible, approachable, and centralized manner.