Magic City Zines: Collaboration, Social Engagement, and Programming

Track

Special Collections and Digitization

Level of Experience

Intermediate

Target Audience

Public Librarians, Special Librarians, and Youth Services

Session Description 

What is a "zine" and what is their relevance? Learn how we, at the Miami-Dade Public Library, developed an exhibition, artist talk, and workshop series utilizing our Special Collections & Archives as a resource to engage our local community. Surrounding topics include local art & music, D.I.Y. culture, digitization, and Florida history.

Presenters 

Claudia Acosta, Miami-Dade Public Library System
Claudia Acosta is a recent graduate of the University of Florida where she received her bachelor's degree in English Literature and Woman's Studies. One of her most recent accomplishments is the foundation of an ongoing zine librarian's committee within the Travis Fristoe Zine Library in the Civic Media Center—home to one of the largest zine collections in the Southeast U.S. She has also co-organized zine fairs across the state, including the 2018 GNV Zine Fest and Miami Zine Fair, participating in alternative print communities as an organizer, D.I.Y archivist and zinester herself. She is passionately dedicated to the democratizing and decolonizing of archives, radical D.I.Y culture, and alternative literature; she is currently applying for a master's degree in library science.

Stephanie M. Garcia, Miami-Dade Public Library System
As the Head of Special Collections & Archives at the Miami-Dade Public Library System, Stephanie is most focused on how archives and libraries can help produce better connections among underrepresented communities. Stephanie has worked in administrative, curatorial, and research fields within arts and culture communities for nearly 15 years and continues to further her work in cultural material preservation. She has worked with international artists, artist estates, and private collections like the Tony Smith Estate (New York, NY), Rubell Family Collection (Miami, FL), and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection (Venice, Italy). In 2016, she was awarded the American Research Library's Career Enhancement Fellowship program and completed her fellowship at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University. Her recent work in past years has been on collecting oral histories related to the alternative spaces in which art exhibition is done in Miami and surrounding areas.

Evelyne Zapata, Miami-Dade Public Library System
Evelyne Zapata is an MLIS candidate at San Jose State University with her bachelor's degree in Art History and English Literature from Florida International University (FIU). She has completed internships with Marvel Comics (New York, NY), National Public Radio (NPR), and is currently the Archivist for The Vasari Project, a living archive which collects materials relevant to the South Florida visual arts community, located at the Main Library of the Miami-Dade Public Library System.

 

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