The Descript-a-thon will be an opportunity for the greater Williams community to explore and interact with the large circulating zine collection at Sawyer Library. Zines will be displayed in the 24 hour room at Sawyer and attendees will be able to pass through and read any zines they are interested in. After reading a zine, there will be an easily accessible google form where they can add their own descriptions of the zines. This event will aid with the circulating zine collection’s goal of adding keywords to the catalog entries of our available zines, in the hopes of making the collection more accessible, transparent, and easy to sift through. Simultaneously, the event will introduce attendees to the many ways they can connect with the collection and also add their own voices to the reserve.
Zines affirm the experiences of marginalized individuals in academia and other institutional spaces. Zines are typically self-published paper works (somewhere between pamphlets and magazines) by individuals or groups in which the creator(s) have nearly complete control over the content layout, and distribution. Because of the medium’s affordability and creative potential, zines have historically been used in communities of color to organize, share information, and record personal narratives. The idea for Sawyer Zine Collection was born from a desire to “reclaim the stacks” after the dissemination of flyers with xenophobic, white supremacist, and anti-Semitic messages in Sawyer library in 2018. By reaffirming underrepresented identities in a diverse, creative medium, the Zine Collection seeks to highlight marginalized identities, promote solidarity, and spark change towards a more accessible college community.
10 AM – 4 PM in the 24-Hour Reading Room, Sawyer Library