TRUE STORY: When I visited the JFK Campus Library yesterday, one boy in particular had a very big reaction to the news that public library service could be cut from six days a week down to five if the proposed budget cuts go through. He said, and I quote,
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
... which seemed entirely appropriate for anyone realizing that visiting their public library on a Saturday could be a thing of the past.
He signed one of our budget support letters, and passed it to me with a loud CH-CHING sound, which also seemed appropriate.
He was interested in lots of free stuff that I had at my table, but he was definitely most interested in the "selfie" sign I brought along, which promoted our #NoCutsToLibraries message. He then proceeded to take lots of pictures with this sign, both alone and with his friends. My personal favorite photo is one that I can, in fact, share on social media:
My thanks to all of the students and teachers who stopped by my table yesterday, who picked up library swag, who signed letters of support, and who stopped by just to tell me why libraries are important to them.
Today is our Day of Action for Libraries. Learn more about it, and learn what you can do to help:
Your library and your community need your help! Our public libraries are facing a potential $58.3 million cut.
Professor Rachel Grozanick’s ENGLIT 0512 Narrative and Technology class visited Archives & Special Collections during the Spring 2020 term. Students had the opportunity to closely examine collections around the themes of constructing the canon, inclusivity, alternative formats, and fandom. Students examined artists’ books, comics, pop-up books, Modern Language Association editions, and Clifton Fadiman.
Today it is easier than ever to find and participate in communities centered around any niche media series or hobby imaginable, but that was not always the case. Before the age of the Internet, it was much harder for the earliest fans to connect and correspond with each other. One of the earliest ways these gaps were bridged was through the creation and limited publication of fan made magazines, often abbreviated to fanzines or simply zines. Small audiences developed around these independent projects, and over time the focuses of many of these once tiny and relatively unknown groups have grown to be parts of the mainstream consciousness. This growth is largely due to the widespread and increasingly accessible virtual communication platforms and social media. Despite the differences in format, platform, etc, there are striking similarities between old fan interactions in fanzines and modern fan interactions online.
The lightning fast response times of internet forums today may be taken for granted now, but decades ago discussions around media and fandom depended on the postal systems to flourish. This is often lamented in The Invisible Fan #7, an issue of a zine containing a debate relating to feminism, inclusion, and the effectiveness of feminist groups comprised entirely of men, as the editor, Avedon Carol, occasionally mentions her annoyance with having to maintain and truncate an active mailing list along with the slow response time of those writing to respond to her (Carol 13, 21). These responses took the form of a "loc", or letter of comment, which subscribers would write in to the publishers or creators to give their thoughts on the topics discussed or the quality of the zines themselves (Southard 27). This particular issue of The Invisible Fan also contained a number of these referring to previous issues, which revolved around similar topics, specifically women and writing science fiction (Carol 18-19). This entire issue is almost like looking at a transcription of an internet forum discussion, especially in the case of the locs, as many of these have a bit of a dialogue between the fans and Carol.
Figure 1: An excerpt from one of the many locs from The Invisible Fan #7 (Carol 18).
While originally these dialogues consisted only of fans themselves, overtime industry professionals and creators began to get involved directly as well. This is not solely due to the rise in social media and instead has roots in zines themselves. In his book detailing the history of zines, New York University Gallatin Professor of Media and Culture Stephen Duncombe notes that science fiction zines were integral in pushing for more interactivity between fans and media producers, as well as between fans and other fans (Duncombe 114). Originally, fans simply wrote in letters with concerns or requests to the relevant publishers as well as to each other, and it was this active participation, Duncombe argues, that eventually allowed fans to play a part in shaping the final products as opposed to just consuming them (Duncombe 114). A more fully realized version of this relationship can be seen today with fans reaching out to companies and individual creators on social media platforms, where they can discuss their favorite franchises with the people responsible for them. Because some of these platforms have millions of users, in the past there have been instances where enough of them have formed collective pushes towards these companies to elicit changes they deem necessary. A recent example would be the delay of the movie Sonic the Hedgehog, as after initial trailers were uploaded fans were so outspoken in their dislike of the main character’s design that the movie’s release date was pushed back in order to update it. Clearly modern fandoms have a much larger impact than a handful of letters.
That isn’t to say that fans and zines never had any interactions with those working in the industries before the Internet. Another zine, Incognito, which was centered around Marvel and DC comics, published an issue that contains an interview between one of its editors, Rick Jones, and the late Marvel Comics Writer Stan Lee, who is responsible for many of the superheroes in mainstream culture today (Jones et al. 4). It’s more common now because it’s much easier to reach out to the people behind shows and movies directly. Creators and companies themselves have also taken steps to involve fans by hosting promotional question and answer sessions on Twitter or Reddit before upcoming releases, among other things. This, along with the added level of anonymity online usernames provide that may make others more comfortable in participating, ensures that discussions are open and available to everyone.
Some other avenues of fan discussion and discourse include the sharing of related pictures and fan made art. Because resources were often limited while making these zines, some took it upon themselves to recreate officially produced artwork via copying or tracing the official art as best they could, like in figure 2. Alternatively, some took to creating their own original artwork instead of or in addition to tracing. In the current year, we still often circulate and share images or memes of our favorite shows, and it's never been easier to find high resolution reference material, images or otherwise, via Google or similar search engines.
Figure 2: Doctor Strange characters traced by Bill Schelly in order to provide simple visual aids (Jones et al. 9).
What may be lost today, however, is the amateurish charm of yesteryear due to the advances and availability of better tools and technology. Both The Invisible Fan and Incognito contain some sort of spelling errors or printing errors, which can be seen in figure 3. While this may hurt any professionalism they may have aspired for, it could also be argued these mistakes add to the charm, as these projects were usually the work of small but dedicated teams or even single individuals. They might not be incredibly polished, but the passion shines through regardless. Currently, with the prominence of word processors with automated spell checking software, unintentional spelling mistakes are almost always seen negatively due to how easy they are to fix. This luxury was not a feature of the typewriters the original zines were written on. There is also a seemingly endless supply of such high quality fan art now due to the increasing availability of professional software. That doesn’t mean that the artists and fans of today don't have the same levels of dedication as those in the past. In fact, as these fan made pieces grew in elaboration, the time and technical skill required to produce them grew as well. Regardless, these works are still shared far and wide with others, but through the Internet instead of the mail or in person.
Figure 3: A particularly gruesome printing error. A spelling mistake is also visible in the top right corner (Carol 5).
The fans of today are still largely doing what the original fans accomplished through their zines decades ago except now there’s a much wider audience. The large communities of today are so expansive that the feeling of being a part of a small, tight-knit group might be lost. For example, it would be impossible to know every single individual personally today, due to some communities being so expansive they encapsulate millions worldwide. What may have felt like a special and even exclusive club back then now has the door bolted open for anyone and everyone to participate in. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and in fact on the whole it’s more beneficial for those who want to get involved and participate. It's now possible for everyone to be an active participant, fan content producer, or just an observer, in the current cultural climate. The activities are largely the same, it's simply the avenues of distribution and communication that have changed.
- Derek Halbedl, undergraduate, University of Pittsburgh
Works Cited
Carol, Avedon. “The Invisible Fan.” The Invisible Fan, 1978, pp. 1–21.
Duncombe, Stephen. Notes from underground: Zines and the politics of alternative culture. Microcosm Publishing, 2014, pp. 114
Jones, Rick, and Billy Schelly. “Incognito.” Incognito, Sept. 1965, pp. 1–17.
Southard, Bruce. “The Language of Science-Fiction Fan Magazines.” American Speech, vol. 57, no. 1, 1982, pp. 19–31. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/455177. Accessed 2 Feb. 2020.
Yesterday we were visited by Sarah Schaefer's Art History class "Introduction to Prints and Printmaking: History and Techniques." They reviewed a wide range of printmaking techniques and styles from the 19th and 20th centuries in books and individual prints held in Special Collections. We found it so visually interesting and instructive that we decided to keep a selection from this presentation on display in our reading room as an impromptu pop-up exhibit until the end of the week, April 5. If you’re in town, Please stop by and see it 10 am to 5 pm!
On display are etchings, engravings, mezzotints, aquatints, woodcuts, wood engravings, lithographs, chromolithographs, steel engravings, and serigraphs. You may view and handle:
An extra-illustrated book from the 17th-century bound with all kinds of printmaking techniques from the 17th to the early 19th century.
Original wood engravings by the two earliest popularizers of the medium, Thomas Bewick in Britain and Alexander Anderson in the U.S.
Mid-19th century lithographic prints by the French printmaker and caricaturist Honoré Daumier.
An 1849 work by two great promoters of chromolithography in books, Owen Jones and Henry Noel Humphreys.
Velvety mezzotints by John Martin for an 1827 publication of Paradise Lost.
Scores of steel-plate engravings from an 1860 publication on Distinguished English and American Female Poets.
Original woodcuts designs, wood-engraved images, and distinguished typeface designs in the works of early English and American fine presses from 1892-1904, including Kelmscott, Essex House, Vale, and Elston.
Original serigraph prints by one of the earliest promoters of silk-screen printing as an art medium Max Arthur Cohn (who, btw, was the father of UWM professor emerita of Art History, Jane Waldbaum).
A 1982 fine-press production of Alice in Wonderland by the great American book designer, letterpress printer, and master wood engraver Barry Moser, with an extra suite of original, signed wood engravings.
And while you're here, you may also view our retrospective exhibition on the work of the American color wood engraver, book designer, and letterpress printer Gaylord Schanilec, "Luminous Books: The Work of Gaylord Schanilec," which remains on view through May 17.
Click on the images for their identifying captions.
Here are some before-and-after Community Room setup shots from an 8th grade class visit this morning. All of the teens got lots of information and lots of library swag!!!
ETA: Oh, and their teacher said that librarians were “defenders of democracy,” so THAT was a great way to start the day! 😃
