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From: "PUBYAC: PUBlic librarians serving Young Adults and
Children" <pubyac@prairienet.org>
To: "PUBYAC: PUBlic librarians serving Young Adults and Children"
<pubyac@prairienet.org>
Sent: Monday, December 17, 2001 11:01 PM
Subject: PUBYAC digest 630
PUBYAC Digest 630
Topics covered in this issue include:
1) Fwd: ALSC/Econo-clad DEADLINE EXTENDED
by anna r healy <arhealy@yahoo.com>
2) Graphic Novels/Comics Responses (long)
by Cathryn Clark-Dawe <cathryncdlib@yahoo.com>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: anna r healy <arhealy@yahoo.com>
To: pubyac@prairienet.org
Subject: Fwd: ALSC/Econo-clad DEADLINE EXTENDED
Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2001 18:42:29 CST
Attention youth librarians:
> Deadline Extended until Dec. 31,2001!
> Attention Children's Librarians and those of you who
> have contact with them:
> Get recognition for the work you've already done?
> Apply for the ALSC/Econo-Clad Literature Program
> Award
> for 2002. If you are an ALSC member and you have
> developed and implemented an innovate and
> outstanding
> library program for children (infants through age
> 13)
> involving reading and the use of literature, and you
> ran this program during 2001 at any public or school
> library you are eligible to apply. The award is a
> $1000 grant to attend ALA's annual conference in
> Atlanta, GA June 13-19 2002. The application
> deadline
> is Dec 1st. You can download the application form at
> the ALSC web site www.ala.org/alsc
or call the ALSC
> office at 1-800-545-2433, x2163 to have one mailed
> to
> you. Mail 5 copies of the application and any
> attachments to Anna R. Healy at 2203 Maple Ave. #E2,
> Evanston, IL 60201. The winner will be notified by
> February. Please forward this message to all
> listservs
> in your region or anyone you think is deserving of
> the
> award. Committee includes Anna R Healy (chair)of IL
> and Silvia Kraft-Walker of Il, Jacquelyn Voil of
> MI,and Marge Loch-Wouters of WI (members).
>
>
> =====
> anna r healy
> children's librarian
> arhealy@yahoo.com
>
> __________________________________________________
> Terrorist Attacks on U.S. - How can you help?
> Donate cash, emergency relief information
>
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/US/Emergency_Information/
>
=====
anna r healy
children's librarian
arhealy@yahoo.com
__________________________________________________
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------------------------------
From: Cathryn Clark-Dawe <cathryncdlib@yahoo.com>
To: pubyac@prairienet.org
Subject: Graphic Novels/Comics Responses (long)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2001 18:42:35 CST
Thanks very much to all of you who responded to my
questions about graphic novels and comics. Several of
you wanted to know what others had to say, so here
goes:
1. Do you differentiate between graphic novels and
comics?
2. If you do, do you collect both?
3. We've had a comment that most graphic novel
readers don't actually enjoy the more "literary" or
"quality" graphic novels. Have you found this to be
true?
4. Do any of you have "Spyboy" in your collection? NO
(Every other book I've read for the course is a book
that I'm comfortable adding to my library's
collection. This one makes me cringe, however. Am
wondering if I'm just being too sensitive).
1.YES We have Junior Comics and Graphics and YA
(young adult) Comics and Graphics
2. YES
3. MOST OF THE CHECK OUTS HAVE BEEN MADE FROM THE
JUNIOR COMICS AND GRAPHICS. Pokemon, Digemon, Looney
Tunes, Scooby Doo, etc. are in this collection. The
television cartoons are the most popular.
1. I do differentiate between the novels and the
comic books. Comic books are the ones in the paper
covers, staple binding, are bar-coded as
uncatalogued materials. The novels are longer,
usually in paperback binding, and catlogued as
non-fiction.
2. I do collect graphic novels and have recently begun
subscriptions for comics to begin after the first of
the year. The former YA person had a deal going with
a local comic book shop, but it ran out and I find it
cheaper to just order online from DC & Marvel &
Archie.
3. I've been around young teens long enough (six
years as a teacher and two as a YA librarian) long
enough to have noticed a readership difference.
You graphic novel readers tend to be high school age,
kids who are fans of Tolkein & other classic fantasy,
usually sophisticated readers. They Also like the
Magic, Dungeons & Dragons variety games.
Comic book readers tend to be fans of particular
characters (Superman, Or Archie, or Spiderman, etc.).
They can range from the very young to the
elderly (they got hooked on something as a kid and
never stopped). The kids who read them tend to be
less sophisticated readers, but I have had
success with "nudging" a few of them into the graphic
novel set.
4. No, i haven't ever heard of Spyboy. What's setting
off your red
flags?
---
1***no
2***yes
3***yep. they read them for fun, not literature.
boys like the drawings of the almost-naked women.
can't find that in Hatchet or Shiloh. also, boys who
read these 'superman'-type graphic novels like the
idea that a nerd is actually strong and comes back and
wins over
the bully. it would do the poor boys some good if
they lifted weights instead of reading these. but i
guess it's like girls reading romance novels.
harmless, unless they think it is reality.
4. ***nope. you're not too sensative; it's bad. if
something makes you cringe, trust the feeling. you'll
need it when you are a librarian. and remember that
your professor is a professor, not a children's
librarian. she doesn't work with the kids, so her
idea of what's ok
for kids to read isn't always accurate. i see these
kids everyday and genuinely like them and want the
best for them, and so will you.
I was intrigued by your comments, and wanted to know
what may be so "iffy" about this comic. I looked it
up on google (spyboy + comic) and came up with the
homepage (http://www.spyboy.net/home.html)
with a
preview (4pgs) of Spyboy busting some drug dealers. I
went to the dossier section and read about the premise
(sounds interesting) and about the characters (all
positive-- even the female ones) and much of what I
read seemed alright, so what was it in particular
that made you cringe? I know of many that make me
cringe-- usually itsthe sexual element/ women
objectified, and the violence in some is
pretty disturbing. But I would put this one in a YA
area.... Is there a comic shop in your town that you
can go to check out a full issue?
---
I have a graphic novels collection at Princeton Public
Library. No individual comics, just the collections
bound together and individual graphic novels. I have
everything from Maus and The Tale of One Bad Rat to
Gary Larson and the Simpsons. They all circulate
incredibly well. I do not have Spyboy.
---
I am NO expert, but in response to your questions:
1) Graphic novels are published on quality paper
and generally have a completed story line and
quality illustrations, although some items are
republished collections of comics--particularly the
manga from Japan.
2) No
3) No
4) No
---
We've had a comics and graphic novels (and what are
oxymoronically called "nonfiction graphic novels")
collection for teens here at Berkeley Public Library
since 1989. I've addressed your questions briefly
below:
1. "Comics" we define as periodical publications and
treat as we do magazines (where they are shelved; that
all but the latest issue circulate; that they are
weeded after a specified period of time [differs on a
title by title basis]). We fully catalog books of
sequential art, placing collections of comic strips in
Dewey 741.5, full-length fiction (including
collections of short stories) in author order (and
designating as "Science Fiction" or Short Story" as
approrpriate in both the call number and the shelving
placement), and non-fiction (eg, Maus or Safe Area
Gorazde) in the
appropriate subject call number.
2. yes
3. Not true. Different readers have different tastes
and even the same readers have different tastes at
different times (I teach a Reader's Advisory course;
can you tell??). Both Barry Ween and Pedro and Me are
popular; the former is crude but funny and the latter
is serious and literary. We have a lot of manga and
manga fans, a fair number of superhero fans (although
not as many in teen as in juvie) and lots of kids who
read alternative comics and gn's. Most of
our graphics readers read other types of books as
well.
---
1. I think of comics as being the flimsy things
published monthly that have no real binding -- graphic
novels are sometimes many comics
bound together under one title.
2 Comics would fall apart like magazines, so I only
buy
graphic novels.
3. It's true that Star WArs, X-Men, Sailor Moon, etc
do circ more than The Taleof One Bad Rat, but no
graphic novel is a shelf sitter.
4. Never heard of it!
---
1) We have nearly 500 graphic novels in our
collection, so we don't have regular comic books out
for the kids to read. If readers ask for "comic
books", we show them the graphic novels.
2) see 1
3) I find this comment to be amusing, and scary. The
most "literary" graphic novel, as with any book, might
be absolute trash. Equating "literary" with
"quality"
is a bad mistake to make. There are many, many
"quality" superhero graphicnovels out there; do they
fall into the "literary" category? Most of them
probably don't, but they make for a cracking good
read.
4) No Spyboy, will have to check that one out. What
is
cringe-inducing about it?
---
Yes, we do separate graphic novels from comics and
collect both. (Our teen advisory committee suggested a
graphic novel collection a few years ago & didn't want
them to be grouped with comics for "little kids".)
Hmmm, I'm not sure about "quality" graphic novels not
circ-ing--depends on how you define quality.
Obviously the ones with better graphics circ more,
regardless of the quality of the writing. Haven't
heard of
Spyboy, but yes, there are a lot of graphic novels
that are targeted for adults rather than teens & we
have discussed creating a separate adult
graphic novels section...
3. I have found quite the opposite to be true in my
library. The richer the detail, the more
"sophisticated" the graphic novel is, the
better it circulates. It's true, I do have some
graphic novels of Shakespeare's plays that don't
circulate, but I think that is because they are
shelved in YA 822.33 rather than YA 741.54 with the
other graphic novels and are thus overlooked. Hmm,
maybe I ought to have that call number changed . . .
---
I have never seen Shakespeare graphic novels? Do they
circ much in other libraries? The ones that go out in
our library are mostly the current superhero or game
hero. Are there other more"literary"
graphic novels and how close are they to the real
story? Would a Shakespeare graphic novel be a good way
to ease a non-reader into something a little more
"enlightening"?
---
1. Graphic novels, for our purposes, are bound (almost
all paperback, but still much sturdier than the
stapled newsprint comic books)
2. We collect, catalog, and circulate graphic novels
(and have them interfiled with the YA fiction, using
the call number Y GRAPHIC [AUTHOR] so they're all
clustered together). We do have a good number of
comic books, but they're all donated, uncataloged, and
"circulated" via a casual exchange program (bring in a
few to trade, take home a few).
3. If by "literary" you're referring to the graphic
novel interpretations of established works of
literature, it's true that those don't circulate very
much. Still worth collecting, though, as a literary
companion for the struggling reader who is assigned
heavy works of literature (more fun than Cliffs
Notes!). As far as original graphic novels of high
literary quality, don't underestimate the audience.
We've
got a pretty dedicated crew of graphic novel
enthusiasts
who have no interest at all in the Marvel/DC superhero
world, but who eat up the more complex, challenging,
character-driven works. A lot of our graphic novel
readers are adults, too (though many of these
middle-agers are superhero fanatics while our teens go
for the arty stuff. Go figure).
4. Just ordered SpyBoy, so it hasn't had the chance to
make me cringe yet. I personally review all works
ordered before setting them out on the shelves, but
have yet to pull one for content--and there are some
books on my shelves that would probably make SpyBoy
cringe (Garth Ennis's _Preacher_ comes to mind). No
challenges yet, knock on wood--the kids know how to
select for themselves, and even if _Dragonball Z_ and
_Preacher_ sit on the same shelf, the kids'll pick the
one they're comfortable with. (That said, I just
decided
against ordering _Barry Ween, Boy Genius_ despite
positive feedback from other librarians. Guess the
internal censor isn't completely conquered yet.)
If you want to explore this topic in depth, I highly
recommend joining the GNLIB online discussion group,
an
enthusiastic collection of professionals discussing
graphic novels
in libraries. Details here:
http://www.topica.com/lists/GNLIB-L
---
1. YES
2. NOT YET. WE PLAN ON STARTING A COMIC BOOK
COLLECTION NEXT YEAR. WE'VE BEEN COLLECTING GN'S FOR
JUST OVER A YEAR AND HAVE NEARLY 200 IN OUR
COLLECTION TO DATE.
3. YES AND NO. I WOULD SAY OUR MOST PROLIFIC GN
READERS READ EVERYTHING WE HAVE. THE RELUCTANT
READERS, THE ONES WE WERE TRYING TO ATTRACT IN THE
FIRST PLACE, USUALLY STAY AWAY FROM ANYTHING
NON-SUPERHERO OR NON-STAR WARS.
4. I HAVEN'T ADDED IT, NOR DO I THINK I WILL. I TRY
AND BUY GN'S WITH CHARACTERS OUR PATRONS HAVE HEARD
OF. I DO HAVE THE SANDMAN GN'S IN MY GN COLLECTION,
HOWEVER. IT HAS SPARKED SOME CONTROVERSY, BUT WHEN
THE
PATRON/STAFF MEMBER FINALLY READ IT FOR THEMSELVES,
THEY
SEE THE STORY ITSELF IS FOR A MORE MATURE READER AND
"LITTLE THIRD GRADER BILLY" WON'T WANT TO READ
SOMETHING HE WON'T EVEN UNDERSTAND. I KNOW I DON'T.
---
Regarding graphic novels comments (snipped postings
below)...I recommend looking at Stephen Krashen's The
Power of Reading (Krashen, Stephen D. The power of
reading : insights from the research / Stephen
Krashen. Published by Englewood, Colo. : Libraries
Unlimited, 1993.) for good stuff about how comic book
graphic novel readers are reading FAR more words and
picking up MUCH more vocabulary than most people give
them credit for. Addressing a point made by another
one of the below posters (Amy?), I believe there is a
wide range of graphic novel readers. Certainly
Superman,
Elfquest and One Bad Rat can be in the same
collection; you will just need to adjust quantities
etc. based on your specific population, just as you
would do for picture books, videos, etc. We have all
our graphic novels in the YA fiction area. I have
them cataloged the same way novels are cataloged (not
in the 741's) but then just have them all on a
shelf...they get browsed, read, and checked out so
much there's no sense in shelving them.
---
1. I differentiate between the two mainly by
placement. For example, I put Calvin and Hobbes books
in 741.5, but I put Avi's _City of Light and Dark_in
the fiction collection.
2. We collect both. A lot of the "comics" are
donations, but a few years ago, I purchased all of the
Calvin and Hobbes books, due to popular demand!
3. In our library, the "literary" graphic novels are
checked out sporadically (i.e. they have to be
"booktalked" to coax a kid into checking them out),
while the "comics" in 741.5 enjoy a brisk business.
4. No, I've actually never heard of it, what is it?
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Check out Yahoo! Shopping and Yahoo! Auctions for all of
your unique holiday gifts! Buy at http://shopping.yahoo.com
or bid at http://auctions.yahoo.com
------------------------------
End of PUBYAC Digest 630
************************
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