This zine can change the world.

As we move through a season of fraught emotions and worries for the future, conflict and confusion, we want to take a moment to remember all the small ways a person can make change, in their community and beyond.

You may know that the library is what’s known as a third space - there are not many left. These are places in our community where anyone can just be, as long as they like, out of the weather, no matter who they are, without spending any money.

Because of that, we see it all - folks at their most empowered & engaged, and people without hope. As library staff we are faced with daily reminders of the ways our society can fail to care for its members.

But we help them. Whether just providing space, or directing to resources, or being a warm and friendly face, some days we are able to rest in the knowledge that we do good work.

So: what’s your good work?

It’s the season for voting, and we hope you do - there are several pages in this zine to guide you.

But there are so many more ways to help this community, this country, this world. So many ways to engage with a system that may not feel like it’s made for us. So many ways that system is being remade every day!

Join a local board. Register your opposition to state legislation. Learn about some of our local heroes. Join a protest. Become an election worker. Read a book. Study history so we don’t repeat our worst mistakes. Be a friendly face.

That’s civic engagement - and we hope this zine will get you started. 

Visit our Civics Resources page for more!

Come play with us! 

A Zine focused on Play? Really? You might be thinking “why now”? When events around the world are heavy, and people are feeling overbooked and overwhelmed. Folks are feeling frazzled and burned out. Others are feeling lonely. Others on autopilot. Play, we discovered, might be a remedy. This is a gentle invitation to reevaluate our relationship with fun and play.

It turns out that Play and Fun have important roles for our well-being. According to the National Institute of Play website “for adolescents and adults play is an antidote to stress and a foundation for wellness. When we have playful experiences, we are improving our brains and our lives.” Play can relieve pain as well as improve brain function and how we manage stress. Play releases the feel-good hormones of endorphins, serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin. It stimulates creativity and improves relationships. 

Catherine Price, author of The Power of Fun, shares that fun and play improve our physical and mental well-being. It is essential to forging connections, finding meaning, and improving health. Play is a lighthearted attitude. It doesn’t have to be playing games. It is letting go of perfectionism and not caring as much about the outcome. 

This is permission to feel all the feelings. We can still be anxious about current events and find delight in play. We can bring a spirit of playfulness to situations. 

Read on to discover more about incorporating more play into our lives, learn about Mahjong and Pickleball, meet a board game designer, get some helpful reading lists, and even turn this zine into a board game!

Let’s Connect and Play! Pick up a print copy in the library, or read online.

In 2021 we created a zine to highlight Anti-Racism resources to provide insight into a movement that is affecting our nation in a major way. We also began thinking about the library's responsibility as a community hub and we asked ourselves: how can we be more welcoming, more accessible, and more equitable to all who visit our space? In our discussions, we came to realize there is one issue that affects every single one of our patrons and staff: AGEISM.

The truth is we all experience judgment or even discrimination based on our age, regardless of our age! At different points in our lives, we might be dismissed as "just kids" or "over the hill;" our questions belittled by phrases like "you'll understand when you're older" or "you're out of touch;" our ideas disregarded because "this is the way things have always been done" or "you have to keep up with the times."

Sometimes it's just annoying or humbling to be put into a box based on age, but these judgments can also have real world consequences like deteriorating mental health. In fact, depression is the most prevalent mental health problem among older adults, and those living with depression tend to visit the doctor more often, use more medication, incur higher outpatient charges, and stay longer in the hospital (CDC, 2008).

So what can we do to change the stigma associated with age? You've made a great first step by picking up this zine! We don't have all the answers, but we've come up with some truly wonderful books, films, and podcasts that will help you understand ageism and all the ways it sneaks into our lives. We hope this encourages you to keep learning, keep reflecting, and keep reading! 

The PRRTT (short for Parrott Avenue, where the library is located) is a small zine with book lists, book reviews, and more - written, designed and illustrated by library staff!

What you'll find inside this issue:

• How to get a beach brain
• YA books adults will love
• Playlists with music available on Hoopla
• Strange things we've found in the library
• Book/music pairings
• Crossword
• and more...

Click here to get the printable file (8.5 x 11, double sided, black and white), or read online below!