As of March 30, 2026, a CLIO search for < zines AND (curious* OR curiosit*) > location: Barnard returns 28 results. We have curious zines from five countries: Canada, France, Germany, The Netherlands, and the US. The zine pictured was made by faculty librarian and labor organizer Kelly McElroy in 2013 during a residency at the Anchor Archive in Halifax.
Curiositer is a handwritten, four-part series on information literacy and structures of information collected in a trifold holder. Kelly, a librarian, writes about searching, finding, and sorting through units of info, as well as Google's monopoly on information how to ask research questions. The zine also contains quotations, footnotes, and relief prints.
Curiosity Killed the Cat But It Saved My Bacon Four years after being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Sara Rosa Espi reflects on how the diagnosis changed her life, and offers a critical disability perspective on living with ADD. As a PhD student, Espi’s ADD serves as the catalyst for burnout and depression for her; it makes it difficult for Espi to complete unstructured academic work, as well as complete tasks like laundry and responding to emails. However, there are also aspects of ADD that Espi loves – rather than viewing ADD as an attention "deficit," Espi sees ADD as "having too much attention," allowing her to take note of the minute details of the world in a new and beautiful way. Exploring ADD coping strategies has also led Espi to discover her love of creative writing. Espi ends the zine by writing about the pulsating energy and power she feels when she dances. — Alekhya
Galante Parisian zinester Marilou writes in French about her first and favorite sexual experiences, coming from a conservative family. There are essays exploring the Catholic Church's stance of chastity, the ways in which women are tested for virginity, and a recipe for a refreshing cocktail and a Greek hummus recipe. She also writes about dolphins and their unexpected behaviors and horoscopes. There are images of the creator and other people in lingerie or nude in kaleidoscope shapes. [donated to the zine library by Beck Jordan-Young ♥]
sONder VOrstelLunG : Was Sie schon immer uber zines Wissen WOLten Stemming from a research project at the archiv der Jugendkulturen (Archive of Youth Culture) in Berlin, this German zine contains a variety of information meant as an introduction to zines, zinemaking, zine libraries, and zine research. Includes some comics, art, a flowchart on "what kind of zine are you?" which/why/and how zines are archived, and basics such as zine-folding instructions.
Top this by Sappho's Scribblers - This compilation litzine brings together the voices of Hunter College lesbians from the mid-1990s. It contains poetry and creative writing about topics such as God, kissing, and Emma Goldman.
Woes of Online Teaching PhD student Bianca Mabute-Louie writes about how teaching during the pandemic has its perks. She emphasizes that during this time, community and curiosity can be cultivated through online learning.
Please contact zines@barnard.edu if this post has made you curious about any of the zines! 😉