The Diversity Discussion: Some Thoughts

I have spent about 8 hours on this post and I've spent the past evening and this morning trying to get reality checks from fellow librarians. I offer to you my opinions and ask that you keep that in mind.

I got in a Twitter argument on Saturday. Or discussion. When it comes down to it, it really was a discussion because in the end, I felt heard by those I was discussing with and we had new ideas and points. It was good. Here's the Tweet that started it:

If you're a librarian, it's your job to do your job and it's your job to HELP THESE BOOKS SUCCEED ffs. pic.twitter.com/09IMeCELDy
— Kelly Jensen (@catagator) February 7, 2015

First, you can find my points under there easily, so I'm not exactly going to rehash all of those. What I am going to do is bring up the points that I've come up with since reading the Story Time Underground Facebook Group and So Tomorrow's Blog Post.

The first point is this: CONTEXT CONTEXT CONTEXT. Since Saturday morning, I've read the Story Time Underground Post, I've read the blog post above, and I've read more twitter stuff like Justina Ireland's Storyfied post. Honestly, her posts sum up my philosophy easily.

The more I read, the more I think about how this is one singular comment posted on Twitter for all to see and here's how I see it: it is a relatively harmless comment on its own (please be patient with me before you go commenting. This is very, very complex). I say this because I understand this response. I had the same thing happen in my picture book collection when I started. Since then, I've bought more picture books with POC and I include them because of their topic, not the color of skin: i.e. moving because it is a very well done story about moving, opposites because it is a fun story about opposites, etc.

My community reads diverse books for the story.


So the answer given by others to the issue of The Crossover being a hard sell is to... hand sell it? Fine. That can be done, but sometimes, no matter the amount of hand selling, the book (and I'm talking generally here because I can think of one Newbery that appears on my weed list occasionally) is still going to be a hard sell. It goes out once or twice or not at all.

If the book (general, again) won an award, it'll stay, and maybe in 3 years, it'll be crazy popular again because I have that population and readership. In the meantime, there are over hundreds of other books to chose from.

In fact, that's part of the issue: there are so many books coming out. When it comes to diverse books, I look to content over characters. Is the book getting a favorable review? Check. Is the topic of the book something my readers would like such as a love story, fantasy, family moving, topic my parents have asked for, etc? If so, then I'll get it because my community will probably read it for the story.

From my experience, which is how I'm relating to this, I only do reader's advisory when kids or parents ask and I pick books that match their question. If there is a diverse book on that topic and it is in, I'll share it. If it doesn't match or it's not in, there are a bunch of other books to chose from.

Does that mean I ignore diverse books in my collection? No. I put them face out on displays whenever I can and let readers discover them. I will include them on books lists when I make them. I treat the books by their stories.

What I see happening is two camps: one that says librarians must promote books, authors, and particular ideas, while another says we must promote and provide to our community and what they like. Unfortunately, librarianship is not so black and white. We all fall onto a continuum of this and it depends on your readers, your collection policy, your mission statement, and your statistics.

Does this mean I don't purchase diverse books for my collection? No. I treat all book reviews equally and keep my readership in mind. Again, this is my community I'm purchasing for and I want to have what they want and what they might be willing to read to broaden the mind. Again, they read diverse books because they want to read a story.

Community is, I think, a great part of the book purchasing equation. We need to include things to broaden the mind, but also provide what they want. It's a balancing act which means some great starred books will be passed over for something that had a decent review and better suits the readers. Public libraries cannot buy ALL THE BOOKS. Gosh, if there is a library that has that kind of budget and does buy ALL THE BOOKS, I'd like to see this library. (Hold on. I think I have. How about a library in an average service community, though?)

On the flip side, a great collection is diverse and will have at least one book or item that offends someone. If you are not offended by one thing in my collection, I have not done my job. If I'm not offended by something in my collection, I also haven't done my job.

I don't love all graphic novels. This One Summer is not one of my favorites. Does this mean I'm not going to have it in my collection? NO. I recognize the merit of the book and it's getting a bunch of press so I got it. I got The Crossover after it was announced as the Newbery winner, but am I a bad librarian because I didn't buy it the first time around? I did purchase How It Went Down when it first came out because of the story. Basketball does not come up often for middle school and high school RA at my library. Baseball and football are more likely the stories they want.


Librarianship and libraries are changing. We're in uncertain times. Diversity needs to happen in books. That is true, but we also need to be careful we don't alienate our readers and each other. By this, I'm saying we need to be sure we're striking the balance between what they want and what might push their boundaries. If we make a point to get diverse books but if our readership doesn't relate to them in some way, they'll go somewhere else.

On the other hand, this is just part of a discussion I've seen happening for years: some award winners are a hard sell to the community, regardless of what's between the covers. I can think of a Newbery winner a few years ago that someone told me they tried to read and couldn't get into it. I can think of Printz winners I wasn't sure would go (one of which didn't go when it came out, but years later has found a readership). I have books I love, authors I love, but no matter how much hand-selling I do, sometimes the readers just don't find it appealing.

So what should librarians be doing: promoting books, their authors, and particular ideas, or promoting community and a love of reading? Is it our job to make particular books succeed or is it our job to make books in general succeed? Has this librarian (and I'm wondering if I have) failed for not providing The Crossover since March? I don't think so.

What I'm saying is that we need to open a dialogue about all angles of this: diverse books, our communities, what we stand to promote, the award winners that don't have a huge appeal regardless of what's between the covers, and we need to do it with an open mind and with respect to each other. Librarians are the loudest, most outspoken people I know, but seeing some of the comments that have come out of this discussion (mostly in the vein of "You're not doing your JOB") makes me ashamed of us as a profession that I have always seen as diverse, open minded, and open to discussion. Our JOBS are as diverse as the books that are out there. Our jobs are as diverse as the libraries. What is popular in one half of my state, is not popular in the other (finally attending a conference near Pittsburgh really showed me how different it is compared to Philly). This idea can even be expanded to the entire country.

Everyone is different and bringing their experience to the table. Let's have discussion and stop casting blame.

This is my philosophy of librarianship: The Five Laws of Library Science (source-Wikipedia):

1. Books are for use.
2. Every reader his [or her] book.
3. Every book its reader.
4. Save the time of the reader.
5. The library is a growing organism.

 Thank you for taking the time to read this and consider this point of view. I want to remind you this does NOT reflect my employer and this does NOT reflect the Library Association I'm part of.

The Caldecott Honor of 2015

It's on everyone's minds: HOW did a graphic novel get a Caldecott Honor? This is nothing like when Hugo Cabret won. That could be justified, but a graphic novel? A YA book no less? How was that possible?

I don't know, but what I do know is that there is going to be discussion about it for months to come.

This Horn Book blog post from Calling Caledcott raises great points and a lot of points I considered: Wednesday Morning Quarterbacking: the Process Edition.  (HT Twitter Julie Jurgen @himissjulie).

When I mentioned to my husband that there will be discussion (and crazy discussion at that) he brought up the Sandman by Neil Gaiman, issue 19 caused a bit of a stir for winning a Short Story Award:

At the 1991 awards, comic book The Sandman issue #19 "A Midsummer's Night Dream" scripted by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Charles Vess, won the Award for Best Short Fiction.^[3] The widely circulated story that the rules were subsequently changed to prevent another comic book from winning is not entirely true. The official website states: "Comics are eligible in the Special Award Professional category. We never made a change in the rules."^[4] Gaiman and Vess, however, won the Award under the Short Fiction and not the Special Award Professional category.

From Wikipedia: World Fantasy Award 

I suspect the Caldecott rules will change after this. This One Summer will be harder to explain to parents. I'm surprised it's considered a 14 and under title. I'd put it in high school range, but that's just because of the topics dealt with in the book. It is a darker story.

So this raises a bunch of questions: who is the Caldecott for? Will more graphic novels be included or will the rules change? Have graphic novels always been included? Or will it change nothing and we'll go back to the usual picture books for the next few years until the next oddball? Time will tell.

Reader's Advisory - SEPLA Workshop Thoughts and Such

For two months now I've been toying with the idea of dusting this place off. I told myself I would think about it...indefinitely because I think I have good ideas that turn out to be too much work and I only have so much time. Also, right now, I really don't need to add something into the mix.

Right now, I'm working on NaNoWriMo and am slated to reach my count by Nov. 23. (Side note:it has been so entertaining/wonderful to see librarians getting into this. I'm happy but it's like shiny and new to librarians but I've been aware of it since 2000-something and this is my second official year participating). Also, I have an orchestra concert this week which means my next two days are this: morning routine, work, hour-ish dinner break, rehearsal until who-knows-when (2-3 hours), NaNoWriMo, with Friday being the concert. (I'm pretty stoked, honestly. We sound great and it is awesome to be part of the community this way). Not to mention, we have a toddler of a 1-year old cat who thinks it is a great idea to do things to get us up between 3-6 AM.

So why now? Why did I decide, "sure, I'm going to give it another go and if it doesn't stick, I seriously need to consider giving up for good?"

I attended PaLA's SEPLA annual meeting and workshop today. Our special guest was Becky from RA for All. At this workshop/meeting, she talked about RA and how we have all the tools to be "virtual superstar librarians." She spoke a lot on "bridging the physical-virtual divide" and brought up lots of points I hadn't considered before. Some points are:

• take your RA in the the library to virtual spaces to create a seamless experience
• keep your voice the same or similar to how you are in real life (something I've been struggling with on this blog) 
• RA really highlights your backlist. The new stuff gets enough attention when it comes out; don't worry about it now.

Other takeaways I had from looking at the blog and from the workshop included blogging for yourself, that the review format I have is very similar to what was on other RA blogs, and well, I have this energy that I want to use now, but can't (not a bad thing. I just would hate to jump in only to discover I have to shift gears quickly).

I honestly started this blog because I always seem to get fellow librarians in real life (irl) saying "You know about graphic novels, can you help me with XYZ." So, I wanted to share what I read. What stopped me recently (apparently in May) is that I was forcing myself to read new stuff and was growing annoyed I couldn't read what I wanted to read that was new because of money (yes, I'm on Netgalley, but when you have a manga fix, Netgalley doesn't always work). I want to buy manga but at $10 a pop with 15 volumes to a series easily vs. my 16 year old cat with asthma (in May it was the 17 year old Orange Cat with cancer who we lost in July) vs. the car REALLY needed new tires vs. music stuff and other stuff, the comic money I had as a teen is just not there (helloooooo adulthood).

But I still read comics and I am currently, sorta on a manga kick. My original intent was to blog about whatever I was reading graphic novel-wise. More recently, I thought I had to read what was new. I also felt that I couldn't cover YA because it is so overdone (in my opinion).

Thinking about the workshop and exploring the blogs today shows me I should just go back to my original intent: covering graphic novels (and YA occasionally). Eventually, I want to cover my idea of a "core collection." I want to index the reviews by titles (OMG). I have a few other ideas too...so...

OK Go - Here It Goes Again from OK Go on Vimeo.

YALSA Book Lists: A Rant

I'm late to this. I know I am because I kind of hoped it'd blow over when I actually wanted to see the lists again. As it should be semi-public knowledge here, I normally pick on the "Great Graphic Novels for Teens" lists that YALSA puts out. I like them. They can be a good start, BUT there's just some stuff on there that doesn't hold a teen's interest (Prime Baby [my review] is a prime example). I've tried to be involved, but only learned last year that I can actually suggest stuff. I have one to suggest for this year actually...

Well, today, I finally ran into YALSA's "block." Basically, if you have been under a rock, when you decide to take a look at YALSA's lists, you see a "Thanks for your interest blah-blah give us your information or skip all this and sign in."

I hate signing in. Mainly because for some dumb reasons my passwords hate me. Or the system hates my password. I also don't always remember my user name and/password and ALA Connect and Member Services have still left a bad taste in my mouth (basically, I asked recently why we can't get invoices. The state library association gives me one right off the bat AND I can access it for say, when I want to print it off for taxes. I asked if this could be consider and got a "no"). As if ALA doesn't get enough of my money right now.

Yeah, I could just end my membership there, but if I didn't like YALS so much, I would.

Ok, so why did I finally run into this block? I wanted to add the book lists to my resources page because it looks somewhat sparse and I haven't started looking for stuff to add yet. My first thought was "Let's check to see if that block is there."

Yes it was. What the hell?

Now read this post on the YALSA Blog.

Read it? Did you take a look at the comments?

Here we go. First, all the information about the awards is available outside of the wall, EXCEPT the actual list themselves. So, I can nominate a book without actually signing in or giving them my information (except in the process). That means non-members could try to nominate books. In certain cases, I understand that, but I'd think that should be more behind the wall than it is. I can also learn all I want about the award, see nominations (WHAT?), but not actually see what won. That is messed up logic.


"Members who want to access the lists on reference desk computers or other non-personal computers and don’t want to login with personal information can also bookmark the links for the lists and awards. These URLs are now posted in the “Members Only” section of the website." That's kinda nice, but something about this irks me. That is also somewhat messed up logic. If I want to book mark the link, am a non-member, but need it to do my job, I have to get a membership to get special links? Um...

"Fourth, several people have raised the question about whether it is worth it to ask for this information. The answer is we’re not sure yet, but we think it might be." Ok, you've been at this since February to when this was posted on May 30. Frankly, you should know whether or not this is working. I'm not impressed with the statistics.

"Fifth, some members have indicated that they are against this change because they feel that YALSA is restricting or putting up barriers to information. In fact, YALSA is doing the same thing that most of you do every day in your own libraries..." Yes, but when I want e-books from my library or want to browse my library or any library collection, I don't have to log in to do it. While I get the database analogy, it doesn't fly because it isn't true of every database or even the catalogs. I also can get that library card for FREE (the majority of the time) in order to access the information. In order to get access to these lists, I have to do what Facebook's apps basically do: get my information to enjoy it or pay a lot of money for a list.

YALSA, you are "putting up barriers to information" especially in a time of budget crunches and closures. I'm thinking of city librarians who just want to promote reading or justify the need to purchase books. The time strapped librarian who doesn't have time to fill out forms and forgets when s/he gets home because of how tired the person is.

I'm also looking at this fact, which is wrong, absolutely wrong:

• The Newbery and Caldecott List is public, but the Printz is not. And don't get into the fact that these are different divisions. I recognize that, but they are also respected awards and I find the Printz equivalent to that. If other divisions can do this, so can YALSA. Put other stuff behind the walls. Stuff that people would be glad to pay for.

By the way membership is down 3.7% according to the President's Report



Disclosure: This is a rant. I may not know all of the details and may not have read up on all of the details leading to this decision on YALSA's behalf. It may not be prudent to take this discussion out onto my blog, but honestly, others are doing it too and I restarted the discussion on twitter. I'm very annoyed about this and am just using this as a way to vent. There are great blogs out there and a very nicely written post,with more comments and links, was done by Liz B of A Chair, A Fireplace, and A Tea Cozy (link to her reaction to the update from June 5)

Things Discovered...after the majority of this was written

• The Philosopher Musician thinks that as a patron and person, lack of access to the links is uncool and that the basic list itself should be available freely as it is very basic information...SO
• He just discovered the Printz List is available on Wikipedia. To be honest, I'm kind of embarrassed that I didn't think of this first and am sorry if YALSA forces it to come down after this information comes to light.
• Also, kudos to whoever is maintaining that Wikipedia page.

Web Comics and Libraries

Here's something that's starting to bug me: Libraries and Web Comics. Basically, the titles that are in libraries are limited and I would kind of like to know why. Lately, it seems there are a lot of great web comics are coming out in book format, but are libraries picking them up? Not really. The epic exception seems to be Unshelved, which while great and is library humored, is NOT really what I'm talking about here. Unshelved will be the example to explain web comics. Basically, a comic done by an artist with or without a writer and syndicated on the Internet. Simple.

The latest web comic to make waves in library land is/was the epic Axe Cop (which, my library copy got no where fast because the binding split). Every review I saw was like "THIS IS AWESOME." Don't get me wrong, I know it is awesome (even though I haven't read the first volume but I've seen a few strips). It is entertaining and fun, but of ALL the web comics in the last few years, this is what catches everyone's eye? What about Dr. McNinja (which I need to read but hear about a LOT from The Philosopher Musician)? What about Machine of Death which is a hybrid of sorts and includes a collaboration of web comic artists, authors, and The People (not to mention is coming out with a sequel and had a blast fighting it out with Glenn Beck not too long ago)? Many artists are coming out with books and loyal fans are picking these up. But what about poor readers who can't run out and buy every book, no matter how much they want to support the artist? What about exposing readers to comics they haven't seen? What disservice are we providing when all we have are the "classics*"?

I'll tell you. Simply you are missing the 20-somethings, the 30-somethings, and maybe their kids. I don't read as many web comics as I used to but I am partial to Questionable Content (which mind you, brought you the She Blinded Me With Library Science gear), XKCD, Red String, and a few I really can't mention on my blog (epically awesome, epically NSFW). I have respect for many, many more web comics because I've read bits here and there and despite not reading them after a period of time, they are still good or have improved. Plus, The Philosopher Musician has his list of web comics he follows (and is known to go on "archive binges" here and there) and many of my friends love different web comics yet we share a love of many of the same titles.

So, what's our excuse? Tight budgets? They're indie published? We don't have the reviews to justify them in the collection? We don't want those 20 somethings in the library? Real comics are books? That's all available on the Internet; why would they want the book? Tell me why you don't have them. I really want to know.

In the mean time, tell me what collections you want me to review. I'm starting with what I have easy access to (QC vol 1, Red String vol. 1, Axe Cop vol. 1, and Wondermark), but want to find more. Got stuff your teens are talking about? Let me know. Web Comic Wednesdays will start up soon where I'll talk about web comics where either The Philosopher Musician or me will talk about a web comic turned book, or the web comic itself.

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"Classics" include such hits as Penny Arcade, MegaTokyo, Wondermark, Gunnerkrig Court, and...Unshelved

Response to "Using the Living Dead to Teach Information Literacy" from Librayr Journal

From my own Twitter Account: “Good idea. Poorly excuted(sic): TOTAL disregard for Zombie Lore. (1st broken rule: building w/windows) http://bit.ly/feNhlm ”

Library Journal: Using The Living Dead to Teach Information Literacy



The McPherson College's Miller Library (Kansas) has created a Zombie Apocalypse “graphic novel” to introduce students to the library. While a great idea (commendable, really), it is poorly executed, mainly in that the story has disregard to Zombie Apocalypse Lore. With this in mind, I shared this doozy of a graphic novel to some friends the other night to get their opinion to make sure my opinions were valid. They agreed.

The issues I have with this:

Trying to hard. The introduction says WAY to much about librarians and not enough about students. The introduction is one of those things that makes me cringe for librarians. It is at moments condescending (librarians are information literate people, not you) and these are the kinds of words that turn freshmen (or those not associated to libraries) off of libraries. Don’t explain WHY you did it (although, the last bit about saving the day is good). Just publish the damn novel and see what happens or just say “This guide is for you. Enjoy!”

“Comic Book” NOT “GRAPHIC NOVEL.” (The Philosopher Musician cringed as I read this sentence aloud, after he saw bits of it the other night). 23 pages of zombie apocalypse goodness is actually print comic book-length. The comic itself is even smaller than that.
The overall dialogue. At moments it flows, at others it doesn’t. Right off the bat, it seems forced and…odd…(what is the bit about “state college?” As a PA person, I think about State College, PA). The dialogue sounds like a bad movie, but really bad, not cheesy-bad. “Oh you silly kids…” (p. 4) reminds me of Scooby Doo and readers will drop it then. After this outburst, the whole comic turns into a comic infomercial.

The librarian is psychotic. He doesn’t care that his student workers are dead (p.5)? He’s more interested in finding books about voodoo. Great. Librarians are heartless.

Breaks in Zombie Apocalypse Lore:

STAY AWAY FROM GLASS BUILDINGS. That library, as far as I can tell, would have been the first place to lose it in a Zombie Apocalypse. It’s covered in glass.*

Why zombies crave brains. Ok. I don’t know why, but the craving knowledge was cute…but it missed the mark somehow. If the factoid about zombies craving brains was included in the general story, with the students going, “OH! Zombies crave knowledge!” that bit might have been funny.

Stairs. Do not be in a place with lots of stairs. Zombies can climb them. Again, this library fails in zombie stronghold (ok, just realized that the point isn’t that the library is a stronghold, but I’m not sure they would have lasted even this long with this building).

Wait, records are by primitive humans? (p. 9) (Good sarcasm fail.) Also, the idea of using records to attack zombies is totally ripped from the movie “Shaun of the Dead.”

Lastly, in the last panel, I’m bothered by the librarian’s speech (The Philosopher Musician is bothered by his zombie-like expression). Again, I cringe for librarians because it is that kind of “we’re smarter than you and look at the trick we just pulled with this awesome graphic novel; you will know how to use the library and be the awesome students we know you are.” That’s it. It is a motivational speech, which is really fake-sounding.

All in all, I find this a novel and commendable idea. The art is fantastic and the ideas for physically fighting zombies in a library were kind of useful for people in a zombie apocalypse. I actually love the art, but the text is terrible. Too much showing, not enough telling, and not enough “guided instruction.” Honestly, his guided instruction did not even give the students a chance to deduce how to look for or find certain things. Yes, in a Zombie Apocalypse, you have a limited amount of time, but I’m sure the students could have figured out some more about zombies by applying some research skills he introduced them to (I’m a firm believer in “guide on the side”). I wanted so much for this graphic novel, but instead it falls into that category of “too much obvious lesson, not enough hinted lesson.”

I sincerely wish this library luck in getting this into student’s hands. The nerds will devour this. Graphic novel enthusiasts will devour this. Unfortunately they will enjoy this for all the wrong reasons, which I outlined above, if it even makes it into their hands.


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*In college, friends and I used to try to figure out in the event of a zombie apocalypse which building would be the best building to go to for safety. It wasn't the library.

The HarperCollins Issue

"You know, the general public still doesn't know about this," The Philosopher Musician said to me last night after I brought up my continual annoyance at the HarperCollins Issue.


"Yeah. Yet another quiet battle the quiet librarians are fighting for their readers." I said quietly and in disgust.

Despite the NYTimes article, despite BoingBoing, despite the major news circuits and Twitter, I wonder how much the general population realizes is at stake. As I look for more information on this I can't help but find that these are the facts:

• HarperCollins wants to limit circs to 26 times per title (meaning if 50 people want it, 24 are shit out of luck, go buy it, or ask the library to buy more copies but suffer when it comes to other best sellers you want now). 
• Librarians are currently trying to boycott HarperCollins from not touching the books to not purchasing (no offense, but not a smart move considering they are quite the mover and shaker in publishing...or rather the publisher a lot of books. Boycotting their eBooks makes more sense).
• A lot more is at stake than I think people realize (Librarian by Day).

When I was in grad school last year, I took a fantastic course on copyright. What I remember most is how the music industry handled the whole digital issue and the possibility that the book industry is going to go in that direction as well. If you have even read a few works on copyright, you'll realize that by trying to control digital media only forces people into other, questionable routes.

What I'm asking for at the moment, is that librarians don't give into this decision. In fact, I say we take it to the public and post a huge notice on the OverDrive page. Those who use the service will see it. We also need to make it clear that something like this is only in the interest of the publisher, not the reader. This is not in the interest of the libraries. Boycotting the books will not help as the works that are popular include HarperCollins works. As it stands, HarperCollins is winning the publicity side of things, too. Of all the (top 5) book publishers, HarperCollins has the social media side down pat. I see tweets daily from HaperTeen and HarperChildren.

Since the digital age began, publishers have seen libraries as "the bad guys." What publishers often see is "$." What librarians see are people and readers. What has happened and what will continue to happen is that readers will get their books the way they've always gotten them: through the library or purchase them, and at that, either used or new. You cannot control the buyer. Please stop trying to control the buyer. This nonsense has to stop. We need the right to purchase a book and to purchase it where we want to purchase it; or, we need the right to borrow it where we want to borrow it.


PS: We can actually make a difference as OverDrive is trying to determine what to do next (I don't expect an answer overnight, but it'd be good if it were before the month is out).

Library Wars Vol. 1

Title: Library Wars vol. 1
Author: (Concept: Kiro Arikawa)
Illustrator: (Manga: Kiiro Yumi)
Publisher:  Viz, Inc (Shojo Beat)
Copyright: 2010
Price: $9.99
ISBN: 978-1-4215-3488-6
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Summary and Quick Thoughts: Iku Kasahara’s life was changed one day when, finally, a fairy tale story was published and she could purchase it. Yet this is not society as we know it today. On this fateful day, the bookstore she was in was raided and the book confiscated as it was deemed “unsuitable.” The Library Defense Force stepped in that day and took the books from the Government and one particular agent returned a dented copy of the fairy tale book to Iku Kasahara.

A few later, Iku Kasahara is training to join the Library Defense Force, but it seems that she has many, many hurdles to jump from annoyed group-mates to the tough Instructor Dojo who seems to have picked her, unknowingly, as his protégé. The first volume spends a lot of time setting up the story.
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Will Teens Like It? Library loving teens will get a huge kick out of this.
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Things to be aware of: None
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Further Thoughts: This is a story of modern day librarianship meeting Farenheit 451. In this not too distant future, some books are considered inappropriate for society by the Government and the librarians have a covert military force that helps defend the right to read. Libraries are neutral zones, where books cannot be challenged, but that doesn’t mean library users will not challenge this.

Does this sound familiar yet? Mind you, librarians don’t have a secret military force that can help in the war over books, but it is an interesting take. For a book about libraries, it seems to have the library aspect spot on down to the decimal system (although, I trust the Japanese system isn’t quite as similar as Dewey) and how busy a public library is (illustrated with the librarians in the basement running to find books).

A lot of the story in this first volume is setting up for future volumes. To me, it is clear the romantic interest lies in Dojo and Kasahara, and that Dojo is her inspiration, and he knows it. While I know this, I’m more interested in reading about the war over the books and how libraries will continue to fit into this. While I know many librarians do not read graphic novels, this is one that the librarian should pick up just to read the first page detailing “The Library Freedom Act.” It sounds very similar to one we have today…
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Bonus: ALA Great Graphic Novel 2011

Source: Library Copy.

ALA Great Graphic Novel Nominations for 2011 (1)

I wrote this way back when the list was first published and am only now getting around to posting this. Yay for Grad School distraction! I have since read some of the titles, which I will post reviews of soon.

Somewhere on my Twitter feed, I saw this Tweet that the Nomination for the Great Graphic Novels of 2011 is available. While this is excited news, can I be honest with you? As a librarian and an avid graphic novel reader, even though I'm not as in touch as I have been, about 80% of these titles are no where to be found on my blog rolls nor what I have seen circulating in the library. I mean, where's Gaiman's Whatever Happened To the Caped Crusader? (Ok, a little research shows this should have been on the 2010 list. I nearly CRIED over the brilliance of it). Where's Chi's Sweet Home which looks like it is going to be everyone's favorite all-ages GN (DAWWWWWWWWWW! Expect a review!). I find it uneasy that I don't recognize even half of the nominations.

I honestly feel like I shouldn't complain. I'm not on the committee (yet, but intend to after grad school), but honestly, I'm not that excited about this list. I mean, 2010 had many titles I recognized, wanted to read, and were, I thought, good picks, but this list? I recognize more titles as I look at it, but then I notice all the "book-to-graphic-novel" suggestions, which are seriously hit and miss. I just read a Marvel adaptation that almost killed the book for me (except there are great movie adaptions-expect a review) and one title on this list, when I post the review, isn't pretty as well. And speaking of book-to-GN adaptations, where is the infamous (I didn't/couldn't finish it) Twilight GN? Didn't the book make it to one of the other lists?  Or Maximum Ride?

Maybe as a GN reader, I have different expectations of the Great Graphic Novel list, but I think there should be more to the list than book adaptations, or just what looks like it'll work. Yes, plot is important, but we also like pure fluff and sometimes the really zany.

A Little Librarian's View: PA to YA Fest

Any excuse to go to West Chester, PA, is a good excuse to me. West Chester is a lovely college town with a ton of history, lovely buildings, awesome downtown, great book stores such as Armadillo Books and Chester County Book Company, the fantastic West Chester Public Library, and so far, has great food. My trek to West Chester on Saturday, August 21st, though was to visit the PA to YA Festival which was next to the University.

The PA to YA Festival was an event hosted to help raise money to give to librarians to build YA collections and to get books into the hands of librarians (as I understand it). It was also a great event to meet up with authors and bloggers, partake in the book sale, and maybe win some raffle prizes.

Basically, I’ve known about the Bring YA to PA initiative for months after accidentally finding it from, well, “blog surfing.” As a librarian, I was a bit surprised this initiative has existed for a while and I had yet to hear of it in my three official years as a Teen Person. As to the event, when I first saw hints of it, I had thought “YAY! But it is in Philly and I refuse to drive in Philly.” When I saw it was in West Chester, I thought “I’m SO going” and my schedule actually allowed me to!

The event itself was enjoyable and for arriving late (1:30 PM or so) there was still enough for me to feel that I hadn’t missed much. I do regret not partaking in the raffles, but I couldn’t decide if I wanted to pay for chances or not.  I also regret not bringing my ARC of Watersmeet to finally get it signed by Ellen Jensen Abbott, but I did get to catch up with her. That was probably the first highlight.

The second highlight was the room for librarians. Yes, a room for librarians. With books. Lotsa lotsa books. The librarian that traveled with me was excited to learn that she could take 20 books back to her library to put into the collection. For her, this is perfect as her library seems to have spent a good portion of their book budget, which means, technically, no new YA. This situation also was perfect for her since I’m somehow this walking encyclopedia of what is popular and what is not, what the book is probably about, and how the reviews for the books were, both blogosphere and professional (re: Voya). This in and of itself, is the most useful part to librarians here in Pennsylvania because of all the budget cuts happening. I’m not going to go into it here but you can read more here (PA Library Association).

But here is the only downside to the festival that I noticed: Many authors and bloggers, very few librarians. From my own library system, I ran into only one other person and not in Youth Services. From there, I only ran into a total of maybe 2 or 3 more library people. West Chester has perfect access to three library systems and for surrounding areas, West Chester is only an hour to a few hours’ drive to there. I can only blame myself for not seeing more Library System people since I didn’t send out an e-mail. Bad, bad me. I also may have missed people because I was half an hour late, but I did stay the whole time so I keep thinking I should have seen some friends!

Except for that small issue, I enjoyed the event and am hopeful and excited for the possibility at the event next year. My only hope for next year is that the venue is 1.) bigger and/or 2.) has an area for socializing as everyone kind of just fell into places in the tiny hallway between the rooms.

For librarians, it would have been the perfect event to get favorite books signed, network and socialize, and pick out books for their libraries and some ARCs for themselves. For bloggers and authors, I could tell that it was a great social event. I hope that the organizer (Harmony) behind the event saw this as a successful event and I’m sure that the money raised Saturday, from a large amount to even the smallest amount, will help the libraries who need it. We librarians are quite the thankful bunch. I just love the fact that this exists to help supplement YA Services in PA.

Pennsylvanian librarians, I urge you, that the moment you find out when this event happens in 2011, clear your calendar (like you do for your conferences). I know I will find a way to attend next year for the authors not signed up yet, the book sale, and maybe I’ll be able to socialize a little more. This is just too nifty of an event to miss out and it is so rare to have an event like this that I can actually drive to!

Queens Library in New York

Foolishly I've been relatively quiet on the issue of Queens Library. I really shouldn't but lately I haven't felt any hope that my own state's libraries (or my job at the end of the year) could be saved so why should I care about Queens Library in NY?

Because I know a fantastic woman who works there. Through a good librarian friend, who met the Queens Librarian thanks to a shared Harrison Ford obsession, I met this librarian when she visited my area and had a fantastic lunch at a new favorite restaurant where we talked libraries, meetings, and just other fun stuff. It was a great lunch and a warm memory.

This librarian also has a lot in relation to my mom, which could be why I'm quite frankly begging you to pass the petition along. Oh and I think they won some award from Library Journal a while back. Why are the award winners the first to go?

Please sign the petition. You don't have to live in NY to do so.

Thank you.

YA to PA, in which I rant about the state of things

As someone who has been a PA librarian for 9 years now (HA! I did it, I told you my state) I have watched the world of YA grow in PA Library Land. I started my interest in YA from my own interest in the literature as a teen. In my undergrad, I was able to run a Teen Summer Reading program which helped me become a Teen Program Person. I've also watched the state of things deteriorate rapidly. So, I feel I can say a few things about what I see going on.

From The Story Siren, I've just learned about this initiative called "PAYA: Bringing (More) YA to PA." On one hand, I'm sorry to say I'm insulted. The libraries in the county I work in (and I might be able to comment on the county I live in), have YA books all ready in the library. This space may be a shelf or two, or a whole room, but there are attempts at YA spaces in PA libraries, no matter how small.

What we really need help in is staff. I was told once that grants for personnel are difficult to find, and even then, the position only lasts a certain time before the library has to decide if it is something to keep or not, and in this time, if the library can't find the money, BYE BYE (sadly). A colleague of mine who works in Youth Services had to give up YA due to staff leaving and vacancies not being filled. My hours were cut back (no lost pay). Other libraries have had to decrease or completely eliminate teen programs because of that word: Funding.

As you may or may not know, PA just had a 40% cut or so from the state budget last year. This year we're facing 10% again, and again the gambling money is being used to try and save parts of the budget. We haven't seen these funding numbers for year. Gov. Ridge finally brought us up into respectable funding levels. Now we're back to disgraceful. The state was technically never supposed to cover public library services (completely). It was supposed to be municipalities and counties who picked up the tab. Some municipalities refuse to pick up the tab. Others contribute what they can, but it is not enough. Everyone is facing cuts right now, not just the state, but counties, municipalities, etc. All departments are facing budget woes including fire departments and police. All of these institutions that help us are facing budget woes and some of the funding is inappropriate. (Gambling money to fund education?).

All in all, Young Adult services are "a luxury." Most programs, if a library has it are run by Youth Services librarians who prefer children's story times, or assistant directors who have other duties and can only contribute a few hours, or directors who are the one wo/man show. Those who want to do the job are either over qualified, can't work part time for certain reasons, or are Youth Services librarians who have to choose one or the other because the library is a busy place and the parents are easier to reach than the teens.

Instead of bringing More YA to PA, why not advocate as to WHY we need more YA in PA? The librarians are with you (you just need to contact us instead of the other book blogs!). It is the public the school admins, the county big-wigs who needs to see this. We need to change the terminology from YA to teen. We need to show that early literacy and teen literacy are equally important. The teens who drop off at this point may never return and this is WHY we need teen services, library professionals who recognize teen reading habits, who recognize that teens are going through crazy times, who recognize that in this crazy world, the library can be that "third place," that safe haven that teens need and one that parents recognize.

Linky Link: Plagiarism and Copyright for this week

Part 1: Hot Topic, the store
First, flying around on my [private] Twitter Feed this week was the accusation that Hot Topic (popular teen "punk/goth" store) ripped off yet another Indie Artist with a t-shirt design. Since this is buried so deep in Twitter now (and was Retweeted [RT] often by web comic artists who fall under the "Indie Artist" category), see this link for thoughts and links to the original design. It seems Hot Topic did keep to their word and took the work down.

Now, just two days ago I saw this RT from web comic artist Rene Engstrom (of AndersLovesMaria fame - NSFW) saying Hot Topic had ripped off artist Kawaii Not by using her images in two buttons without her permission. Kawaii Not's images are difficult to link to as the buttons were all listed on the same page and hard to find without serious searching, but the images were basically the same as the Hot Topic buttons. The Hot Topic image links are in the RT and it seems, just two days later that Hot Topic has taken these buttons down as well (they are "Error Links").

I bring this up because one of my favorite web comic artists (Jess Fink - def. NSFW) had a design of hers taken about 2 years ago which was already a Threadless shirt at that point. Here's an excellent write up about that issue.

While I seriously should be more angry at the designers (and I am), it is Hot Topic's fault to be selling it. Hot Topic has been very good at taking stuff down when asked, but I can't help but wonder what is or isn't original about the stuff that isn't Twilight, Invader Zim, Lenore or "brand names" any more.

Part 2: Bleach Vs. Incarnate
I'm really not going to go into this one mainly because I have not read Bleach yet and Johanna Draper Carlson (I hope I'm attributing this to the right author) does a beautiful write up at Comics Worth Reading. She's included most of the links I've seen just browsing on this topic and I think it brings up a great point about "scanlations" (scans of titles unreleased in the U.S.A. [usually Japanese Manga] available freely on the Internet that may be in the original language or "fan subbed" [translated into English by fans]). I honestly did not know all of the history about scanlations or how the Japanese felt about plagiarism until I read this article.

Why bring these up? As I write these, I realize they are more relevant plagiarism cases for teens. Here are some great "real world" examples of what happens when you are caught and how fast this stuff moves. Basically, I think lessons like the two above are more likely to stick with students than those of "don't copy an author's work for your paper."

Part 3: Books too!!
Music, movies, TV shows, and other general media aren't the only things getting pirated any more and as librarians we need to be aware of this. Books are going that way too. Laurie Halse Anderson recently posted about "Book Pirates": Part 1 and Part 2. I suspect that the more we see eReaders coming out, the more book pirating will happen. I believe that as librarians, we need to be aware that this exists and try to do our little part in educating users.

SLJ Cover - Yet another voice

So, the library book review blogosphere is buzzing with the controversy over School Library Journal's "November Cover."

For a recap, here's the link...with comments from others.

What are this Little Librarian's thoughts on it? Well, thanks to ReadingRants on Twitter, I knew the photo shoot was 1.) during daylight hours and 2.) no drinking was really occuring. Either way, the choice of a bar for the photo still didn't make sense to me until someone mentioned (in the comments) the quote is a play off of a beer ad. To be frank, that was a creative idea and I really enjoyed the "This Blog's for You!" as a hook to get me to look at the article.The article itself is very well written and I gained a lot of new knowledge and resources in preparing this blog ("graphic novel reviews for librarians by a librarian who loves graphic novels and other stuff").

The photo: Well, I really don't have any thoughts on it. As a 20-something librarian, I am not surprised about the drinking side of things. Librarians drink. Only about 10% of the librarians I know don't drink (me included for personal reasons). Think back to the last conference you attended. Think back to the latest SCHOOL librarian conference you attended. Every social event included some sort of drinking event at least once a day. I met a favorite author at a drinking thing. I ran into my mentors at open bar in the hotel lobby. Both at a school librarian conference. On the other hand, at public librarian conferences it seems expected we drink.

Friends, librarians drink (water, beer, wine, tea, coffee, chocolate milk, etc).

Also, who sees SLJ in your school? If you are good about your mail, it goes in a box and you read it in the office because heaven forbid you should be caught reading it at the desk (this is my opinion - I could be wrong, but that's me). Also, the only people who see this professional title are other teachers and yourself. Students generally don't know it exists. Believe me on this one. Photos don't influence children and teens to drink, people do. Besides, by the time a child is six, they know about bars and drinking. How they understand that is different. In my opinion, the cover is harmless and at first glance, you don't know it's a bar, especially from a distance. Heck, I had to search for the martinis because I didn't realize they were there.

In fact, the children's librairan and myself discussed this cover and we were saying "Who do you think is the more friendly person?"

If you have a problem with the cover, I am going to be blunt: wake up. Realize we are human and realize we drink. Realize that the "tea-drinking" librarian is a stereotype and it's time to move on or you'll be left behind.