I met the university librarian, and she told me about their zine collection - over 600 zines from past decades to present day! And you can donate your zine to this collection by emailing here. I was thoroughly impressed and envious of them having things like, old editions of Smiths Indeed.
One zine-maker was overwhelmingly kind and donated 4 copies of his art zine Flabby Dagger for the zine collection at Stuart Hall Library @ Iniva, east London. It is pictured in the bottom of the above photo.
I also chatted to someone from Housemans shop. Shamefully, I have still yet to visit this amzing emporium, but I always buy loads of their publications when they're at zine fairs. I loved seeing old editions of Tom Vague's zine, Vague. I spent £10 on old copies. He wrote the amazing psychogeography about Notting Hill Gate, and I once saw him do a pop history talk on the area, an inspiring bloke. I am hooked on reading my copies of Vague - it puts most 'zines to shame with just how much content is packed in, plus it is A4 size (and I like the havoc it causes when I read it on the tube - it beats having a tiny little electronic screen any day) and you just never get A4 size stuff anymore, not sure why everything has shrunk, though I wouldn't be surprised if steep postage rises were not part of the cause.
I then headed over to nearby 56a for more zine browsing and buying, plus putting up poster and flyers about our event which you can still get your name down for attending, if you just email the library: [email protected]
I seem to have gone a bit link-happy with this blog, but I re-realised just how crucial it is to spread such information and support all things zine-related, and too often so much goes on and alnguishes in the reserve of a close-knit circle, or is simply unheard-of.