The Douglas College Library Zine collections have been used by several faculty in various ways. In courses as an allowed primary source or assigned as a graded project where students create a zine on a topic related to their course or as a workshop to explore issues and create a voice for individual and collective experiences.
Here are a few Douglas faculty that have used Zines pedagogically in their courses or as transformative learning. If you are interested in using Zines in the classroom connect with one of these faculty members or book an appointment with a Librarian to learn more about how the library can help. If you are faculty who have used Zines in your courses please contact Gretchen at goertzg@douglascollege.ca to be added to this exciting new area of the Zine library guide.
Anthropology / Gender Studies Women Studies (GSWS)
Jaime Yard (Anthropology)
“I started using and making zines in my classes with students to encourage creative exploration of difficult ideas. I love the DIY ethic and zines tend to present issues in a personal and direct way that resonates with students and invites them to do the same. It’s a great opening to exploring questions of validity and reliability of information contained in different kinds of publications with students.” -- Jaime Yard
Jaime has used Zines and created Zine assignments for groups of students or individuals in the following classes.
To contact Jaime about how she uses Zines email yardj@douglascollege.ca
DACS (Disability and Community Studies)
Lisa Hansen, (Applied Community Studies) - DACS
Lisa has used zines as an assignment option in CFCS 1130, Development Across the Lifespan. "For example, when exploring concepts such as Gender Identity and sexual orientation, the zine is a perfect vehicle to integrate course content with personal exploration of the topic. The zine aids in the development of a social justice position and supports and values students who want to demonstrate their knowledge using a mix of creative abilities."
To contact Lisa about how she uses Zines email hansenl5@douglascollege.ca
ELLA (English Language Learning and Acquisitions)
Tina Fusco
ELLA instructor, Tina Fusco, used zines in her ELLA 0120 course (S2023) to explore perspectives of Canadian culture through the voices of her recent immigrant and international students. The zine project allowed these students to broaden the college community student voice. Created in class this collaborative class zine prompted students to share their experiences of coming to Canada.
"Zine projects in my classroom serve as low-stakes assignments that promote high-level cognitive skill development. These projects allow students to engage with and respond to the themes we study in class. Through creating zines, students find a voice to share their ideas and thoughts with the broader college community. Given that my students often come from marginalized backgrounds, zines provide an ideal medium to bring them into the academic space. While students may initially be skeptical about the hands-on cut-and-paste process, their curiosity, creativity, and sense of agency take over, empowering them to create meaningful expression." --Tina
To contact Tina about how she uses Zines email fuscot@douglascollege.ca
English
Amber Dawn. (2019). From rants to love letters: sex worker zines tell many truths. Broken Pencil, 84, 13-18.
GSWS (Gender Studies Women Studies)
Sally Mennill (Gender Studies Women Studies / History)
In Gender, Sexualities and Women’s Studies (GSWS 1101-01 & GSWS 1101-2) Sally's class collaborated and created these zines.
To contact Sally about she uses zines email mennills@douglascollege.ca
Paynter, Sarah (GSWS / Geography)
To contact Sarah about how she uses zines email paynters@douglascollege.ca
Language Literature and Performing Arts
Janice Sestan (Communications / Global Citizenship Instructor)
To contact Janice about how she uses zines email sestanj@douglascollege.ca
Sociology
Jakub Bukowicz (Sociology)
"I've found the zine collection at our library to be an invaluable resource for my Social Movements class. Zines, with their grassroots origins and unfiltered voices, are written in the language of activism. They serve as the direct voice of movement participants, speaking to social issues often before these are addressed in scholarly works. My students benefit from having access to this unique collection of social movement perspectives." Jakub uses the collection for Sociology 2200.
To contact Jakub about how he uses zines email burkowiczj@douglascollege.ca
Lisa Smith (Sociology)
"As an instructor in sociology, I have found many ways to integrate zines into course content. I want my students to feel comfortable and confident reading academic readings, but I also want them to know about the people behind the topics we are learning about and see the connection to the 'real world'. I assign zines as course materials alongside other readings, to highlight the amazing work of grassroots activists to advance social justice and share examples of on-the-ground and experiential knowledge. Diversifying course content by drawing on alternative publications, models for students that knowledge comes in many forms. As a course assignment, zines provide an outside the box assessment style that centers diverse learning styles and skills sets. Finally, working with zines during in-class discussion activities can provide a powerful jumping off point for dialogue and discussion around knowledge sharing formats from physical to digital. We are so lucky at Douglas College to have access to the zine collection and as it grows so too do the possibilities for integrating into the courses we teach!" -- Lisa Smith (Sociology)
To contact Lisa about how she uses zines email lsmith65@douglascollege.ca
Why?
How?
Browse the Zine collections in the library at either campus location or search the catalogue to find Zines on topics that you cover in your course/s. If you find a zine that relates well to your course curriculum, refer them to your students to read. Many of the zines can be Googled to find free online copies.
You can assign zines to be read just you would other types of sources for your course. The library can even put specific Zines on course reserves for you.
Allow your students to use zines as alternate material as part of understanding their research. Allow them to cite the zine in their essay and add to their bibliographies and Works Cited. How to cite a zine is in this guide.
Create an assignment where students create a zine as group project or as an individual project. Don't forget to get your student/s to donate their print zine to the library zine collection! or submit their ezine to DOOR (Douglas College Open Repository). Permissions will be needed but information is available on the welcome page of this guide.
Ask for a zine library class or workshop where students can learn about zines and make their own. Contact the library zine team at lr-zines@douglascollege.ca for more information.
The purpose of this zine is to describe what six antidotes shifted my mindset of scarcity to one possibility. Scarcity is born from a colonial agenda, benefitting capitalist outcomes while harming our bodies. Using abstract techniques such as collage, poetry, and images, this zine meanders through learnings with a reliance on abstraction and interpretation.
University of British Columbia (Xwi7xwa Library Guide)
Zines created by Indigenous voices.
Emily Carr University of Art + Design
The ECU Library has a small but growing collection of zines that are located in the Special Collections Room on the first floor. The purpose of the collection is to inspire and empower students to create and share their zines, and to provide examples of self-published works.
Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) Zine Library
an ever-growing collection of zines created to inspire, educate and entertain, to encourage collaboration between OCAD University students and to open up the world of zines for readers and creators everywhere! The collection is organized according to the following subjects: Art, Comics, Information/DIY, Music, Poetry, Politics, Queer, and Stories. The collection is currently located in the Learning Zone and open to visits from the general public."
The zine collection launch was held on January 22 in the Seneca@York library. For the past few months, the School of Creative Arts and Animation, the Independent Illustration program and Seneca Libraries have been working together to launch a new Zine collection at Seneca@York Library. The library’s collection of 140 titles includes a mix of purchased works as well as zines created by Seneca students. This collection will continue to grow through ongoing donations from Seneca students, both individual works and group-created zines.
"Barnard's zines are written by women (cis- and transgender) with an emphasis on zines by women of color. We collect zines on feminism and femme identity by people of all genders. The zines are personal and political publications on activism, anarchism, body image, third wave feminism, gender, parenting, queer community, riot grrrl, sexual assault, trans experience, and other topics."
"Brooklyn College Library collects "zines about life in Brooklyn, as well as zines that have relevance for student interests, or the curriculum of Brooklyn College."
DePaul University Zine Collection
"This collection consists of zines published primarily within the Midwest, and welcomes current submissions from this geographic region."
Bingham Center (at Duke University) Zine Collection
"The Bingham Center's collection of zines created by women, girls, and women-identified people began when Sarah Dyer gave her collection of over 1,000 zines in the year 2000. Dyer collected zines for her Action Girl Newsletter, a networking publication for women’s comics and zines."
