Zines at The New York Public Library

What are zines?

Zines are easier to describe then define.  They’re “do it yourself”, handmade magazines that come in all different shapes, sizes and formats.Many are handwritten, photocopied and stapled, while some may be magazine-like publications and professionally printed. They are a unique form of personal self expression, made for love rather than profit and can cover just about any subject you can think. Some common themes include: feminism, music, politics, activism, literature, personal, crafts, art & design and travel. Frequently, distribution is done by the creators themselves through exchanging and trading them.  Building community through sharing this way is an integral part of the zine experience.  Collecting zines in libraries is important because they document contemporary popular culture, making them important primary source material for future scholarship, plus they’re a lot of fun!    

Collection

The zine collection at NYPL is housed in the DeWitt Wallace Periodical Room at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building with current periodicals and requested in Room 108. You can find them in the library’s catalog by searching the title or these subjects: zines, fanzines, underground press and little magazines. Here is a selected list of titles we currently have:

Titles

Alternative Press Review

Antenym

Animal Review

Anything That Moves

Axe Factory

BC Monthly

Babysue

Bad Attitude

Bamboo Girl

Bathtub Gin

Beer Frame

Beet

Before the Mortgage

Bellowing Ark

Ben is Dead

Best Zine Ever

Big Little Times

Bikini Girl

Bitch

Blank Gun Silencer

Blue Collar Review

Book Happy

Broken Pencil

Brooklyn!

Browsing Room

Burn Collector

Cherotic (R)evolution

Clamor  

Codslap

Cometbus

Constant Rider

Croq

Die Young

Dishwasher

Diseased Pariah News

Doris

Duplex Planet

Earth and You

East Village Inky

Eclectic

Ecto

Exit 13

Explosive

Factsheet Five

Farm Pulp

Fell Swoop

Fillmore Bugle

Fishdrum

Free Lunch

Fuel

Fugitive Pope

Fuse Magazine

Gauntlet

GeekGirl

Girl Crush Zine

Girlfrenzy

Girlhero

Girljock

Grapefruit

H2s04

Hat

Heaven Bone

Heel Tap

Hip Mama

Hitch

Holy Titclamps

Indy Unleashed

Indignant Gingham

Indulgence

Interlope

ker-bloom!

Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet

Librarians to Palestine

Library Bonnet

Lilliput Review

Little Big Times

Little Engines

Lost and Found Times

Lower East Side Librarian Winter Solstice Shout Out

Mineshaft

Mirage

Miranda

Monk

Moonlight Chronicles

Mouth

Murder Can be Fun

My Mother’s Fashion

Nancy's Magazine

Nervy Girl

Negative Capability

Nuthouse

One Story

Pansey Beat

Pepgirlz

Pink

Plotz

Poetry Motel

Point

Processed World

Public Enema

Public Illumination

Punk Planet

Put an Egg On it

Q Zine

Quantify

Quimby

RiffRAG

Runcible Spoon

Salt

Skanky Possum

Shattered Wig Review

Show me the Money

Six by Six

Slice Harvester

Squawk

Stay Free

Stroker

Struggle

Suffragette City

The Borough is My Library

The Tangent

Thoughtworm

2 am
Umbrella

Unbearables Assembling Magazine

Urban Pantheist

Very Small Magazine

We'll Never Have Paris

Womb of the Dawn

Xerography Debt

Zine Guide & Index

Zine World

Zine Librarian Zine