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READING ROOM
Papercut ’Zine Library opens
BY CAMILLE DODERO
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"It looks like an Elks Lodge," says Mothra, referring to the Harvard Square meeting hall of hardwood floors and old chandeliers adjacent to the just-opened Papercut ’Zine Library. "Just not a ghetto Elks Lodge." It’s Tuesday afternoon, three days after the Papercut ’Zine Library opened, and Mothra, the bullet-belted punk-rock librarian on duty, is sitting in a comfy chair explaining what inspired the venture: a pile of ’zines collecting dust on her best friend’s floor. "I was like, ‘Isn’t there some way to let other people use these?" Last fall, Mothra started holding monthly meetings for anyone interested in starting a ’zine library. Initially, only a handful of people showed; fortunately, one of them was a Harvard student who knew about this Elks Lodge–style Mount Auburn Street space, a mostly empty building used by Harvard’s progressive and radical groups. Eventually, the landlord agreed to house Papercut, too. "I was thinking it was a warehouse or a cubicle in an office," she says. "I walked in and almost had a heart attack. This place is gorgeous." Papercut is a lending library, so everything on the shelves can be borrowed. Membership is free, and allows patrons to check out up to four ’zines for two weeks. Late fees are generous: five cents a day, topping out at two dollars and a revoked membership. Mothra emphasizes that Papercut is open to everyone, with sections devoted to subjects like music, feminism, queer/trans, and personal ’zines. "Anybody can come in — this is not a Harvard-only space," she says. "We just don’t want people making it their hangout. This isn’t a homeless shelter; this isn’t a squat." That said, she adds: "If you’re bored or tired or need to chill, you’re totally welcome." Papercut’s selection is pretty sweet. Among the 1300 booklets already shelved, and the hundreds more still in boxes, there are some amusing finds. A Women’s Socialist Review from 1980. Swing Times magazine. A German anti-fascist, anti-Nazi soccer magazine. A late-’80s issue of Maximumrocknroll, with Offspring on the cover. And possibly Mothra’s favorite, a dumpster-diving discovery from last winter: a Beatles fanzine from 1982. "I have it, it’s over here," she says pulling out a color pamphlet "I was a month old when this thing came out!" Papercut ’Zine Library, at 45 Mount Auburn Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge, is open seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; ’zine donations are accepted. For more information, visit www.baamboston.org/papercut/.
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