While I was in my internship for Library Advocacy at San José State University, one of of my fellow students shared that she had created a zine for her high school student population. I loved the idea, and was curious how I could create one for my elementary students.
It is never too early to introduce alternative forms of media, especially a form of self-publication that can enable them to think outside of the box, inspire creativity, and find their voice and passions.
Research
I sat down one Wednesday and just got to drafting the layout after doing some research on zines and formats. I consulted a few resources, but one that brought me particular joy was a blog called “The Creative Independent”, with their wonderful post on how to make a zine. This site in general was not only inspiringly formatted, but it features an amalgamation of artist work, insight, and stories that could be delved into for hours on end. Highly recommend.
After deciding on the format (a one page mini zine) that wouldn’t be too overwhelming to start, I picked a topic, and figured out the general topic of each page. From there, I got to writing and drawing!
Overall, it took me about 2 hours from research > picking the layout and theme > writing and sketching. Once I was satisfied with the outcome, it came to the final draft that would be used to make my copies. I wanted this first edition to be nearly completely hand drawn, a media form that is being lost due to laptops and tablets in the classroom… I wanted to spark ideas for the next ones that seemed doable to them.
Creative Process
I pulled out my watercolor markers, favorite gel pen, and got to work. It was honestly relaxing and exciting, and was already sparking ideas for the next. The format was quite limiting considering my topics of choice, but that made the half page format seem less intimidating. However, who doesn’t love a “tiny” book as my students began to reference them.
The format was as follows:
- Intro – What is a zine? – short synopsis on the history of zines and explanation of purpose
- Book Spotlight – Showcasing books in the library with a short summary
- “Did you know?” – A dive into a topic of choice with Nov. being libraries and government funding, how it works, and what “advocacy” as students can look like
- How to exercise advocacy as a student, and how to support libraries
- Conclusion – Thank you and call for submissions
I used my printer/scanner at home to get the scan of my final copy, before sending that file to my work email and printing them on the color printer I was so graciously gifted by the office when it was replaced with a newer one. I started with about 35 copies, but quickly needed to make more by request of students who wanted their own copy once it started to spread. With a student population of 7+ being around 300~, I probably went through about 100 zines.
Reflection
Overall, this required very little materials, and was doable with some downtime after shelving books. After it was created and copies were printed, the only thing that took up time was folding them… This could definitely be a task for library helpers. All this to say, I would love to see more libraries creating zines and incorporating student work, it is an extremely manageable project and was well received by staff and students.
This was a fulfilling project, and I am excited at the prospect of student contributions to future editions. Unfortunately, I am leaving my elementary library soon, and will not be able to see this project through long-term with my students. I hope to continue it at the public library I am joining, so we shall see… more to come, potentially!
Until next time,
Sam
♡
Sam's Liberry 
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