Today the whole Brooklyn College zine collection crew went to our first zine field trip to the Fales Library and Special Collections at NYU. Senior Archivist Lisa Darms showed us around the Riot Grrrl Collection, which is totally amazing, inspiring, and also more than a zine collection.

I usually have my head in the world of zine libraries. I think about things like cataloging and circulation, organization and subject headings. Seeing the source material, the flats for zines–with polaroid pictures glued on, or the piece of paper that the handwriter touched before it hit the copy machine–is something else altogether. And when you are able to contemplate the whole life of a zine, from the cutting and the gluing to the copies and the correspondence, all together in one box, instead of just one single issue, then I feel like I have to re-order all the things I think about collecting and sharing zines, as well as studying them.

I left completely impressed by the collection, and truly inspired by the work that is being done at Fales. A big thanks to Lisa for hosting our first zine field trip!