more on comics

Thanks for your help, especially Ryan for giving me the term “trade paperback.” As far as librarians go, after about 2 days of research, I’m almost an expert on building a graphic novel collection. And I’m actually excited about comics, even though I don’t want to read any of them, and I basically lack the skills to process complex pictures and text together. There is enough written about the benefits of a good comic sort of section, and I believe it

Preconceived notion 1: American comics are American comics and manga is manga.

Boy was I wrong! You can barely get sales figures for them separately. Bound volumes of words and pictures are all one category and have to be dealt with together. Of the top selling 25 graphic novels of 2004, only 4 were American, and one of those 4 was that bunny suicides book which I wouldn’t even count as a graphic novel. And this is only American sales. See below for the full list (of which, the library owns 1).

Preconceived notion 2: Libraries are set up in a way to make finding the information you seek reasonable and unfrustrating. And librarians are helpful people who can help you find your way should you become confused

741.5 adult, J 741.5, 741.5 YA Graphic Novel, YA Graphic novel by author. And what about the actual comic books (not graphic novels) that are not cataloged, but just thrown on a shelf all willy-nilly. Obviously X-Men belongs on top of Archie! And obviously, the shelf between the willy-nilly comics and the graphic novels should be the high school summer reading list and YA biography.

Preconceived notion 3: Once I find the right subject heading, finding all graphic novels/ comics/ mangas/ etc will be a snap.

If only it was that simple! This is why they need librarians to help decipher libraries.

Other things I need to get off my chest before I can write a reasonable paper:

Take a look at the area, take a look at census data, almost 30% of the population is Asian, and Japanese is the most represented Asian race. And the people who aren’t Asian are still influenced by the culture. And how much have they spent on manga and anime in the whole history of the library? Judging by the fact that there are few enough titles to do a title by title check, I’d say less than $2,000.

Anyway, their sections are sadly lacking. And small. And with the remodel there’s loads of shelf space. There are like 9 Asterix titles in the whole system and another on order. Who the heck signed off on that? I’ve read at least 2 dozen articles in the library literature. It basically repeats the same stuff, that y’all told me: Sandman, Watchman, Miller, Maus. No where, not once, has asterix been recommended

I tried to look at one of the Scott McCloud books, both are supposedly held by the library but neither are on the shelf where they are supposed to be. (books not on the shelf is a rant for another day)

Also, in lieu of stuff kids will actually read they have a large collection of the “classics illustrated” titles which put classic lit into comic book form. Booklist calls this a “staid old series”, which seems the best thing people say about it.

Conclusion: The collection is pretty much crap. I wouldn’t even call it a collection.
Conclusion 2: This is the first time I’ve actually physically looked at a shelf of books and was force to evaluate it. I very much like tangible things like that, but I can see myself tiring of my job very quickly if all collections (and therefore selectors i.e. my colleagues) are so horribly awful.

Top 25 of 2004 by Publishers Weekly:

1. In the Shadow of No Towers by Art Spiegelman (Pantheon)
2. Rurouni Kenshin Vol. 1 by Nobohiro Watsuki (Viz)
3. Rurouni Kenshin Vol. 3 by Nobohiro Watsuki (Viz)
4. Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi (Pantheon)
5. Fruits Basket Vol. 1 by Natsuki Takaya (Tokyopop)
6. Trigun Vol. 2 by Yasuhiro Nightow (Dark Horse)
7. Rurouni Kenshin Vol. 2 by Nobohiro Watsuki (Viz)
8. Hellboy: Seed of Destruction by Mike Mignola (Dark Horse)
9. Fruits Basket Vol. 2 by Natsuki Takaya (Tokyopop)
10. Naruto Vol. 3 by Masashi Kishimoto (Viz)
11. Naruto Vol. 2 by Masashi Kishimoto (Viz)
12. Tsubasa Vol. 2 by Clamp (Del Rey)
13. The Book of Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley (Plume Books)
14. Rurouni Kenshin Vol. 5 by Nobohiro Watsuki (Viz)
15. Tsubasa Vol. 1 by Clamp (Del Rey)
16. hack/Legend of the Twilight Vol. 2 by T. Hamazaki & R. Izumi (Tokyopop)
17. Fruits Basket Vol. 3 by Natsuki Takaya (Tokyopop)
18. Rurouni Kenshin Vol. 6 by Nobohiro Watsuki (Viz)
19. Hellboy: Wake the Devil by Mike Mignola (Dark Horse)
20. Naruto Vol. 1 by Masashi Kishimoto (Viz)
21. hack/Legend of the Twilight Vol. 1 by T. Hamazaki & R. Izumi (Tokyopop)
22. Trigun Vol. 1 by Yasuhiro Nightow (Dark Horse)
23. Inuyasha Vol. 1 by Rumiko Takahashi (Viz)
24. Yu-gi-oh Vol. 1 by Kazuki Takahashi (Viz)
25. 1602 by Neil Gaiman, Andy Kubert and Richard Isanove (Marvel)