Some librarians are turning to arts and crafts as a way to engage new and continuing audiences. Presenters in this session will discuss how using crafting in the library has provided new opportunities for their researchers.
Craftivism as Library Pedagogy in the Age of Disruption
Speakers: Kellie Lanham-Friedman, Rachel Riter
Craftivism, simply put, is craft + activism. In this paper, we present an overview of what craftivism is, the movement’s significance to the current socio-political climate, and how we have embedded a maker pedagogy into library instruction sessions and workshops. Drawing on existing literature on maker pedagogy, the presentation outlines our institution’s incorporation of maker tools into curriculum (including zine assignments, podcast lessons, and more), and highlights a new workshop designed around craftivism titled Unraveled: Censorship and Craft. Participants learned basic sewing skills while creating embroidered patches, buttons, and bracelets with messages that resonate with their sociopolitical beliefs. Alongside skill-building, participants were introduced to the concept of craftivism and invited to connect it with issues like free speech, censorship, and intellectual freedom. Ultimately, craftivism and maker pedagogy gives students a voice to defend their rights, expands their autonomy, and challenges flawed traditional forms of educational assessment. This paper situates craftivism not only as a creative practice, but also as a pedagogical strategy for academic libraries to resist cultural and technological disruption while empowering students to think critically, create meaningfully, and advocate for their rights.
Cut, Paste, & Share: 20 Creative Ways to Teach with Zines and Spark Low Cost High-Impact Engagement in Libraries
Speaker: Megan Lotts
Zines—self-published, low-cost, and highly creative—are transforming how libraries engage with their communities. Since launching the Rutgers Art Library Zine Initiative in 2019, we have seen firsthand how zines foster creativity, visual literacy skills, self-expression, and storytelling while empowering underrepresented communities.
This presentation will share 20 practical tips for integrating zines into library programming, collections, and instruction. Drawing on examples from the Art Library Zine Teaching Collection—which now includes over 750 unique resources—this presentation will highlight strategies for using zines in classrooms, and for events, and outreach activities. Case studies include collaborations with an English Department to transform annotated bibliography assignments into zines, a partnership with an Asian American Studies Department that won a digital humanities award, and the creation of popular library “Zine Creativity Kits” distributed to over 500 patrons during Welcome Week events.
From this presentation participants will learn how zines can support interdisciplinary teaching, empower underrepresented voices, and create opportunities for playful, hands-on learning in library settings. The session will also discuss practical considerations such as curating a zine collection, facilitating workshops, promoting engagement through exhibits and how to engage cross-disciplinary and organizational collaborations. Attendees will leave with actionable ideas for starting or expanding zine initiatives in their own libraries—whether through instruction, outreach, or collection development—all while keeping costs low and impact high.
Archival Interventions (with Scissors!): Zine- and Buttonmaking as Resistance at UCSC Special Collections and Archives
Speaker: Sam Regal
As is intrinsic to most repositories, the collections within the University Archives at UC Santa Cruz are interwoven with bias. Collections materials unevenly represent student life and experience, eliding certain knowledge, identities, and expression across the documented history of the university. In response and resistance to these elisions, UCSC Special Collections and Archives developed the “Zine Art Party,” a critical zine- and buttonmaking series hosted in Special Collections and Archives. At these events–usually held during finals week–students are invited to cut, remix, collage, and otherwise intervene upon the archive to tell their own stories. The “Zine Art Party"" has three major objectives: to welcome students into Special Collections and Archives and foster a sense of belonging in the space, to critically activate collections materials, and to empower students to pursue arts-based research methodologies. Librarian Sam Regal will set the “Zine Art Party” program in situ by outlining the role, utility, and activist potentialities of critical making as a teaching methodology and research practice, with particular attention paid to the political implications of experimentation and play.
