Another year, another CDR release from the folks in the Random House Library Group. Unlike straight-up catalogs featuring “why you should buy” title information, this catalog has been put together with the goal of starting or growing a materials collection at your local library. But don’t go away thinking that this guide is exclusively for librarians, it can be a very helpful addition for everyone else.
Introducing this guide is Robin Brenner, a Reference & Teen Librarian at the Brookline Public Library (Brookline, MA), as well as the author of the Eisner-nominated Understanding Manga and Anime and editor of No Flying No Tights, a graphic novel review site. So, yeah, she knows her stuff. Her introduction sets the stage for selecting titles with an eye towards collection development.
Along the way you’ll get tips from Robin about establishing a graphic novel or manga collection in the library, including addressing a few common questions that patrons might raise. Such as:
- Is this really reading?
- Aren’t “comics” just superhero stories for kids?
- Isn’t manga full of sex and violence?
In addition to dealing with those outside questions, she anticipates a few internal questions as well, and recommends establishing an FAQ, how to communicate a “rating” (is this title PG or is it R?), finding diverse reviews of materials, and collecting statistics to defend the collection in case it comes under fire.
What follows is a list of new and backlist titles that might be of interest for those building a collection. They’re arranged by categories such as: Stand-Alones, Classic Characters, Series, Manga, Art & Reference, and Collected Comics.
Also, you’ll find a list of Online Resources—and, oh hey, there we are in the guide!—pointing you to a number of publishers who have graphic novels, manga, or comics on offer.
The benefit to a guide like this is not only that it offers you a document to open up a dialog with your local library regarding their graphic novel collection, but it also gives you a fantastic list of titles to look for. These titles have been handpicked because of the quality of their art and storytelling; so I hope you haven’t missed any of them in your own reading and collecting.
Best of all? It’s free!
