As part of the Nov. 30 universitywide commemoration of VCU's 50th anniversary, VCU Libraries will host a zine workshop.

All interested people are invited to participate in this hands-on activity Friday, Nov. 30 1:15 to 2:15 pm in the James River terrace of the University Student Commons (second floor).

Book art experts Andrea Kohashi and Yuki Hibben will conduct the informal, drop-in sessions. Hibben, assistant head and curator of books and art, Special Collections and archives, James Branch Cabell library, oversees user services and develops and manages collections of rare and unique materials. Kohashi, teaching and learning librarian in Special Collections and Archives, is interested in book art production and in innovative ways to engage with primary source materials.

Workshop participants will be invited to express their thoughts on VCU at 50 through words and drawings. These will be combined into collaborative publications using a low-tech printing method called a hectograph, along with a single-sheet book structure to make the zines.

Every person who participates will be able to take a copy of a zine with them and there will be extra copies available for people who want a memento of the day without contributing a page. To commemorate the symposium and the campus’ collective reflection, a selection of these zines will be added to the VCU Libraries' zine collection. 

The VCU Libraries Zine Collection is open and searchable. The collection includes approximately 700 independently produced, non-commercial publications that were distributed within underground communities. Often focusing on social activism and justice, these alternative publications embody the individual and collective need to be heard. Many of the zines were created in virginia or have a connection to virginia commonwealth university.