As the steamy, summer days of August whoosh by, we are aiming to make the most of our time here at the Brooklyn College Library.  A big part of our realizing how to proceed in the development of our own zine collection is exploring our neighboring NYC collections.  Lucky us, we have been granted time from the limited schedules of inspiring zine librarians and luckier still, the opportunities to see the amazing resources – both zine and library related – this fine city has to offer us.  Yesterday was no exception as we trekked uptown to the Barnard Zine Library.  Minus a minor subway snafu (this is summertime in New York, after all) we found our way to this spectacular collection and to its keeper, the one and only, Jenna Freedman.  It was a personal pleasure to finally meet Jenna as I had already read a great deal by her and she is undoubtedly a major figure in the promotion of zines and zine libraries.  We were able to pick her brain a bit as she took us through the browsing collection and archives at Barnard.  From cataloging to display, we spoke of choices made that have contributed to what I found to be an incredibly successful collection.  Afterwards, my fellow intern, Robin, and I were able to browse through the collection ourselves, snapping photos and peering through titles – making note of those that may be of interest to the Brooklyn College community.  As I perused zines by subject via CLIO, Barnard and Columbia’s online catalog, I daydreamed of the Brooklyn College zine collection to come, one that will be privileged with all the knowledge that we are gaining from our fellow librarians.

the vast selection of zines available for browsing…

check out that shelving system!!