Independent Publishing Resource Center


The Independent Publishing Resource Center is a resource center for zine creation, letterpress printing, book binding and printing, based in Portland, Oregon, United States. The center was founded in 1998 by Chloe Eudaly, owner of Reading Frenzy and Show & Tell Press, and Rebecca Gilbert, worker-owner at Stumptown Printers.

Description

IPRC is an Oregon nonprofit organization offering education, outreach, and a library of more than 9,000 catalogued zines from around the world. The library has the third largest zine collection in the United States, as of 2016. Willamette Week has described the center as an "accessible, community-centric space" offering classes and tools. Workshops include bookbinding, graphic and web design, letterpress printing, and self-publishing, as of 2010.
The center's Youth Sunday program was created in 1998. As of 2015, the program occurs each Sunday, "when employees on-site assist youths in creating their own print media. The program aims to help novices understand the fine points of the growing field of independent publishing." The center hosted an annual print show and sale, as of 2019.

History

IPRC was established in 1998. The organization operated on Portland's west side for its first fifteen years, above the Reading Frenzy at 921 Southwest Oak Street, near Powell's Books. The center relocated to a larger space at 1001 Southeast Division Street in 2012. IPRC had approximately 6,000 members, as of mid 2016.
IPRC faced a 300 percent rent increase when the April 2017 lease expired, causing the center to relocate to its current location. The organization crowdsourced more than $20,000 to help fund the new space.

Leadership

Portland City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly served as the director of the IPRC before running for office in 2016. Former board president Brian Tibbetts was serving as interim executive director following A.M. O'Malley's departure, as of August 2017. Hajara Quinn served as program director at the time.
Nicole Georges worked for IPRC for fourteen years, initially as an outreach coordinator and later as the center's first comic book instructor.
IPRC has organized the Letterpress Print Fair; in 2019, the center hosted an Open House as part of Design Week Portland.