The Barnard Zine Library tech works under the supervision of and collaboration with the Curator of the Barnard Zine Library. Other collaborators and potential collaborators include two undergraduate assistants, and staff at all levels working in other units of Barnard Library and Academic Information Services (BLAIS), including, but not limited to Archives & Special Collections, Design Center, Media Center, and Teaching, Learning and Digital Scholarship.
This position will provide hands-on experience in an academic zine library where separate collections allow us to prioritize both access and preservation.
Particular emphasis, this year, will be placed on collections management and processing and a retrospective conversion cataloging project.
As part of this work, the zine tech may expect to abstract and process zines for the archives and open stacks collection, scan zines for researchers, and create issue level catalog records for zines currently included in serial records.
According to the Tech’s interests, they may also:
- assist with performing research and reference
- create exhibits and digital projects
- gain exposure to and contribute to the development of grant planning
- collaborative instruction
- plan and propose projects such as assessment
We encourage techs to propose and develop a project of their own, and we will work to support those endeavors within our capacity and infrastructural constraints.
The overall structure of the position will be determined by the tech in conjunction with the curator. Other duties may be determined by the tech in conjunction with the curator and other staff.
About the collections and our office:
The Barnard Zine Library consists of two distinct, but overlapping collections. First copies of zines are filed in the climate controlled, acid-free archives. If we have a second copy, it gets shelved in the library’s open stacks, where Barnard and Columbia affiliates can access them unmediated (during non-Covid times). External readers are also welcome (during non-Covid times). Stacks zines are available through interlibrary loan.
The Barnard Zine Library recognizes that both our institution and the library profession are predominantly white and acknowledges, in the language of archivist Bergis Jules, the failure of care around the legacies of marginalized people in the Barnard Library. Our collections document—through both the presence and absence of zines—histories of exclusion and marginalization of students, faculty, and staff of color as well as disregard and displacement of Black, Latinx, and indigenous people. We commit to work that is reparative, redistributive, equitable, and anti-oppressive, which centers voices, knowledge, and memory-making practices historically excluded from the archival record. Our library’s community agreements describe some of the ways in which we are committed to upholding values of inclusivity and anti-oppression, privacy, and support.
Our offices are accessible to individuals with mobility disabilities. We have bathroom facilities available for all genders.
We are open Monday-Friday, 10 AM – 6 PM.
While employed at Barnard, you will be given access to the library’s print and electronic resources.
Must be available on the Barnard campus at least one weekday between 10am and 6pm.
10-15 hours of work a week, with sick pay accrued and unpaid time off for vacations and holidays.