Local publisher helps bring independent media to town
Linebaugh Public Library recently debuted its new collection of zines?the first collection of its kind in Tennessee. A zine (pronounced like “magazine”) is a self-published, small circulation booklet or magazine, usually produced by one person or a few individuals.
The idea to start a collection at Linebaugh Library came from local zine publisher Jerianne Thompson. Thompson has been involved in the zine scene for over 10 years and is the editor and publisher of Zine World: A Reader’s Guide to the Underground Press, which reviews zines and other independent media.
“It frustrated me there are so few places in Middle Tennessee to find zines,” Thompson said. “No Murfreesboro or Nashville bookstores carry them. If you’re lucky, you may find a handful of zines at a couple of local independent music stores.”
Thompson was inspired to create a collection at Linebaugh after seeing the success of zine collections in Salt Lake City, Baltimore and other public library systems.
Linebaugh’s zine collection is starting small? with about 100 zines available, but the library will add to the collection. The collection has zines about a vast range of topics, including making crafts, bicycle repair, health issues, depression, parenting, activism, recipes, relationships, life in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, travel, and punk music. The collection will also include Fifth Estate, an anti-authoritarian zine whose editor lives in Liberty, Tenn.; comics by Ryan Lewis of Nashville; Fertile Ground, a parenting zine published in Memphis; zines produced at Murfreesboro’s Southern Girls Rock ’n’ Roll camp; and Radical South, which includes information on activist organizations in the South.
Available zines can be found by searching the library’s online catalog, at linebaugh.org, by entering the keyword “zine.” Zines can be checked out for two weeks. Although zines are only collected at Linebaugh Library, patrons of other LPLS branches can request a specific title to be delivered to their local branch.
For more information, call 893-4131, email zines@linebaugh.org or visit linebaugh.org/zines.htm. Linebaugh Library is located at 105 W. Vine St.
