Library Zine Night is a monthly opportunity for participants to work alone or collaboratively on zines, comics, artist books or other paper projects in the library for a few hours. The library provides staplers, trimmers, bookbinding materials, basic drawing supplies, paper, adhesives, scissors, discarded book scraps, scanners and free photocopying. Occasionally, we invite zinesters in the community to come in for demonstrations on new techniques and approaches.
Each month is usually themed by subject matter (e.g. politics, activism, music, pop culture, indie comics) or by technique (e.g. collage, cross-outs, illustration) or format (e.g. single pagers, saddle stapled). The library also provides button-makers, sticker paper, vinyl cutters and other materials useful for zine promotion.
Library Zine Night is sponsored by the Aesthetics of Research, an ongoing project that works through the library's access services department and is devoted to exploring the intersection of libraries and the arts.
Columbia College Chicago students make self-published mini-magazines at the library — a great fit for an artistic student community.