I shepherd the library’s zine collection, buying zines and processing donations. This includes adding a courtesy staple in loose-sheaved zines that fancy themselves lovingly handled with white-gloved nimble fingers and never once crammed in a magazine file or scattered across the room.
I was jazzed to discover a gorgeous saddle-stitch stapler hidden in a cupboard, collecting dust. But despite being built to withstand nuclear holocaust, this behemoth is mere brick paperweight in the face of the discontinuation of its Swingline SF 15 staple.
The zines arrayed behind are in mourning, badly in need of repair without destruction–that is, jamming the pages in the vise of a regular stapler. “Do no harm,” isn’t that the librarian motto?
I did find a long-armed stapler in the newspaper processing area, but I’m still saddened by the forced obsolescence of this amazing beast.
I’m going to keep it in remembrance. And as a weapon. It can’t staple zines, but it can clean clocks.