One of the unique things about zines is the variety of construction techniques used to create them. This can range from simple staples or yellow electrical tape used as binding to hand sewn zines or methods of folding and cutting paper to produce a booklet. This style of booklet can also be opened out into a large flat sheet which can be used to hide additional information inside the zine. Sometimes the paper used to make the zine is symbolic such as the paper from different religious texts that was used to construct the butterfly that accompanies Joy Serwlyo’s Books of the Bible
Apart from the challenge of cataloguing such unusual items there are also the problems of fitting the normal library identifications such as call numbers, stamps and barcodes on small items. Barcodes weren’t designed with butterflies in mind!

Joy Serwylo's Books of the Bible is comprised of four small books housed in a 7cm book containing 4 pockets
One of the delights of cataloguing zines is that you never know what will turn up on your desk. For interesting construction and a catchy title, one of my favourite zines has to be Light zine: dumb clouds and blowy guys which opens up to form a lantern.

A stronger light would show this lantern off better but combining candles and collection material is not encouraged at the NLA
The”blowy guys” in the title refers to some guys in the zine blowing clouds but I like to think the zine was made by someone getting over an unreliable guy that was blowing in and out of their life. Or maybe, those blowy guys that hit you like a whirlwind and shake things up are good for chasing the blues “clouds” away? In any case, zines and their unusual construction certainly spice up the life of a cataloguer.


I must admit I often cringe when I see artwork made out of other books that have been cut up. Here in Melbourne – and it’s probably the same in Canberra – a lot of retail stores get hold of written sheet music, and cut it up, and put these cut up sheets in the window. I hate that! Others seem to glue a whole lot of books together in order to make a kind of sculpture – that ticks me off too. It seems disrespectful.
That being said the effects can be quite striking, and I did cut around some newspaper to make a kind of ‘newsprint picture’ for the cover of one of my zines. But books? I just can’t bring myself to do that.
So gorgeous! They do come in all shapes and sizes!