Did you know that Drury has a zine library?  The Paper Airplane zine library is located in the front of Olin Library and contains zines not just from Drury students but from all over the country.  A zine is a self-published work, usually in booklet form and not widely circulated.  Zines can be over any topic and sometimes include visual forms like art and other media. The Paper Airplane zine library contains all types of zines.

The Paper Airplane zine library was founded by Drury Alum, Jennifer Sutliff during her time at Drury.  “I was lucky enough to take several of Jo’s (Van Arkel) writing classes when I was an undergraduate at Drury. During the spring 2011 semester while taking her Small Print Publishing class, we connected over our love of zines and zine publishing,” said Sutliff of the process. “We officially formed in May of 2011 and had a space in the Olin Library. Now that we had the space, it was a matter of growing the collection. To gather and collect these, I posted on Facebook an open call to anyone who had a zine they would like to contribute. In addition to that, I started searching for zine makers on Etsy. I wrote to every maker, explaining who I was and what the Paper Airplanes Zine Library was to be. I did this all throughout the summer of 2011 and by the start of the fall semester, I had collected over 300 zines from all over country (and some from abroad!). It was a lot of work, but it was worth it.”

Sutliff’s motivation for starting The Paper Airplane zine library came from the rebel culture of zines and their accessibility.  “Zines, at least in my opinion, really are radical. In fact, if you were to see the library in person, the bulk of the collection feature zines exploring what it is to rebel. There is an element of punk rock to that, I think. I started reading zines in high school; this was the late 90’s when bands like Bikini Kill were making these small DIY publications about girl power. These mediums are very DIY but what drew me to them was the accessibility. Anyone can make a zine. It can be glossy with all the bells and whistles or it can be simply made with some sheets of construction paper and some staples. The sky really is the limit. And they can be about anything: politics, knitting, recipes, personal essays. The blank page is a powerful thing.”

Sutliff is now living in California and is not currently involved with the Zine Library but she is excited to see it grow and flourish, especially during the new era of social distancing.

Every year since the Paper Airplane zine library was started students have donated their zines to the library. There are over two hundred zines in the current collections.  Any one can donate their zines to the library.

Article by Marissa Mayfield