iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Looking over the copy edits for my article, "The Promise and Peril of National Distribution: Zines and Independent Magazine Distributors during the 1990s," which will be published in the November issue of Book History (!!)

Screenshot of the title, "The Promise and Peril of National Distribution: Zines and Independent Magazine Distributors during the 1990s," followed by a few lines of the introduction.

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Author bio in the back of Ntozake Shange's 1976 Sassafrass: "Ntozake Shange teaches at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn & City College of New York. She wrote this book to help make her daughter's dreams as real as her menses."

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Received Karin Panther's Unsolved Mysteries fanzine in an envelope made out of a repurposed concert poster & sewn together 😍

Front of envelope shows packing label on top of multi-colored poster with abstract designs.

Back of envelope has text about a concert, "Queens of the (Stone Age)" at Rogers Place.

Close up of the corner of the envelope highlights zig-zag sewing.

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Sarah J. Jackson @sjjphd.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I learned this week that the New York Times was founded 175 years ago. There is a useful set of pieces floating around on this for journalism history buffs. But what struck me is that means the Times was founded 25 years *after* the black press which will celebrate its 200th birthday in a few months

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

So cool to see my work on memoirs by nineteenth-century women book canvassers (door-to-door traveling booksellers) highlighted in this article by @liviagershon.bsky.social!

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Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Librarians! Zine-Makers! This new Temporary Services zine (made with @doormouse12.bsky.social) is for you! We interviewed 4 public librarians that maintain zine collections and the result is a beautiful 44 page booklet. See and learn how they do it! $10.00 (or $3.00 PDF) from www.halfletterpress.com

From the front and back cover of the booklet:

Public Librarians Discuss Zine Collections

We asked librarians at four public libraries to talk about their library’s zine collection. What advice can they share with zine makers that want to get their work into a public library, or librarians that want to start a collection at their library? Was it hard to convince others that zines are a resource that the library should collect? What collecting models did they follow? How did they build the collection?

Interviewees:

Tim Devin / Somerville Public Library
(Somerville, MA)
Angi Brzycki & Ziba Pérez /
Los Angeles Public Library
(Los Angeles, CA)
Alicia Tate / Multnomah County Library
(Portland, OR)
Alina Josan / The Free Library of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA)

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Really enjoying this (new to me) zine Questions & Answers, Dave Hankins's zine featuring thoughtful interviews w/ zine folks.

Two issues of Questions & Answers zine show a cartoon cat reading a zine with a list of six zine makers interviewed in each issue.

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Watched The Linguini Incident last night:

Eszter Balint saying, "I find it impossible to believe..."

"...you can't have man and a library card at the same time."

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

This very lovely little commonplace book (circa 1841) was one of several we had out this morning for a grad student workshop w/ Jillian Hess on notebooks & note taking.

Color illustration of a bouquet of blue flowers, with a poem about flowers underneath.

Poem titled "Song" written within a hand drawn scroll.

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Educational games w/ a games class today! (The Illustrated French Game was a surprisingly big hit.)

Card package on the left says "The Illustrated French Game," next to cards that depict an object with text underneath in French.

Game of Authors card package on top features portraits of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Charles Dickens, several cards spread out underneath.

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Lady Froldmagen (she/her) @zinelib.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

"Among the defendants handed lengthy prison sentences in connection with the incident is tattoo artist Daniel “Des” Sanchez Estrada. Estrada did not attend the protest, but he was sentenced to 30 years over a charge of concealing evidence. At the center of his case sits a box of zines."

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

This morning spent a few minutes looking through this very beautiful "Insects of Ohio" painted by A. Pettingall & dated 1860:

Cover of work, handwritten ""Insects of Ohio" painted by A. Pettingall, 1860" on the front with color illustrations of insects and a leaf border.

Color illustration of caterpillar on leafy branch. Caption says "larva and chrysalis of Luna."

Two moths fly over a caterpillar on a leaf. Caption says "Arctia Isobella larva and chrysalis."

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Love this brochure, "This Girl does the Work of 50 Typists," featuring a woman operating a Rotospeed stencil duplicator. "In every office, factory & store there are hundreds of ways in which the Rotospeed can be used to save time & money." In Capitol Hill Books catalog: mailchi.mp/4dcf083922ae...

Cover of "This Girl Does the Work of 50 Typists" shows a woman operating a rotospeed stencil duplicator. A man stands at the counter behind her with a piece of paper in hand.

Inside of pamphlet shows an image of the Rotopseed stencil duplicator with extensive text about its positive attributes. Across the top, it says, "form letters, ruled forms, drawings."

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Does anyone have suggestions for readings about acknowledgements in contemporary novels &/or current nonfiction? (So far, I'm only finding stuff about acknowledgements in academic work.) Thanks!

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

A small but remarkable detail in Deborah Lutz's new bio about Emily Bronte is this bit about Charlotte Bronte reusing the wrapping to send out her manuscript: "the package had the addresses of publishers who had rejected it, scored out & still readable."

The wrapper may have been used already for something else--perhaps have another address on it crossed out. or some other text. Charlotte did this when she sent The Professor to Smith, Edler, & Co: the package had the addressed of publishers who had rejected it, scored out and still readable.

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Amazingly cool donation: a mid-century home budget bank box!

Tin box with slots in the top cover shown open and smaller tin boxes (marked 'gas,' 'electricity,' 'food,' etc) sitting beside it.

Document titled, "Home Budget Bank Title Cards" with various spending categories that could be cut out and affixed to the smaller tins. Expands include "clothing," "doctor," "education," etc.

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

The new exhibit Scrap Paper: Belonging & Resistance, curated by my colleagues Courtney Hunt & Leticia Wiggins, is now open in Thompson Library & features lots of zines from RBML's collections! It got an incredible write up here: www.axios.com/local/columb....

axios.com

OSU exhibition celebrates the history of the zine

The collection comes from the university's rare books archive.

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Incredible wallpaper in the bathroom at Birdie's Books in Westerville, Ohio:

A pale pink wallpaper with white flowers and green leaves encircling silhouettes of writers. Authors featured include: Kurt Vonnegut, Octavia Butler, Ocean Vuong, Langston Hughes, and Susanna Clark.

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Maybe everyone else is already aware of this (??) but I just discovered that Choose Your Own Adventure books are being reprinted (!!)

A bookshelf featuring several front-facing "Choose Your Own Adventure" books, including Your Code Name is Jonah and The Magic of the Unicorn.

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Always interested in seeing the zine etiquette tips in zines, like this handwritten reminder "always send well-concealed cash & use legible writing" on a page of zine reviews in issue 18 of Bitchfield, published in 1996.

Hand written note "always send well-concealed cash and use legible writing" with hand drawn stars above and below and an illustration of a mail box underneath.

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Love the work this book display is doing in When Harry Met Sally. Lots of contemporary self help & relationship books w/ a little Virginia Woolf snuck in.

A screenshot of When Harry Met Sally showing Carrie Fischer and Meg Ryan standing behind a display of self-help books at Shakespeare & Company.

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Free Poster House virtual event on queer zines & the AIDS crisis tomorrow: posterhouse.org/event/viral-... (Also looks like it will available on YouTube later if you can't make it.)

Screenshot from the Poster House website features an image of the queer zine Diseased Pariah News and the event title "Viral Media: AIDS in Print"

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Reading Russ Bestley's Turning Revolt into Style: The Process and Practice of Punk Graphic Design. Really excellent info about the design & construction of 1970s British punk fanzines in this!

Cover of Russ Bestley's Turning Revolt Into Style: The Process and Practice of Punk Graphic Design features letraset sheets, mouse traps, markers, binder clips, and other materials on a cutting mat.

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Such a cool find at the local library book sale yesterday! A copy of Linda W. Wagner-Martin's biography of Sylvia Plath, with an inscription from Wagner-Martin to someone she calls "My Mr. Crockett," a reference to Plath's beloved high school English teacher.

Cover of Linda W. Wagner-Martin's Sylvia Plath: A Biography features a black and photo photo of Plath with a pink background.

Photo of inscription which reads, "For 'Prof' Kohler, my Mr. Crockett, with hope that this 'real' book pleases him, Linda (Walsheimer?) Wagner

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Spent the morning exploring the @stlpubliclibrary.bsky.social's amazing Zine & Mini Comic Collection (which I used onsite but all of it can be checked out). Thanks so much to librarian Wes Harbison for his help!

Photo shows wooden bookcase with a placard at the top the says "Zine and Minicomic Collection." There are rows of plastic containers filled with zines, and the bottom row has several facing out individually.

Sign says "This space is reserved for zine reading and research" next to a few piles of zines sitting on a desk.

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Display of mid-century sci-fi pulp paperbacks & magazines spotted at the St. Louis Science Center today:

Wall display of science fiction magazines and pulp paperbacks such as Amazing stories, Popular Mechanics, and Lester Del Rey's Mysterious Planet.

Wall display of science fiction magazines and pulp paperbacks such as Galaxy and Robert A. Heinlein's Between Planets.

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Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 26/07/2026

I keep thinking about this, so I’m making it y’all’s problem too: The print runs of Jane Austen’s novels in her lifetime: Susan (later Northanger Abbey): copyright sold for £10 in 1803. Never published, copyright repurchased by her brother in 1816, published posthumously. (1/?)

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Absolutely charmed by the credits for Pluto, a 1940s sci-fi fanzine. The staff list includes two editors, a mimeographer, a mathematical & astronomical advisor (??), & someone who provides "criticism & moral support": fanac.org/fanzines/Plu...

Published by the literature, science and hobbies club of Decker, Indiana, Issued bi-monthly, price 10 cents 3 for 25 cents

Marvis Manning, Vincent Manning, editors
Maurice Paul, Mathematical and astronomical advisor
Claude E. Davis Jr., Chief Mimeographer
William A. Sisson, Criticism and moral support

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Absolutely love Zines Are Back! by @violetbfox.bsky.social, a funny & fascinating look at how the rise / fall of zines has been depicted by mainstream media over the past 20 years.

Cover of the zine Zines Are Back! by Violet Fox, formatted to look like a newspaper with a color image of a zine fest and column heading, "A History through Headlines."

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Bookish folks in & near Columbus, the Aldus Society's new 2026-2027 schedule is now live. Free monthly events featuring talks by booksellers, historians, editors, translators, & collectors. Proud to have helped put together this lineup: aldussociety.com.

An open book with a green bookmark resting on one page. The bookmark has the 2026-2027 schedule for the Aldus Society printed on it.

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SHARP @sharpweb.org · 30/06/2026

This is the last week to register for the SHARPIES, an online book history festival, taking place next week from Tuesday through Thursday! Registration is free for SHARP members, and membership is $55-$100. Please consider joining us (we're a very welcoming community!) events.zoom.us/ev/Ap9iEZwmC...

Flyer showing the names of Leslie Howsam, Alexander Manshel, Matthew Kirschenbaum, Sydney Shep, Adrian Johns, Ruthie Block, Mark Letteney, Yael Sternhell, Beth Driscoll, Kinohi Nishikawa, Dan Sinykin, Greg Barnhisel, Aakriti Mandhwani, Mary C. Fuller, Mark Lester, Peter McDonald, and Martin Paul Eve.

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Just read Spencer D. C. Keralis's "A Media Archaeology of Queer Zines," which includes a close reading of a 1990s queer zine, a discussion of desktop publishing & zines, & a personal reflection on zine making. So good: iopn.library.illinois.edu/pressbooks/d...

Screenshot of article "A Media Archaeology of Queer Zines" by Spencer D. C. Kerllais

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Marc Fischer @marc-fischer.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Last month two library workers reached out to Public Collectors to ask about making a booklet version of Fobazi Ettarh's essay "Vocational Awe and Librarianship: The Lies We Tell Ourselves" for a Celebration of Life event. We did, and it is now available for all: halfletterpress.com/vocational-a...

This booklet is a standalone print publication of Fobazi Ettarh’s essay, in which she defined vocational awe as the ideas, values, and assumptions librarians have about themselves and the profession that result in notions that libraries are inherently good and sacred, and therefore beyond critique. Fobazi first presented on vocational awe at the Identity, Agency, and Culture in Academic Libraries Conference in 2017. Later on, she fleshed out the idea into this essay, which first appeared in the journal In the Library with the Lead Pipe on January 10, 2018. It sparked immediate rippling conversations about dynamics of systemic underresourcing, undercompensation, job creep, and exploitation across the library profession. It was cited more than 500 times in her lifetime, and she presented dozens of invited presentations and keynotes on it. In 2020, she was named a Library Journal Mover & Shaker; true to her own values, she voluntarily revoked the award to protest Library Journal’s awarding of a Library of the Year that had been widely protested for hosting an event with a virulently anti-trans organization earlier in the year. In this time, public scholars and intellectuals in fields such as social work, teaching, nursing, and technology began to engage with vocational awe, including Cory Doctorow in Enshittification, Anne Helen Petersen in Culture Study, Simone Stolzoff in The Good Enough Job, and more. At the time of her passing in January 2026, Fobazi was a PhD student at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, furthering her research on vocational awe across domains, with a specific focus on tech work. May her memory politicize us all.

— Anastasia Chiu

The proposal to publish this text as a booklet came from library workers Mimosa Shah and Jorge López-McKnight. With the cooperation of Fobazi’s widow Elena Maris, Public Collectors has designed, printed and published this essay for that celebration, as well as more widespread readership.

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

The podcast Everything Cookbooks just did an episode "Blurbs: Do They Actually Matter?" & it's so good! Fascinating discussion about the process of requesting one, writing (or declining to write) one, what makes a good (or bad) blurb, & their value: www.everythingcookbooks.com/episodes/172...

everythingcookbooks.com

172: Blurbs: Do They Actually Matter? — Everything Cookbooks

Kristin speaks with hosts Molly, Andrea and Kate about blurbs; the good, the bad and the questionable.

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Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

When I worked at Monticello, we learned a lot about Jefferson’s love of pasta moulds. But it was his enslaved chefs, James Hemings or Edith Hern Fossett, who brought the rather new macaroni & cheese recipe back to America and eventually made it at the White House. The recipe is via Monticello.org.

monticello.org

Macaroni

Jefferson did not invent macaroni and cheese, nor did his enslaved chef James Hemings. But its appearance on the menu at the White House was seen as a…

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Issue 1 of the punk / new wave zine Search & Destroy (1977) has an "International Directory" page which includes a fanzine section: "Many new wave magazines are limited production / xerox labors of love. So send money / at the least send a self-addressed stamped envelope if a reply is desired."

Front and back cover of Search & Destroy, issue 1, features three hands holding a binoculars type instrument on one side, and a man in a space suit with the word "Johnny Rotten" on the other.

Close up of the fanzine section of the international directory page includes the titles of fanzines and their addresses.

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Zine Libraries @zinelibraries.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

+ OPEN CALL + The Zine Library unConference is seeking programming proposals for the 2026 unConference: presentations, zine library tours, lighting talks, panels, workshops, virtual art making (craft-a-longs), or any other types of programming that explores and promotes zine in our communities!

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Got to spend the past couple of days working with the amazing zine collection at Bowling Green's Browne Pop Culture Library. A few highlights:

Cover of issue 4 of Deafula shows a black and white illustration of a woman with fangs wearing a dark hood.

Issue 8 of Inside Star Trek shows a black and white drawing of George Takei.

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Ad for back issues of the feminist sci fi fanzine Janus in issue 11 (Spring 1978). Especially love the illustration of the woman excitedly asking, "You have old fanzines?!!"

Ad for back issues of Janus include a list of issues (1-10), publication date, printing method (mimeo or offset), and number of copies remaining (which range from none to 100). An illustration to the right shows a woman excitedly saying, "You have old fanzines?!!"

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History Clippings @historyclippings.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Linoleum Catalog, 1932. I love stuff like this. Not only are these patterns pretty, they really let you imagine what some people's homes looked like. Internet Archive archive.org/details/lino... #c20th 🗃️ #illustration #interiordesign

Linoleum catalog page with color patterns

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Covers of Walt Liebscher's 1940s fanzine Chanticleer: fanac.org/fanzines/Cha....

Airbrushed color cover of Chanticleer, issue 1, depicts a black, white, and yellow bird in a red piece of clothing.

Airbrushed color cover of issue 2 of Chanticleer depicts a rocket with a trail of blue/purple smoke.

Issue 6 of Chanticleer is a geometric design in white on a brown background. The name of the fanzine is in the center typed both vertically and horizontonally, intersecting to make a cross.

Issue 7 of The Chanticleer depicts black borders on a dark pinkish red background. The name of the fanzine is in the center typed both vertically and horizontonally, intersecting to make a cross.

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Rare Book School @rarebookschool.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

We invite the public to our 2026 summer lecture series, which brings together leading voices in book history, bibliography, and print culture. These free hybrid talks will begin at 5:30 p.m. ET, in person on UVA Grounds & via Zoom livestream. Details at rarebookschool.org/public-programs.

A vertically oriented graphic has a white background with black and red text listing the details of Rare Book School’s 2026 Summer Lecture Series. Alongside each lecture’s details are small thumbnail headshots of each speaker. At the top right is a QR code leading to rarebookschool.org/public-programs.

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

This 1956 promotional video by Curtis Publishing is such an amazing glimpse of how a mid-century magazine was made, from harvesting the trees for the paper to delivering the new issue to newsstands & subscribers: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGF_...

youtube.com

“MODERN MAGAZINE MAGIC” 1956 CURTIS PUBLISHING CO. MAGAZINE PRODUCTION DOCUMENTARY GG46915

YouTube video by PeriscopeFilm

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the original Aloof Wife @cpi.pinball.horse · 15/05/2026

incredible typewriter scans, digitized by @textfiles.com www.flickr.com/photos/textf...

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Jolie Braun @joliebraun.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

More Mike Gunderloy: Reading Why Publish? a 1989 collection of responses from zine makers that first appeared in Factsheet Five. His closing words: "The sea of alternatives...is generally invisible to the 'mainstream.' But it doesn't have to be that way, and I think it might not always be that way."

"Which brings us to my final reason for publishing. This sea is generally invisible to the 'mainstream.' But it doesn't have to be that way, and I think might not always be that way. Many people are in search of alternatives these days, and willing to stand up and be counted. The zine scene is an important tool for social change,a nd it seems to be heading in directions I like, I publish to help it along."

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Matthew L Reznicek @drreznicek.bsky.social · 06/11/2024

To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing—Raymond Williams

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