COMIC BOOKS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS FOR
LIBRARIES: WHAT To BUY
Michael R. Lavin
Comic books and libraries do not seem to get along, at
least not in North American libraries. Aside from a few
dozen specialized, noncirculating
research collections,
retrospective
comic book holdings
remain virtually
unknown as a library resource.’ Browsing collections
of current comic books are equally
rare in public,
school, and college libraries. In a 1984 article, comic
book bibliographer Randall Scott observed, “In most
communities,
if you want to read or refer to a comic
book, you have to buy it.” 2 Librarian Doug Highsmith
concurred, writing in 1992 that public libraries carrying
the latest issues of popular comics titles are “still the
exception
rather
than the rule.“3 Both statements
remain fundamentally
true today.
DOCOMICBOOKSBELONG
IN LIBRARIES?
Lavin
is Business and Management Subject Specialist,
Lockwood Memorial
Library,
State University
of
New York
at
Buffalo,
Amherst,
NY
14260;
mrlavin@acsu.buffalo.edu.
Whenever the topic of comic books and libraries is dis-
cussed, the inevitable first question seems to be, “Why
comic books?’ The answers to this question are both
numerous and suitably persuasive. For children’s and
young adult librarians,
the primary
reason
is quite
basic: “Why comic books? Because the kids are read-
ing them. Do we need any other justification?“4
Public and school
libraries which have instituted
modest comic book collections
typically cite the desire
to attract younger patrons as a primary motivation for
doing so. The few case studies appearing in the library
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V0~.24,No.2 (S~JMMER 1998) 31
www.95gowu.com
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literature describe universally positive results. Middle
school librarians in Missouri noted at the conclusion of
their study that,“Library traffic experienced an imme-
diate and lasting change after the introduction of comic
books into the school library.“5 A Connecticut public
library r