Sharing the Wealth

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Title:	Sharing the Wealth
Creator:	Roger Sween
Date(s):	June 1974, Feb/Mar 1975
Medium:	print
Fandom:	science fiction
Topic:
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Sharing the Wealth is a 1974/75 essay by Roger Sween.

It was printed in Seldon's Plan #37 in Feb/March 1975.

A different version of this article was presented at the Science Fiction Research Association Conference in Milwaukee in June 1974.

Some Topics Discussed

• how to preserve and share science fiction fanzines
• how to catalog them
• how to acquire them

From the Essay

It has become my conclusion after emersing [sic] myself in fanzines for the last two years, that there is much of value in fanzines, and that they merit a more careful handling on the part of libraries. Libraries can do two services for fanzines; they can preserve them, and they can make them available to a wider audience than they currently enjoy. By so doing libraries will also provide another approach to the serious study of science fiction and fantasy, as well as capturing a vital part of the current popular culture scene.

But libraries if they were to take on the handling of fanzines are beset with several problems all traceable to the anarchic state of fanpubbing. Basically there is virtually no bibliographic control of fanzines. Only a few faneds have the professional experience or interest to take advantage of such standard listings as Ulrich's INTERNATIONAL PERIODICAL DIRECTORY. Of course, most fanzines review other fanzines, but only a few list large numbers, notably LOCUS, SOTWJ, and MAYBE. Such listings are typically fannish, how ever, in performance; they are irregular and incomplete, and perhaps least practical of all, they run late, several months behind actual fan publishing. And because most fanzines are produced in small numbers in order to keep the cost low for their editors, and quickly disbursed, customarily by trading with other faneds, the supply is soon exhausted. In a recent discussion of QUO DAVIS, Linda Bushyager in KARASS 4 mentioned three times in the course of her article that however excellent this zine was the supply was probably exhausted. In short the only way you can know about fanzines is to be an actifan yourself.

Libraries with their customary carefulness in placing orders would have to keep a staff member tracking down fan publications and then take their chances on what they get. Be sides few libraries would want all fanzines; the typical library is concerned about getting the most of the best for its money.

But can libraries be found that are willing to serve as depositories? Twenty United States libraries listed by Neil Barron in the January 1970 CHOICE as collecting science fiction were queried. Six replied. Two refused. Four libraries would like to receive fanzines, promising to organize, service, and keep them, but two disqualified themselves by not agreeing to interlibrary loan, one of thege two would also place their fanzines in a special collection, one not open evenings and weekends when most fans would be free to take advantage of it.

It is going to be a much more difficult matter to find libraries for the system,I suspect, than to get donations of fanzines, but I think it can be done in the following way. A statement should be developed setting forth the terms of the project and sent to all academic and public libraries of a given size, say those spending at least $500,000 a year on library materials. All libraries of the requiste size would be invitied to submit their justifications for why they should be designated as a fanzine regional despository. Their proposals would be considered after a certain deadline by a committee to consist of at least Stan Woolston, President of the National Fantasy Fan Federation, and four others.

I believe that the fanzine regional depository system has within it the germ of establishing sizeable and important fanzine collections. Not only will the program itself feed numbers of zines into the designated libraries, but once these nuclei are formed, they will begin to generate gifts of other collections as individual collectors begin to look upon these centers as logical places for their fanzines to find a more permanent home.

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Fan Comments

Roger Sween's article, "Share the Wealth", proposes that a fanzine depository system be established at selected libraries across the United States. This is a very good idea (even if you, like I, don't entirely agree with some of the details on how this should be brought about). Like most fans, I've often wished there was someplace I could go to look at old fanzines; Roger's proposal is an attempt at making that wish come true. (The only library that I know of at the moment that collects fanzines and is open to the public is the Spaced Out Library, 566 Palmerston Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I visited it when I went to Torcon in 1973; it's based on Judith Merril's sf collection, which she donated to the Toronto Public Library system in 1971. If you'd like some place to preserve your fanzine for future fannish generations, this is the place to send it.)