Fiction_L Archives graphic novels Dates: 2/10/05,2:50 PM  through  2/14/05,9:25 AM  (11 postings) Search for: Select one or more indexes to search: 2011-current     2009-2010     2004-2008    1995-2003    (Matches from each index will be displayed separately in the results page.) Return to February 2005 thread menu   |   Fiction_L Archives Menu

FROM: "Carrie Herrmann" <[removed]@bcpl.org>
REC'D: 2/10/05, 2:50 PM

Please forgive any cross postings. I am wondering how libraries shelve graphic novels. With this question, I am assuming that they are shelved in a discreet collection. Do you use special display shelving or shelve it on "regular" shelves? Graphic novels are such a visual medium, they seem to lose their appeal on "regular" shelves. Any suggestions you can share are appreciated.

Thank you.

Carrie A. Herrmann
Circulation Services Coordinator
8899 US 42
Union, KY 41042
Phone: 859-384-5550
Fax: 859-384-5557

FROM: "Bill Edminster" <[removed]@mchenrylibrary.org>
REC'D: 2/10/05, 3:29 PM

We use regular shelving but we have wire stands that sit on open shelves so that selected books can be showed face out.

Bill Edminster
Assistant Director
McHenry Public Library District

-----Original Message-----
From: [removed]@maillist.webrary.org
[[removed]@maillist.webrary.org]On Behalf Of Carrie Herrmann
Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2005 2:34 PM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: graphic novels

Please forgive any cross postings. I am wondering how libraries shelve graphic novels. With this question, I am assuming that they are shelved in a discreet collection. Do you use special display shelving or shelve it on "regular" shelves? Graphic novels are such a visual medium, they seem to lose their appeal on "regular" shelves. Any suggestions you can share are appreciated.

Thank you.

Carrie A. Herrmann
Circulation Services Coordinator
8899 US 42
Union, KY 41042
Phone: 859-384-5550
Fax: 859-384-5557

FROM: "Steve Roman" <[removed]@NILS.LIB.IL.US>
REC'D: 2/10/05, 3:35 PM

1. We shelve them in a separate collection.

2. Graphic novels vary by size so much, it's not always easy to find shelving for them that fits *all* of them well without feeling that you're wasting space. We just deal with it.

3. The graphic novels are so popular, I don't know if display shelving would make a difference, but it *is* an interesting idea.

Steven A. Roman
DeKalb Public Library
309 Oak Street
DeKalb, IL 60115
815-756-9568

"This, to me, is the ultimately heroic trait of ordinary people; they say no to the tyrant and they calmly take the consequences of this resistance."
~Philip K. Dick

-----Original Message-----
From: Carrie Herrmann [[removed]@bcpl.org]
Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2005 2:34 PM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: graphic novels

Please forgive any cross postings. I am wondering how libraries shelve graphic novels. With this question, I am assuming that they are shelved in a discreet collection. Do you use special display shelving or shelve it on "regular" shelves? Graphic novels are such a visual medium, they seem to lose their appeal on "regular" shelves. Any suggestions you can share are appreciated.

Thank you.

Carrie A. Herrmann
Circulation Services Coordinator
8899 US 42
Union, KY 41042
Phone: 859-384-5550
Fax: 859-384-5557

FROM: "Maureen OConnor" <[removed]@bramlib.on.ca>
REC'D: 2/10/05, 3:46 PM

Carrie, our graphic novels are shelved at the beginning of the teen
fiction. We also posted a sign--just an 8 1/2 x 11 in a T-frame--on our
returns box just inside the library saying they had arrived. This drew
people to the Info desk to ask where they were. Once the public knew we
had them, it didn't seem to matter what kind of shelving they were on.
We have 331 titles at our branch, and currently there are 75 on the
shelf. I think they're moving well! :)

Maureen

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Maureen O'Connor
Brampton Library
[removed]@bramlib.on.ca

"We all love to hear a good story. We save our stories in books. We save
our books in libraries. Libraries are the storyhouses full of all those
stories and secrets."
-Kathy Bates

FROM: "Roberta Johnson" <[removed]@dppl.org>
REC'D: 2/10/05, 4:47 PM

We use acrylic bins (Demco, $60 each) that sit in a regular shelf and
allow us to shelve the GNs face out. They stay nice looking a long
time, too. We label each bin A - B, C - D, etc.

Roberta S. Johnson
Readers' Services Manager
Des Plaines Public Library
1501 Ellinwood St. Des Plaines, IL 60016
www.dppl.org [removed]@dppl.org


-----Original Message-----
From: [removed]@maillist.webrary.org
[[removed]@maillist.webrary.org] On Behalf Of Carrie Herrmann
Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2005 2:34 PM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: graphic novels

Please forgive any cross postings. I am wondering how libraries shelve
graphic novels. With this question, I am assuming that they are shelved
in a discreet collection. Do you use special display shelving or shelve
it on "regular" shelves? Graphic novels are such a visual medium, they
seem to lose their appeal on "regular" shelves. Any suggestions you can
share are appreciated.

Thank you.

Carrie A. Herrmann
Circulation Services Coordinator
8899 US 42
Union, KY 41042
Phone: 859-384-5550
Fax: 859-384-5557

FROM: "Lynn S. Smith-Roberts" <[removed]@hotmail.com>
REC'D: 2/10/05, 6:08 PM

As I've said before in this space, we shelve ours on conventional shelving.
Each has a sticker on it that looks like a sort of green and black splat,
and the sign we have on the shelf where most of them are located has a sign
that looks just like the splat. This shelf is in the YA corner. The
cataloging says "Graphic Novel" after the call number for all of our GN's.
The greatest number of them are in the YA section. Adult and children's
GN's are interfiled with fiction or non-fiction, wherever they are
cataloged, but the cataloging says "Graphic Novel" for them as well. Some
day, if we get more than 2 or 3 in each area, we may pull them out, too, and
make a special display.

Our Central Library Kid's Place used to shelve GN's on shelving featuring a
cutout of Spiderman, which really made them stand out. Unfortunately, the
collection grew too large for that space, so, although Spidey is still
nearby, it's not quite so effective.

I am on a library-wide committee to explore ways of merchandising our
collections, and, because of this, I have visited a number of libraries in
our vicinity: 14 county and city public libraries outside our system, as
well as branches within our system (most of which are doing the same thing
we are: on regular shelves.) I have never talked about this project in this
space, so I'll do so briefly now, without mentioning names.

Most of these other libraries have them on separate shelves from the regular
collection. Some have them on a special spinner that allows them to be
faced out so that patrons can see their covers. One had a series of low
shelving units that served as the barrier between the adults' area and the
YA/Childrens' area, with the GN's on the inside of that, on the YA -- rather
than kids' -- side -- all faced out. They were at the perfect height to be
noticed by those sitting in chairs at the nearby reading tables and Internet
stations.

Another library had them on sloping shelves, similar to the sloping magazine
shelves that many of us use, but without the places for backfiles. For
others of these libraries, GN's were on lucite shelves that are sloped and
hang from slatwall. Still another library had a special display within the
library stacks, with various items on easels and signage above them. Issues
on slatwall endcaps let patrons know the shelving unit contained GN's.

Another library had a special sign indicating that the unit contained GN's,
but, although this library uses slatwall endcaps displaying items from the
shelving unit, there were none on this one (and all of the endcap displays
were full, so a patron hadn't just walked out with the last one that had
been there. I actually asked the Reference Librarian where the GN's were.
Sure enough, there was a whole bunch of 'em right smack dab in the middle of
a shelf, but the sign for them was over my head, and I hadn't looked up!
The items themselves were in the so-called "sweet spot," between 3 ft. and 6
ft. -- these were actually at eye-level for me (I'm 5'7-1/2'), but since
they were shelved spine out, I'd missed them! A real missed opportunity
there!

Hope this helps!

Lynn S. Smith-Roberts
Librarian II

Carmichael Regional Library
Sacramento Public Library

5605 Marconi Ave.
Carmichael, CA 95608

[removed]@saclibrary.org
[removed]@hotmail.com

Subject: graphic novels
From: "Carrie Herrmann" <[removed]@bcpl.org>
Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 15:34:17 -0500

Please forgive any cross postings. I am wondering how libraries shelve
graphic
novels. With this question, I am assuming that they are shelved in a
discreet
collection. Do you use special display shelving or shelve it on "regular"
shelves? Graphic novels are such a visual medium, they seem to lose their
appeal on "regular" shelves. Any suggestions you can share are appreciated.

Thank you.

Carrie A. Herrmann
Circulation Services Coordinator
8899 US 42
Union, KY 41042
Phone: 859-384-5550
Fax: 859-384-5557

FROM: Susan Sanders <[removed]@scls.lib.wi.us>
REC'D: 2/11/05, 4:04 PM

I assume you mean in a "discrete" collection, not necessarily a "discreet" one.

At 02:34 PM 2/10/2005, you wrote:
>Please forgive any cross postings. I am wondering how libraries shelve
>graphic novels. With this question, I am assuming that they are shelved
>in a discreet collection. Do you use special display shelving or shelve
>it on "regular" shelves? Graphic novels are such a visual medium, they
>seem to lose their appeal on "regular" shelves. Any suggestions you can
>share are appreciated.
>
>Thank you.
>
>Carrie A. Herrmann
>Circulation Services Coordinator
>8899 US 42
>Union, KY 41042
>Phone: 859-384-5550
>Fax: 859-384-5557
>
>
>
>
>
>
>......................................................................
>Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
>Everything Fiction_L: http://fictionl.webrary.org

FROM: "Margaret Dunn Library" <[removed]@caledon.library.on.ca>
REC'D: 2/12/05, 9:37 AM

Please excuse my ignorance but just what do you see as the diference between
a graphic novel and a comic book ?

Donna

FROM: "Kristen Hill" <[removed]@hotmail.com>
REC'D: 2/12/05, 1:20 PM

I heard from a classmate that graphic novels and comic books differ in that
graphic novels use the comic book format (telling the story via both words
and pictures) to tell a story that has a definite beginning, middle, and end
all in one volume. On the other hand, comic books have an episodic format
where every issue is part of a very long, ongoing story, and the end of each
issue always leads into the beginning of another. Comic books are much
shorter as well, and usually less durable than graphic novels.

Kristen Hill

>From: "Margaret Dunn Library" <[removed]@caledon.library.on.ca>
>Reply-To: "Fiction_L" <[removed]@maillist.webrary.org>
>To: Fiction_L <[removed]@maillist.webrary.org>
>Subject: graphic novels
>Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 10:35:47 -0500
>
>Please excuse my ignorance but just what do you see as the diference
>between
>a graphic novel and a comic book ?
>
>
>Donna
>
>......................................................................
>Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
>Everything Fiction_L: http://fictionl.webrary.org
>

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FROM: "Steve Roman" <[removed]@NILS.LIB.IL.US>
REC'D: 2/14/05, 8:57 AM

This is a fun one, and as with any definition your mileage may vary.

For the most part, a comic book is basically considered a single issue of comics. Today, this is about 22 pages of story and art. The flimsy magazine-style publications on the racks.

Then there's the comic strip, in that comic strips tend to appear online / in serial publications in very brief form, usually no more than 3-5 panels (unless it's the Sunday ed. of the paper, of course).

Graphic novels were originally conceived of as "book length comics books." If the comic is a short story, the graphic novel is ... well, a novel. Or at least a novella. A single story between two covers published in book format, softcover or hardcover.

However, in practice most graphic novels are actually trade paperback collections of serial comic book issues that form a story arc. Thus, the first volume of Preacher collects issues 1 through X of the serial title.

All of them, however, are "comics."

Do these rough definitions help?

~Roman

Steven A. Roman
DeKalb Public Library
309 Oak Street
DeKalb, IL 60115
815-756-9568

"This, to me, is the ultimately heroic trait of ordinary people; they say no to the tyrant and they calmly take the consequences of this resistance."
~Philip K. Dick

-----Original Message-----
From: Margaret Dunn Library [[removed]@caledon.library.on.ca]
Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2005 9:36 AM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: graphic novels

Please excuse my ignorance but just what do you see as the diference between
a graphic novel and a comic book ?

Donna

FROM: "Bill Edminster" <[removed]@mchenrylibrary.org>
REC'D: 2/14/05, 9:25 AM

At its simplest, a graphic novel is a monograph and a comic book is an issue of a serial.

Bill Edminster
Assistant Director
McHenry Public Library District

-----Original Message-----
From: [removed]@maillist.webrary.org
[[removed]@maillist.webrary.org]On Behalf Of Margaret Dunn
Library
Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2005 9:36 AM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: graphic novels

Please excuse my ignorance but just what do you see as the diference between
a graphic novel and a comic book ?

Donna

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