This is another report back from the Zine Librarians (Un)conference: my notes on the collection development/intellectual freedom session. official Notes from the designated scribe (Heather Davis) are on the wiki.
General discussion topics
- Discussion of how the Barnard Gendercide scandal
- Barnard received what it thought was a donation from an out of scope (i.e. male) zinester
- The zine's "femme identity" theme caused us to reconsider our collection development policy. We asked for feedback on our LiveJournal blog http://barnardzines.livejournal.com/45144.html and http://barnardzines.livejournal.com/50018.html.
- We decided to alter the policy
- Another positive outcome of the decision making process was the engagement of community in the discussion. Participants included zinesters, non zine librarian librarians, and a Barnard faculty member.
- Question: Would QZAP collect zines by someone who isn't out? Answer: That would depend on the content.
- QZAP: less desirable zines are not rejected, just put on the bottom of the pile
- Having delineated collection development policies held other zine libraries know with whom to trade or donate to
- Scope/collection development policies shouldn't just be regional, we owe it to the genres and to scholars to collect within niches
- ZAPP, Papercut, QZAP have faced zine challenges, i.e. someone asking to or forcibly removing a zine from the shelf
- Papercut--invited challenger to write an addendum to be shelved with the zine
- ZAPP--true porn, questioned from a feminist perspective.
- ZAPP's experience led them to ask, "Is a zine library a safe space?" Some responses from the assembled:
- Zines are primary sources, not a reflection of the library
- Zines are inheritently unsafe
- Is our loyalty to the zines more important that to our patrons?
- Recommendations on dealing with challenges
- Have a conversation with the patron, then go to policy/review process
- When it's an administrator is the challenger--must have a strong policy, with a balanced review group in place
- Age restriction (for QZAP) if they offered access to the print--perhaps 14 or 16--to protect the librarians as much (more than?) the kid. QZAP's physical location is Milo's dining room, which makes their situation potentially more touchy than other libraries'.
- Funny aphorism I hadn't heard before, "the librarian knows your kid is gay. Do you?" (about patron privacy)
- USA PATRIOT Act: Do zines libraries have a statement of noncompliance? Do they have a plan in place to proect patron privacy?