Zines
Wellington City Libraries has a collection of nearly 1300 zines (and growing!) with special emphasis on locally-produced Wellington zines.
What are zines?
Zine (pronounced "zeen") comes from the words "magazine" and "fanzine" and is a self-published, inexpensively-produced publication with a small circulation. Zines come in paper form, usually written in computer-printed or handwritten text, photo-copied and stapled.
People who make zines are motivated by a desire to express themselves. For that reason, a zine can be on any topic - from art and music, to politics and social commentary.
Zines offer a unique insight into people, their points of view, politics, philosophies and lifestyles, while locally-produced zines also help preserve information about our history and culture that might otherwise be lost.
We feature zines created locally, nationally and internationally on a range of topics, including crafts, DIY, recipes, travel zines, music zines, self-published comic books and loads more.
Where can I find them?
Our zine collections are located at two branches:
All zines are free to borrow.
We also have a Wellington Heritage Zine collection, featuring the best examples of zines throughout history. This will be stored at Te Matapihi ki te Ao Nui when it reopens in 2026. We welcome any potential donations to this collection.
To find out more about zines, and get involved in the zine community, please visit the Wellington Zinefest website.
We would love your feedback, ideas on zines to buy, and any questions you have about the collection. Please email us with any feedback.