Graphic Novels

Relax, I mean graphic in design and not graphic in content. As I type that sentence I am reminded of the looks I received from student workers when they heard me asking children's literature professors if they wanted me to buy graphic novels. Once I explained it as an expanding genre in children and young adult literature, they were humorously relieved. One of the speakers at the conference on Friday discussed graphic novel collection. I enjoyed the session for several reasons, not just because I won a couple of novels in a raffle. The presenter discussed publishers of graphic novels, the graphic novel reader base in his library, how to publicize the collection, and some history behind the current trend towards graphic novel collections in public libraries. This is where the difference between public library collections and academic library collections became obvious.

Generally speaking, a public library will have their juvenile collection separated into different categories; picture books (fiction), middle readers (fiction), young adult (fiction), maybe biographies, graphic novels (fiction and non-fiction), and juvenile non-fiction. This allows for a very "browseable" collection, something the public desires. Public libraries are also responsible for purchasing titles that the general public wants to read, hence the increase in the graphic novel collections. After all, the collection is in reality their tax dollars at work.

Academic libraries are different; there are different sets of “limitations,” or collection development policies, placed on the collection. Then there is the space. Shelving a graphic novel collection within the juvenile literature is challenging as the collection encompasses fiction, non-fiction, juvenile, and young adult literature whose sole purpose is to support the college of education curriculum. Furthermore, as a research library we use library of congress and the literature is shelved accordingly. A book purchased for the juvenile collection is either juvenile or it part of the regular collection. A juvenile/young adult purchase may be placed in the recreational area, but this rare. There is no graphic novel section in the library.

So what does this mean? If graphic novels are not currently being taught in a literature class, my collection, if indeed I even have one, is minimal at best. The question of do we need graphic novels must be addressed. After conferring with children's literature professors about graphic novel purchases, I found out that one of them is requiring his students read a graphic novel. Since his class had been ordering graphic novels from other libraries, a need was not being met, and this lead to the creation of a small graphic novel collection including both juvenile and young adult selections.

Currently, the library collection includes 63 graphic novels with roughly half of them (31) considered juvenile. There are classics by Jeff Smith (Bone) and Neil Gaiman, but the juvenile titles are more difficult and include graphic interpretations of classics such as the Wizard of Oz, Call of the Wild, Tarzan, Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth. To support this collection graphic novel bibliographies and history and criticism resources have been added to the resource center reference collection. While there are some who question the inclusion of graphic novels in an academic library, this genre deserves to be represented for the literature and art styles presented within.

Tags: Children's literature, Juvenile graphic novels, Graphic novels & academic libraries