projects

AUSTIN ARCHIVES BAZAAR

Every other year, the Archivists of Central Texas arranges the Austin Archives Bazaar, an opportunity for the local community to come together in a fun and interactive environment to learn about the amazing resources available in the Austin & Central Texas area.

AUSTIN FANZINE PROJECT

The Austin Fanzine Project started as a relatively straightforward digitization and transcription project  intended to improve access to the documents of a recently-historical subculture – the Austin, Texas underground music scene of the 1990s. The project has blossomed into a sandbox for creative experimentation with digital archives and digital humanities methods and tools. To date the project volunteers have digitized fanzines and posted the resulting downloadable files; researched digital archives best practices and crafted project policies; experimented with crowd-sourced transcription and indexing using new open-source software; and explored ways to virtually visualize the connections in real-life communities via maps, e-books, and audio tours. The digitized material has already proved useful for a variety of uses including, most recently, a collaboration with the Early Modern OCR Project. To follow the Austin Fanzine Project’s progress, follow the blogfriend us on Facebook &/or follow us on Twitter.

PORTAL TO AUSTIN MUSIC HISTORY

The Portal to Austin Music History will be an online space that promotes the collections and holdings of contributing institutions, supports researchers by making available in one place information necessary and relevant to their work, and celebrates the deep and rich musical traditions of Texas’ capital city. [This project is on hiatus, but may be revived one day.]

LONE STAR ZINE FEST

Lone Star Zine Fest is a FREE, fun, and engaging event open to the general public and appropriate for all ages. At the heart of the event is an exhibition featuring zine creators, collectives, distributors, retailers, libraries, and small presses sharing their amazing work and showcasing the diversity of expression made possible by independent- and self-publishing. The Fest is organized by a small group of zine-loving volunteers who are passionate about creating space for zine creators and zine fans to come together. To find out more, please visit our website, find us on Facebook and Instagram, or follow #LSZineFest.

Town Talk Library

Town Talk Library is an independent library and archive based in Austin, Texas. At the Library’s heart is a diverse collection of 400+ vintage & contemporary zines that currently lives at MonkeyWrench Books at 110 E. North Loop, and is available for onsite reading anytime the shop is open. We also share zinelove with the community via pop-up events, workshops, and meetups. We strive to showcase the variety of zines, and gratefully accept donations as resources allow. Check out the list of titles as of January 2019 here. A searchable catalog of our holdings will be available soon.