Help Protect our Collection & Archive

Aim

Together we’ll ensure irreplaceable and radical cultural heritage is safe and on display at Glasgow Zine Library

Glasgow Zine Library is at a pressing crossroads, and we need your help. Every donation you make is now doubled thanks to the generosity of Creative Scotland.

Our ability to safely and accessibly store, preserve, and display our zine collection is in jeopardy. In addition, we are running out of space to continue accepting zine donations. That is why we urgently need to upgrade our collection storage and display to increase capacity, accessibility, and improve preservation.

Zines (self-published magazines) are usually hand-made and created on a small-scale, and are often made by marginalised creatives with limited access to mainstream creative production routes. They are often the only records of the issues and experiences of subcultures, countercultures, and alternative movements; narratives otherwise left undocumented. For many years, self-publishing has been a tool for groups and individuals to share information, build movements, grow communities, and/or express themselves free from traditional creative pressure. Most historic movements for social justice have engaged in self-publishing in some way. There are no skills or knowledge required to make a zine: they give people who are excluded from a narrative, a chance to tell their own story in their own way.

Our library—a small arts charity—needs your support to sustain its collection. Every zine is different, and every zine is precious, but our resources are limited. Without proper display and storage solutions, we can’t guarantee that we will be able to take future zine donations, and those voices risk being lost. 

Our archive, which holds the entirety of our collection, is running out of space to safely and accessibly store and preserve the zines. As a result, the condition and future of our zine collection is at risk of rapid decline due to insufficient storage and preservation capacity. Since moving to our current space in 2023, we have received over 1,400 zine donations; a significant increase on previous years that nearly doubled our collection. We have reached capacity, turning away major donations, and (with permissions) donating duplicates. We continue to receive requests about taking larger donations from groups and individuals who wish to find a place to preserve their community’s cultural heritage. Reaching capacity of our archive means that we have to turn away zine donations and halt zine acquisition of cultural objects. For instance, we turned away 249 issues of historically significant literary zine, 100 issues of an important writing zine, and a large collection of music zines and magazines. Another donor wants to bequeath a significant 1980-90s zine collection including historical trans zines. Currently, we do not have the capacity to store and preserve them. Without this project we cannot properly preserve the collection or sustain zine donation intake.

Currently, we can only display around 10% of our zines at one time. That includes the public collection in our Reading Room, the permanent special exhibition of zines made by Palestinians and about Palestine, and other rotating special displays. As a disabled-led organisation (with 30% of our partners, 28% of our audiences, 75% of our board, 25% of our staff, and 85% of our volunteers identify as disabled or neurodivergent), our collection is currently not accessible to all library visitors, and our archive is not accessible to all members of staff and volunteers.  

Proposed Solution

We are planning an upgrade to our public collection display and physical archive to enable us to accessibly store and display more of the collection, increase capacity, preserve the zines, and make them accessible long-term. The more accessible space we make for these zines, the more people can come and learn from them and use them in their own practice.

Working with Sculpture & Design Ltd., we will 

1.     Install shelving and storage boxes in our public Reading Room, increasing zines on public display from 10% to 30% of our collection. Sustainable wood shelving will replace damage-prone OSB. Storage boxes will have increased accessibility with handles fit for those of us with limited grip, and allow for sections of our collection to be engaged with while seated. 

2.     Install archive shelving and storage to increase collecting capacity, safety when retrieving zines, and better zine preservation. 

3.     Produce bespoke display cases will support zines smaller and larger than the traditional A5 format, preserving particularly fragile documents.

This project will benefit our community who will gain increased access to fragile and irreplaceable resources and preserve our cultural heritage. The project will improve the conditions the collection is kept in, saving these fragile resources from decay, mould, stains, and wear-and-tear, and make the archive easier for staff and volunteers to access and manage. We will also be able to accept more zine accessions. 

As part of our Heritage project for 2025-2027, partially supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Glasgow Community Action Fund, we are making our archive and its contents more accessible than ever. However, we do not currently have funding for the “capital works” (construction of new fixtures and fittings) that upgrading our archive requires. Only very specific funders give money for capital works and, unfortunately, we have been unsuccessful in acquiring this.

This is why we are raising money through a crowdfunder. 

Only through this campaign, every donation (up to £250) is doubled thanks to the generosity of Creative Scotland. That means that a donation of £5 gives us £10, every £25 give us £50... By donating, you make double the impact as you are allowing us to access these additional dedicated funds only accessible in this crowdfunder. 

FAQs

Who are we?

We are Glasgow Zine Library, a community art space, self-publishing charity, and zine archive based in Govanhill. The UK’s largest independent zine archive, we have a collection of over 4000 zines, which live across our public reading room and archive. They cover every topic from art to LGBTQ+ lived experiences, reproductive justice, and workers’ rights, to nature, writing, photography, and much more. We're preserving the experiences and histories of local people and communities in southside and wider glasgow. Additionaly, we hold a large number of international zines. Through our collection and archive we're connected to zine makers and creative communities locally and around the world.

We run a public venue as well as a yearly festival celebrating community arts and heritage. We host over 100 events per year, for which we commission local artists and event facilitators at artist union rates, and give free space to members of our community to run events that they couldn’t otherwise.

Visitors to the library take part in anything from ink-making to live poetry, with lots of zine-making in-between!

Use of our entire space is free, which includes wifi, tea and coffee, as well as an accessible toilet, so come and learn all about zines (and maybe make one of your own).

Last year we welcomed over 11,000 people to read our collection, and to participate in our free, accessible activities.

We are lucky to have a robust team of committed volunteers who assist us with our offering at all levels. Over 60 volunteers support us as library assistants during our day-to-day opening hours and over 30 archive volunteers support our cataloguing and digitisation project, making our collection more accessible to more members of our community. Our mission is a collective endeavour that can only be achieved through the support of our dedicated, kind, and enthusiastic community of volunteers.

Why are zines important?

Our zines are a window into the past, present, and future of radical self-publishing. Our collection is a celebration and commemoration of the marginalised communities and movements who have come and gone. They are pivotal examples of resistance and struggle, both on a personal and societal level.

We have been collecting and preserving zines since 2013. Our extensive archive is a testament to the increasing interest in the power of DIY creation that zines represent. They are a tangible demonstration of your creative ability, free from the need for external validation - you are in control of your narrative.

Zines are an interpersonal medium, they empower people and they guide them to a better, more radical future. Each zine is a conversation between the creator and the reader, and we hope these vital examples of community power inspire people in their life beyond zine-making itself.

When is this project happening?

Construction and installation is planned for Summer 2026.

Can you share your plans and the costs for this project?

After comprehensive market research, we chose the proposal of the local company Sculpture & Design Ltd. They have extensive knowledge of heritage-based design and construction and have already designed several prototypes of the type of storage and display models we will be using.

Zine Archive: £4,517 (+VAT)

Reading Room Shelving: £5,927 (+VAT)

Reading Room Raked Display: £2,901 (+VAT)

Reading Room Display Boxes: £6,329 (+VAT)

Category Labels for Boxes: £554 (+VAT)

Total: £21,210 (+VAT) = £25,452

In this campaign we are raising half of this cost, with the other half secured through other sources. 

What if you don't raise all the funds you need to complete the project?

This is an "all or nothing" campaign, which means we only get the funds in we work together to meet our target. It means that every contribution makes a real difference. 

If we don’t reach the target, we’ll prioritise the most essential parts of the project and scale our plans accordingly. We are working hard to secure multiple funding streams to cover these costs, diversifying our funding so we’re not reliant on a single source. 

This project is essential to sustaining our activity long term, and that is why we’re turning to our community for support: to build a more resilient and sustainable Glasgow Zine Library. All the money raised in this campaign will go directly towards this specific project, and we’ll keep you updated on how funds are used.

What about online access to your collection? 

Our volunteers and staff continue cataloguing and digitising our zines, so readers across the world can browse them (data). With that, the cherished physical archive is extremely crucial for the preservation of zines. We’ve had researchers and creatives visiting the archive from right here in Glasgow all the way to Santiago, Chile.

What about access to visually impaired persons?

In the upcoming year we are co-creating audio described zines for visually impaired users with Collective Text. 

If you have any further questions about the crowdfunder, get in touch with us at [email protected]! 

If you are not able to donate yourself, please consider sharing this crowdfunding with your community. 

Thank you for your support! 

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made