Looking For Good Comics? Try The Library.
Todd Allen's "Publishing Follies" column is one of those columns that I often find myself reading because, while it's not something that really applies to fans, serves as an interesting glimpse into the comic-publishing industry. I know, it sounds dull, but Allen's got a nice style that transforms a possibly dry subject into something engaging and funny.
Allen's latest column points out something which a lot of people might not be aware of: public libraries are a great source of comics. This was something I really wasn't aware of until I started traveling the country about six months ago, when we started making frequent appearances at libraries all over the place and I chatted with some of the local clerks about their impressive graphic novel collections. At almost every one of these locations, I was told that the graphic novels have some of the most check-outs of the collections, and Allen notes that this is something that these institutions are starting to notice:
How big a market is that? Well, according to the ALA, all library systems do their purchasing independently, so there's no such thing as unified records (yes, this makes BookScan look like a definitive list), but there are some clues. For instance, when the Library Journal did their 2006 survey, 20% of respondents cited graphic novels as their largest expenditure.
Trolling for Naughty Librarians [CBR]
Boy of Tomorrow
Posted to Other on 15 January 2008
· Comments (1)
Other stuff like this: columns, libraries, publishing follies
Yeah I actually have begun too notice this in libaries in the UK too. Its not just new stuff too, I found a couple of really quite old manga books so whether there has just been an influx as of late I don't know. Its only become apprent in the last couple of months.
But I'm not complaning :P