1. INSTRUCTIONAL WORKSHOP
Accessing Zines + the Alternative Press
Sara Grozanick | LIS620-Advanced Reference | Final Project
Objectives
• Teach basic and intermediate research skills in the
situated context of zines and alternative press
• Link Library’s collection of zines, radical
newspapers, and alternative periodicals to scholarly
work
• Liaise and outreach to History, Media Studies, and
Women’s Studies departments
• Promote the use of Library resources in tandem with
relevant Web sources
Information Literacy Skills
• Defining “zines” and “alternative press”
• Ability to identify zines and alternative press
publications
• Ability to distinguish between different catalog
searching methods
• Introduction to LC Subject Headings and forming a
subject search
• Print and electronic indexes for finding alternative
publications
• Introduction to the Library Zine + Alternative Press
wiki as a resource
• How to conduct a database search (AltPressIndex)
• Directories and bibliographies (including
bibliographies on the Library wiki)
• Ability to notice and articulate the types of
information found in these reference sources
• Ability to notice and articulate the differences in
depth, coverage, and focus of the resources used
Materials Used in the Lesson
• Zine + Alternative Press Research Guide wiki
• University X Library catalog
• Worldcat
• AltPressIndex electronic database

2. Unfolding of the Workshop
• Group Introductions
[10 minutes]
o Name?
o Year?
o Discipline?
• Alternative Press: Definitions + Overview
[PPT slide 2, 15 minutes]
o What is the alternative press?
Librarian should pass around primary documents as examples.
o Do you notice defining characteristics?
o Do these publications seem different than mainstream
media? How so?
o Why might you want to use these materials in your
research?
Facilitate discussion of these questions, cite published definitions of
“alternative press,” but acknowledge the interpretive nature of terms.
This is an opportunity to gauge student understanding and comfort-level
with the topic.
• Zines: Defintions + Overview
[PPT slides 3-5, 15 minutes]
o What is a zine?
Again, librarian should pass around primary documents as examples.
o What roles can zines serve in academic research?
(Zines as historical artifacts.)
Facilitate discussion, refer to defining characteristics, general
definitions.
• Searching the Catalog
[slides 6-10]
o Catalog search strategies:
 LCSH
 Keyword
Emphasize differences in cataloging practices—particularly for zines—
from library to library.

3. o How Zines are cataloged at University X; what this
means for searching the catalog.
o Issues with alternative press LCSH—relative to the
time period during which the publication was
cataloged.
Introduce students to WorldCat, explain its purpose as a Union Catalog,
have them practice doing sample subject searches and note differences
in the subject headings used.
• Other Discovery Tools: Reference Resources
o Why might a bibliography or index be a more useful
first step than turning to the catalog to locate
alternative publications?
 Cross-referencing
 Granularity
Librarian should do a sample search of AltPressIndex, and then have
students do searches of their own, using expert search techniques.
Also introduce print reference sources, like bibliographies, indexes to
microfilm collections of underground newspapers, etc.