Two Part Guide to Collecting Graphic Novels and Comics by Kelsey Bogan

When I was in charge of an Adult and YA collection, figuring out Comics and Graphic Novel collection development and shelving them for the easiest discovery by patrons was among my most difficult tasks. My library was more forward thinking than most at the time, and I had many people reach out or visit to see how we were doing things. We were collecting for all ages in this format and shelving based on browsing, not cataloging rules. It was always a trial and error situation and we made changes both to what we were collecting and how we were displaying it for patrons frequently over my 15 years.

High School Librarian and well known presenter and blogger, Kelsey Bogan, faced similar problems in an time and environment where her having a robust collection of the format was imperative, and she worked with experts to not only figure it all out, but published it for the benefit of the rest of us.

Please note, while this is specifically written from a High School Librarian perceptive it is extremely useful for all ages of collection development for Graphic Novels and Comics. I hope you not only read these two posts but that you also save them to refer to in the future. I hope you learn from Bogan's research and use her experience to improve your collections and service to readers in the Graphic Novel and Comics formats.

You can click on the images from Bogan's blog below, or here for Part 1 and here for Part 2.

Thank you to Bogan for giving me permission to link her work here on my blog I am very grateful as it is extremely useful. While I want you to click through and read the content from her site, I would like to include Bogan's formal thank you to those who helped her here. From Part 2:

"Massive thanks to the following librarians for their copious and gracious help: Matthew Murray, Alex Brown, Philip Krogmeier, and Matthew Noe. They were invaluable to my learning in this new-to-me book format, answering my many questions, ponderings, and brainstorming, and sharing their expertise, knowledge, and experience with a generosity of spirit that awes me."

Use the links above or click on the images below for this excellent Graphic Novel and Comics Collection Development resource.

Click here to read part 1

Click here to read Part 2