After I purchased the first volume of Sex Criminals for my library, it was requested that I prepare a “letter of defense” in the event that it was challenged. Dear Library Patron or Trustee, Hello! I see that you disagree with my choice to purchase Sex Criminals Volume One : One Weird Trick by Matt…
741.5: How To Sound Professional When Talking About Cerebro
The problem with working in a field that relies heavily on bureaucratic procedure is that sometimes you propose something, and then so much time passes that you forget about it. Then, suddenly, you get three emails one day saying that the talk on the importance of comic book collections and geek-centric programming in libraries you…
741.5: So, You Want To Host A Comic-Con At Your Library
So, you would like to put on your own convention. A word of advice: don’t. Don’t do it! Just do not. Do you like sleeping? Do you enjoy having time to relax? Do you value the fact that you don’t spend every moment of the day consumed by teeth-grinding worry about the work you have…
741.5 : Is Batman Still A Cool Guy?
I work in a library that is fairly progressive and accepting when it comes to trying out new ideas. As I’ve written before, about a year ago, I approached my director with the idea to move and expand our graphic novels collection, yanking them out of the customary Dewey call number of 741.5 and putting…
741.5: Your Right To Deadpool
I could be standing behind the glass-front counter at my retail comic shop job, or behind the formica circulation desk the library where I serve as assistant manager, young adult services coordinator, and overseer of graphic novel collection development, but the parent will always be the same: looking at their phone, occasionally glancing over the…
741.5: Greetings From Your Local Librarian
About a year ago, I was helping my boss, the director of the public library at which I am employed, shift books. We were in the 740’s–for those unfamiliar with the nightmarish nonsense that is Dewey Decimal, that’s “Arts and Recreation”–and both of us were sighing heavily at the state of the graphic novels. Comics…