There exist a bunch of zine libraries in Belgium. I define “zine library” here as: “a library or archive that keeps zines in its collection”. Some are historical archives, some are libraries specialised in certain subjects, and others are part of DIY autonomous spaces. Some have mostly artzines and books, some focus on comics, and others collect mainly anarchist pamphlets and political zines. Languages may vary too. Here are the ones I know of:
(logo of the Zine Libraries interest group, not related to the zine libraries mentioned here)
- Acrata (Brussels) – mostly anarchist zines and pamphlets
- Documentation centre of Amazone (Brussels) – some feminist zines
- Amsab (Ghent) – mostly zines and newsletters with a political focus
- Infotheek / Anarchist Centre Assez (Ghent) – mostly anarchist pamphlets but also lots of other zines
- Kunstenbibliotheek (Ghent) – mostly artzines / student-focused
- La Petite Fanzinotheque Belge (Brussels) – mostly comiczines
- RoSa (Brussels) – some feminist zines
- Royal Library (Brussels) – some French-speaking fanzines from the 60s
- Shelf Zine Library (Ghent) – mostly artzines
- Vecteur (Charleroi)
(photo taken in Brighton, not at a Belgian zine library but I think photos of typewriters always fit)
Do you know of another zine library in Belgium? Please let me know!
I haven’t actually been to all of these Belgian zine libraries yet so I’d like to do a little “tour” to visit them to find out more about which publications they have and enjoy their zine collections. [Actually I really love the idea of a zine tour too, with zine readings and zine fests, as I wrote in a previous post. But in this case I just would like to visit the libraries one at a time].
