Bread & Roses Library/Infoshop

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Check out the pix of the library coming together!

Currently under construction, the Bread & Roses Library/Infoshop will be an information and media resource at CAMP. Zines, comix, and books of a subversive nature will highlight this unusual collection. In this zinester librarian's opinion, the jewel of our collection is our international zine collection, which already boasts about 300-500 zines, all donations.

We have zines about everything, from comix to feminism, wrestling to anarchy, and weird to weirder. Some are dedicated to practical subjects such as hitchhiking dos and don'ts, vegan recipes and sewing tips, while others are devoted to bizarre subjects such as outer space and the love lives of zine librarians.

We also have books of an underground nature, relating to the arts and social issues such as feminism, the environment, the media, politics, animal rights, and more.

A variety of children's books will also be available. The library's catalog will be accessible online and the library will be open to the public. The books maybe checked out. The zines may not be taken from CAMP due to their rare, and often frail, conditions. However, most zines are tiny and can be read in 15 minutes or less.

The library will share a space with a computer lab and copying machine to encourage readers to make their own zines. (As the punk group Sleater-Kinney says,"culture is what we make it," so make some zines.) Zinester's potlucks will also be hosted by the center periodically (no pun intended).

Materials related to CAMP & CAMP groups, such as SWEAT, Food Not Bombs, The Gateway Green Alliance, Confluence, the indymedia center, and Southside University will also be archived at Bread & Roses.

The Bread & Roses Library is a labor of love. All librarians are volunteers and all library materials are donations. We are in need of volunteers and office supplies, such as magazine boxes, non-stick (library) tape, pens and pencils, typewriter ribbon, index cards, index card files, manila envelopes, postcards, stamps, etc. Oh, and we wouldn't turn down money. And while we have many fabulous zines, most are from the coasts. We'd love to see more local and Midwestern zines. Library students, consider an internship at the CAMP Bread & Roses Library, a unique community center with library materials you will find nowhere else in Missouri.

For more information write the head librarian at library(AT)stlcamp(DOT)org, or mail to CAMP Zines, 3026 Cherokee St., St. Louis, MO 63118.

Related resources:

**Hey, what's an infoshop? An Infoshop is a European anarchist term for a space full of free information, a community space which can host reading groups, political discussions and social gatherings. Libraries, of course, are all those things too, and we're no exception.**