What is a zine?

A zine (short for “fanzine” or “magazine”) is a self-published work, generally having a small print run.  Zines are written about any number of topics, including punk and other music subcultures, feminism, mental health, food, and many more (just take a look at our list of Subjects to see some examples!).  Zines are independent & generally non-commercial publications, so most people are motivated to make zines to express themselves, not to make money.

How does this website work?

This website is a bit of an experiment, and is called a “catablog”.  We wanted to have a searchable internet catalog of the zine collection, and this website is the outcome.

The drop down menu on the right hand side of the page is a Catalog, and from it you can pull up listings of zines by the decade they were published in, the location of publication, subject, and first letter of the title.  Similarly, you can also use the links in the menu at the top.  “Titles” will drop down to reveal the the first letter of the title, “Subjects” will bring you to a page of all available subjects, “Decades” will drop down to show 5 different decades, and “Locations” will also drop down to show the country the zine was published in.  For zines published in the US, you can click on “USA” to pull up a listing of states.

The Title List has a complete alphabetical listing of all the zines in the collection.

You can search for zines, authors, locations, dates, subjects, and so on in the search bar on the right hand side of the site.  To see what zines were recently added to the collection, you can go to the Archives drop down menu on the right, or take a look at our most recent news posts on the front page.

Since this is a blog, you can also comment!  In fact, we really encourage people to comment on zines that they’re interested in, including any questions or information about the zine that we don’t have.

How do I find zines in the library?

Zines are located on the 1st floor of the library.  They are loosely organized alphabetically by title in labeled boxes – for example, all zines starting with the letter “E” would be found in the box labeled “E” – but the zines in the “E” box are not in alphabetical order.

I have a zine(s) that I want to donate!  How do I do this?

We love donations!  Check out our Donations page for more info.

We especially love zines made by Hampshire students, as well as other Five Colleges (Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Smith, & UMass Amherst) students!  If you are a student or alum, please consider donating the zines you made while at school!

Where else can I find zines?

Even in the digital age, there are still plenty of people making their own zines!  You can find zines in a number of places: other zine libraries, online zine distros, independent book stores, local punk/diy shows, & zine fests.  Please take a look at our Resources page to find online links to zines on the internet & in Massachusetts!

I have more questions!

Please e-mail us at archives@hampshire.edu.  We look forward to hearing from you!