New Fanzine Digitization Project

[morgandawn]

 This time the fanzines are those pre-dating media fandom - the science fiction fanzines of the 1930s-1950s. It looks like they may be doing something similar to the HathiTrust, where you can search the full text but only see snippets (much like Google Books)..

From their tumblr post:

I’m happy to bring exciting news!

We are digitizing all of the fanzines in the Rusty Hevelin Collection, beginning with the earliest from the 1930s through 1950.

• inviting a select group of fans to help transcribe the text of these fanzines in an apa-style working group.
• respecting copyright and privacy by not placing full reproductions of the fanzines online
• building a searchable database containing the full text of all Rusty’s fanzines
• creating the most comprehensive and user-friendly index of science fiction fanzines that has ever been attempted.

I’m so glad to be part of this important project. Stay tuned for more information and updates. Thanks."
 

edited to add: "Once digitized, the fanzines will be incorporated into the UI Libraries’ DIY History interface, where a select number of interested fans (up to 30) will be provided with secure access to transcribe, annotate, and index the contents of the fanzines. This group will be modeled on an Amateur Press Association (APA) structure, a fanzine distribution system developed in the early days of the medium that required contributions of content from members in order to qualify for, and maintain, membership in the organization. The transcription will enable the UI Libraries to construct a full-text searchable fanzine resource, with links to authors, editors, and topics, while protecting privacy and copyright by limiting access to the full set of page images."

more here

Comments

[gattagrigia]

Good for Iowa! This is so cool.

[intrigueing]

Oh my god this sounds like the coolest thing ever. Congrats to everyone who are making this happen!