Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture

Barnard Zine Librarian to Headline Syracuse Symposium April 5-6

Tuesday, April 3, 2018, By Rob Enslin
Share
College of Arts and SciencesSchool of Information StudiesSyracuse SymposiumSyracuse University Libraries

Jenna Freedman

Syracuse Symposium continues its yearlong look at “Belonging” with a visit by renowned zine maker and librarian Jenna Freedman.

A member of Columbia University’s Barnard College, Freedman will headline a lecture and workshop collectively titled “Classification and Language(s) of Belonging,” April 5-6.

On April 5, Freedman will discuss “Zine Librarianship as Critical Practice” from 5:15-6:30 p.m. in the Peter Graham Scholarly Commons (114 Bird Library). Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) services will be provided. The following day, she will present a workshop called “Seizing the Means of Publication: Zine Making” from 9 a.m. to noon in 002 Bird.

Both events are free and open to the public; however, registration is required for the April 6 workshop. Please R.S.V.P. Patrick Williams, librarian for literature, rhetoric and digital humanities at Syracuse, by calling 315.443.9520.

Syracuse University Libraries, the School of Information Studies (iSchool) and the Department of Writing Studies, Rhetoric and Composition in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) are sponsoring Freedman’s visit. For more information about her or Syracuse Symposium, contact the Humanities Center in A&S at 315.443.7192, or visit humcenter.syr.edu.

“Jenna Freedman is a nationally renowned activist librarian, committed to elevating the role and function of academic libraries,” says Vivian May, director of the Humanities Center and professor of women’s and gender studies in A&S. “She is particularly interested in the impact of zines and other forms of alt press on librarianship. Jenna will discuss how zines not only foster community, but also document contemporary popular culture in bold, new ways.”

Williams is co-organizing Freedman’s visit with Rachel Clarke, an assistant professor in the iSchool. He says both events will consider how librarianship supports higher education, particularly student learning and faculty scholarship, while facilitating community building and knowledge formation.

“Librarians and other library staff engage in work, such as collecting diverse materials and creating space for conversations, that is not always driven by the curriculum,” Williams points out. “Jenna contends that librarians perform their roles with empathy and a critical eye, thus opening up new possibilities for creative and academic projects.”

Zines and activist librarianship underscore much of Freedman’s work at Barnard, where she is an associate director of communications; the founder and curator of the college’s zine library; and a personal librarian for transfer and commuter students and for the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality interdisciplinary department.

A national authority on zines, Freedman works with handmade magazines of all shapes, sizes and formats. Most zines are handmade, photocopied or stapled; others are more polished in appearance. They cover myriad themes and topics—from feminism, music and politics to movies, literature and arts and crafts. “Zines draw from the traditions of comic strips and artist’s books,” Williams says.

Freedman is an avowed digital humanist, as evidenced by her leadership roles at zinecat.org, a union catalog dedicated to zines, stemming from her recent M.A. work at the CUNY graduate center; radicalreference.info, providing online reference services to activists, journalists and researchers; and critlib.org, dedicated to exploring critical perspectives on library practice.

“Zines are a unique form of self-expression, done as a labor of love rather than for profit,” Williams says. “The writing, design, production and circulation of zines offer students opportunities to develop information literacy and to follow personally meaningful modes of inquiry. Also, many libraries are adding zines to their collections, for their unique value as primary source material for future scholarship. Zines represent a way to include work by students in library collections.”

Adds May: “Zines originated in the 1950s and ’60s, and saw a brief resurgence in the ’90s. Today, they are thriving, thanks to the internet and social media. … Zines often reside at the intersection of art and activism, and help preserve and amplify voices out of the mainstream.”

Organized and presented by the Humanities Center, Syracuse Symposium is a public humanities series that revolves around an annual theme. Programs include lectures, workshops, performances, exhibits, films and readings. Located in the Tolley Humanities Building, the Humanities Center serves the campus community by cultivating diverse forms of scholarship, sponsoring a broad range of programming and partnerships and addressing enduring questions and pressing social issues.

  • Author

Rob Enslin

  • Recent
  • Professor’s Take on Biden Skipping COP28 Climate Summit
    Tuesday, November 28, 2023, By Vanessa Marquette
  • Indigenous Studies Researcher Advises the United Nations on Inequalities in Food Security and Nutrition
    Tuesday, November 28, 2023, By Kerrie Marshall
  • New Intelligence++ Ventures Initiative
    Tuesday, November 28, 2023, By Cristina Hatem
  • Verizon Wireless Customers First to Access New State-of-the-Art 5G Network at JMA Wireless Dome
    Tuesday, November 28, 2023, By News Staff
  • Clements Internship Awards Inspire Career Development
    Monday, November 27, 2023, By News Staff

More In Arts & Culture

Art History Professor Receives NFAH Fellowship for Work on Modern Pueblo Painting

Historically, studies of early 20th-century Pueblo painting focused on the role non-Native anthropologists, artists and patrons played in fostering and marketing Pueblo art. In the last two decades, there has been a shift in approach spearheaded by scholars in the…

A&S Professor Wins Mentorship Award

Gwendolyn D. Pough, dean’s professor of the humanities and professor in the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, is the latest recipient of the 2023 Ede Mentoring Award from the Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric &…

Q&A With Alex Jainchill: Illuminating the Story of Malcolm X at the Met Opera

How do you illuminate the powerful story of civil rights leader Malcolm X on the opera stage? It was a challenge that lighting designer Alex Jainchill couldn’t pass up, working on a groundbreaking opera at the renowned Metropolitan Opera in…

‘A Christmas Carol’ Returns to Syracuse Stage, Reimagined as a Music-Filled Celebration Featuring the Magical 2 Ring Circus

Syracuse Stage, in association with the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ Department of Drama, continues Syracuse Stage’s 50th Anniversary season—and the tradition of heart-warming, family-friendly holiday shows—with “A Christmas Carol,” the classic novel by Charles Dickens, here adapted by…

VPA Film Faculty Receive Emmy Award Nomination

Two film faculty members in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) have received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement for Children/Youth/Teen from the Chicago/Midwest chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. David Tarleton, professor…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2023 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.