updated: January 16, 2007

To quote Huggy: WHAT IT IS?

The S&H Lending Library, started around 1990 by Linda LCabrillo, is a collection of out-of-print zines assembled by Linda and many other SH fans so that these zines could be available to those who never had an opportunity to see them. Their intention was to ensure that this classic fiction would not be lost to the fandom. The library has been run by different SH fans over the years. The library hosts both gen and slash fan fiction. Zines have always been presented uncut, uncensored, and unedited.

WHAT'S HAPPENIN' WITH THE LIBRARY TODAY?

Sadly, the library is currently on hiatus. This is partly due to the real-life obligations of the current librarian, and partly due to the impracticality of mailing pounds of paper back and forth all over the world. With the rising price of postage, it now costs more to mail zines back and forth then it would to copy the zines and let members keep them.  Unfortunately, that's not a practical solution, either. The time involved for a librarian to copy the zines herself is simply prohibitive.

SO WHAT'S THE SOLUTION?

Right now, we don't have one, but we're working on it. We are considering scanning the zines and putting them on cds either as jpg images or pdfs. CDs are cheap to mail and people could print the zine if they wanted. In this way we could keep the zine's appearance as it originally looked. The zines we're lending out we either have permission to lend out, or their creators have either died or have disappeared completely. If zines go back into print, they come out of the library unless we get permission to keep them in circulation. We're still discussing this possibility and others. We aren't totally comfortable with taking the zines out of their paper format, as most of us feel that's their value -- they are paper zines.  For people who have never had the joy of holding a paper zine in their hand, the library has been an important resource.

WHEN WILL WE KNOW?

As soon as we figure it out, we'll post the information. We want the library to continue. It's been an important part of keeping the fandom alive for over 20 years.

GOT ANY BRIGHT IDEAS? THEN SHARE. Drop me a note. Flamingo