Article

 

A Survey of Graphic Novel Collection and Use in American Public Libraries

 

Edward Francis Schneider

Assistant Professor

University of South Florida, School of Information

Tampa, Florida, United States of America

Email: efschneider@usf.edu

 

Received: 27 Dec. 2013   Accepted: 16 July 2014

 

 

cc-ca_logo_xl 2014 Schneider. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons‐Attribution‐Noncommercial‐Share Alike License 4.0 International (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly attributed, not used for commercial purposes, and, if transformed, the resulting work is redistributed under the same or similar license to this one.

 

Abstract

 

Objective – The objective of this study was to survey American public libraries about their collection and use of graphic novels and compare their use to similar data collected about video games.

 

Methods – Public libraries were identified and contacted electronically for participation through an open US government database of public library systems. The libraries contacted were asked to participate voluntarily.

 

Results – The results indicated that both graphic novels and video games have become a common part of library collections, and both media can have high levels of impact on circulation. Results indicated that while almost all libraries surveyed had some graphic novels in their collections, those serving larger populations were much more likely to use graphic novels in patron outreach. Similarly, video game collection was also more commonly found in libraries serving larger populations. Results also showed that young readers were the primary users of graphic novels.

 

Conclusion – Responses provided a clear indicator that graphic novels are a near-ubiquitous part of public libraries today. The results on readership bolster the concept of graphic novels as a gateway to adult literacy. The results also highlight differences between larger and smaller libraries in terms of resource allocations towards new media. The patron demographics associated with comics show that library cooperation could be a potential marketing tool for comic book companies.

 

Introduction

 

The inclusion of graphic novels and video games in libraries is not a new phenomenon. By 1934, issues of Max Gaines’ Funnies on Parade and Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics found their way onto library shelves across America, and by 1982, video games had done the same (Holston, 2010, p.10; Emmens, 1982). As the 80th anniversary of the publication of the first comic book nears, arguments for and against their presence in libraries have stayed fairly consistent throughout. Discussion about comic books and video games being collected by libraries primarily revolves around the value for patrons, allocation of resources, and organization. To this day, patrons can find librarians on both sides of the divide when it comes to whether graphic novels and video games belong in collections.

 

Comic books and graphic novels present interesting questions for librarians. Most comic books are published in a format that resembles a periodical, but graphic novels more closely resemble novels. For example, the bound version of Watchmen by Moore, Gibbons & Higgins (1986) was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels published since 1923 (Grossman & Lacayo, 2010), but Watchmen was originally published as a series of monthly comics. Besides the periodical/novel question, some popular cataloguing systems lump all comic books together based on format rather than publisher or creator. There is plenty of evidence that comic books are in libraries in various forms, from studies on academic library collection strength, to books advising how to collect and use comics in libraries. Information on how libraries use and archive comics and graphic novels, as well as their impact on library patrons is less readily available.

 

This study investigated how American public libraries archive and use comic books and graphic novels, and asked librarians across the United States about the role of these materials in their systems. As a point of comparison, the professional librarians who participated in this survey were also asked similar questions about the use, archiving, and role, of video games. Both comic books and video games are newer media forms, have unique cataloguing issues, and have some history of being frowned upon by parents and educators. The intent of this study was to: a) create a portrait of how comic books and graphic novels are being used by working librarians today; and b) compare the status of comic books and graphic novels within libraries to the status of video games, as a historical benchmark of new media form adoption.

 

Literature Review

 

One of the earliest and most consistent arguments concerning the collection of comic books and graphic novels is their legitimacy. Nyberg (2009) notes that upon discovering comic books in the 1930s, many librarians launched “a crusade to turn young readers from the lurid ‘funny’ books to more wholesome fare”, and they were seen as a “problematic form of juvenile sub-literature” (p. 26-27). This was despite the fact that many early comic books, such as those by Max Gaines, were collections of strip comics that had previously run in daily American newspapers with little surrounding controversy.  It was these comics being printed for the first time in the format commonly thought of as a comic book that brought criticism. In his 1998 paper, A Practicing Comic Book Librarian Surveys His Collection and His Craft, Randall Scott, a comic art specialist at Michigan State University, indicates that even academic libraries that now emphasize comic book collection had collections influenced by anti-comics sentiment only a few decades prior. While there was some early opposition to libraries collecting comics, there is also some history of librarians defending comic book collection against concerned patrons. A survey of patron challenges to materials in Massachusetts turned up documents from 1948 detailing a librarian’s defence of her library’s comic book collection against a Catholic nun requesting the collection’s removal (Musgrave, 2013).

 

Many of the reasons presented to support arguments against the inclusion of comics within a library collection seemed reasonable at the time. Firstly, the format of combining illustrations with written words was associated too closely with children’s picture books, leading many to believe that readers of comics were not really reading. Secondly, many felt that the violence and sexuality depicted in some comics would threaten the morals and decency of young readers. In the early 1950s, psychiatrists such as Dr. Fredric Wertham joined the debate, arguing that “reading such fare did psychological damage to children” (Nyberg, 2009, p. 27). Wertham’s work was used as the basis for the Comics Code Authority, an industry-imposed set of comic decency standards (Nyberg, 2009). The third argument against legitimacy has been that the “genre” of comics and graphic novels does not hold up as true forms of literature, particularly when compared to the classics. To this day, “because the words ‘comic’ or ‘graphic novels’ still have the stigma of being hack literature many librarians consider this type of reading material to be inappropriate for the library and resist its acceptance” (Sheppard, 2007, p.12).

 

Similar statements have been made regarding the appropriateness of including video games in library collections. US Surgeon General C. Everett Koop (1982) expressed serious concerns about the impact of video games on children’s mental and physical health. Comic books have also been treated as a public health menace; they were the subject of a 1948 symposium at the New York Academy of Medicine titled, “The Psychopathology of Comic Books” (Thrasher, 1949). More current books such as Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action Against TV, Movie, & Video Game Violence (Grossman & DeGaetano, 2007) represent common concerns about video games causing delinquent behaviour. The concerns about video games often resemble the concerns about comic books in the 1950s. For example, there are many parallels between Grossman and DeGaetano’s anti-video game book and Dr. Frederic Wertham’s famous anti-comics book Seduction of the Innocent: The influence of comic books on today’s youth (1954).  Both feature lurid chapter titles, and both present context-free examples that attempt link increases in real world violence to the emergence of the new media.

 

In the 2011 Supreme Court case, Brown v. EMA (2011), the State of California claimed that “[v]ideo games present special problems because they are ‘interactive’, in that the player participates in the violent action onscreen and determines outcome” (p. 9). Judge Posner states in the courts opinion:

 

“All literature is interactive. The better it is, the more interactive. Literature when it is successful draws the reader into the story, makes him identify with the characters, invites him to judge them and quarrel with them, or experience their joys and sufferings as the readers own.” (Brown v EMA, 2011, p. 11)

 

Justice Scalia pointed out that this is not the first time this kind of argument has been made, noting, “…past confusion and alarm about possible harm to minors by penny dreadfuls (lurid novels), movies, and comic books” (Brown v. EMA, 2011, p. 11).

 

In the last few decades, artists and authors of graphic novels have begun tackling more serious concepts “…such as homosexuality, racism, and AIDS” (Sheppard, 2007, p. 13). Prime examples are Art Spielgman’s Maus: A Survivors Tale, Craig Thompson’s Blankets, and Marjane Satropis’s Persepolis. Reading comics is a complex task of decoding information and making “…relevant social, linguistic, and cultural conventions” (Tilley, 2008, p. 23). Research has shown that graphic novels not only help bridge the gap for reluctant readers, but are “linguistically equal to other works of literature” (Sheppard, 2007, p. 13). Beyond comprehension of the text at hand, graphic novels can help readers “…decode mood, tone... facial and body expressions, the symbolic meanings of certain images and postures, metaphors and similes, and other social and literary nuances” (Sheppard, 2007, p. 13). Video games, like graphic novels, range in depth and sophistication. Games such as September 12th and Beyond Good and Evil are discussed in Buchanan and Vanden Elzen’s (2012) “Beyond a fad: Why video games should be part of 21st century libraries”. These games allow users to explore, through a combination of story, visuals, and interactions, relevant, provocative topics such as “…patriotism, paranoia, and the role of dissent in a democracy” (Buchanan & Elzen, 2012, p. 18). Some games such as Alice: The Madness Returns and Batman: Arkham Asylum are based on books and graphic novels, while some games inspire fiction of their own, such as Resident Evil and Halo. In a recent article, Levine (2009) cites Kutner and Olson, stating not only that direct links between real world violence and video games have been debunked repeatedly, but that “…games actually help children learn valuable skills such as collaboration, problem-solving, teamwork, and coping with negative emotions” (p. 34).

 

As video games become more prominent, some librarians question what role they have in the library and how the library’s duties to the public are affected. In a chapter written for the 2008 Journal of Access Services, the author dismissed library efforts that included video games and likened them to prostitution of the library (Annoyed Librarian, 2008, p. 620-621). The author considers adding video games to collections as a ploy to increase circulation numbers. But in that same year, the President of the American Library Association spoke positively of gaming as an social and educational good, and the conclusion of a 2009 American Library Association journal wrote that “…gaming is just one more way libraries can continue to offer a mix of recreation, social, and communal activities in a safe, non-commercial space” (Levine, 2009, p. 35).

 

For libraries that include graphic novels and video games in their collections, a number of issues arise, including cost, as well as where and how materials should be shelved and catalogued. Widespread economic issues have impacted libraries, which have led to concerns about collection development funds being used for video games and graphic novels. MacDonald (2013) cites research done by Zabriskie in her recent article, “How graphic novels became the hottest section in the library”, regarding the cost per circulation when compared with other popular titles including Harry Potter, Twilight, and GED guides. Zabriskie found that graphic novels had higher circulation rates but were also 10 cents less per circulation, making them considerably more cost-efficient (MacDonald, 2013, p. 22). Online services, like Comics Plus: Library Edition and Comixology, allow libraries to utilize an even more cost-effective model for serving materials to patrons (MacDonald, 2013, p. 25).

 

These services can also assist with the other major concern regarding archiving of these materials, finding space in already crowded library stacks. Hartman (2010) describes the challenge with comic books as an intersection of limited resources, limited shelving space and growing patron demand. The Library of Congress and Dewey systems do little to help librarians in this matter, clumping all of these materials into the same call numbers regardless of topic. For graphic novels, Dewey uses 741.5 while Library of Congress splits them between PS and NC. Video games find themselves clumped either in GV1469 for Library of Congress or in the 794s for Dewey. “Steve Raiteri noted that graphic novels should be treated like any other material, taking into account content and intended audience” (Nyberg, 2009, p. 37). One of the first things that becomes a problem for graphic novels is the assumption that it is a genre rather than a format. Once that is sorted out librarians must determine whether they should be integrated with the topics they cover or grouped together. Hartman’s opinion and experience at the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library in Ohio is that patrons prefer not to search through the catalogue and then the general collection to find what they are looking for. They prefer to browse the graphic novel section to see what was new and would interest them (Hartman, 2010, p. 59). Additionally, librarians must determine if they separate collections by age ranges. Collections are commonly split between juvenile, young adult, and adult. These can be good for general guidelines but many items blur the line between young adult and adult content. For the Cleveland Public Library, materials are not only in the central library but also in literature and young adult sections. While this may increase visibility it may also mean that users have to find their way to multiple areas of the library to find what they want (Pyles, 2012, p. 34). Secondly, with the mixture of series and single volumes, individual titles may get lost in the shelves. To resolve this, some libraries choose to separate series and single volume items. This allows for individual titles to not become lost between larger series that sometimes have thirty or more volumes (Segraves, 2010, p. 70).

 

Many librarians, even those who did not grow up with graphic novels and video games, are “willing to concede legitimacy” due to explosive circulation stats and maturing content (Hartman, 2010, p. 59). As these materials become more prevalent, librarians should focus on improving formal classifications systems that allow for better access and organization, programming, and collection development

policies that allow librarians to keep collections relevant and enticing to patrons.

 

A librarian looking to begin or expand their library’s collection in graphic novels has a wide range of potential resources. Information can be found in books like Serchay’s The Librarian’s Guide to Graphic Novels for Adults (2010) and Graphic Novels Now: Building Managing, and Marketing a Dynamic Collection (Goldsmith, 2005). There are also a host of articles for librarians who serve different audiences. For example, school librarians can access the articles, “Graphic novels and school libraries” (Rudiger & Schliesman, 2007) and “Graphic novels in libraries: Supporting teacher education and librarianship programs” (Williams & Peterson, 2009) for reference. Collections specialists could read the article, “Comic books and graphic novels for libraries: What to buy” (Lavin, 1998) and academic librarians could begin with “Graphic novels in academic libraries: From Maus to manga and beyond” (O’English, Matthews, & Lindsay, 2006).

 

Although there is a considerable amount of literature for librarians looking for practical guidance in collecting comic books, there is not as much information on the overall adoption rate of comic books by public libraries. The most recent account on the adoption of comics in libraries comes from a survey of librarians done by the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom in 2005. However, it is not a detailed account or analysis of comics and graphic novels in libraries. The results were disclosed in a press release titled, Graphic Novels: Suggestions for Librarians (2006). Of 185 public library employees surveyed, 97% indicated comics or graphic novels were in their libraries. However, no information on the author or methodology behind the study was included. Only the number of participants and three resulting statistics were included. Efforts to find more details behind the study were unsuccessful.

 

Other researchers have assessed library collection of comic books by measuring the adoption rate of historically important titles. In a study surveying the holdings of all academic members of the Association of Research Libraries (Werthmann, 2010), it was discovered that a wide discrepancy exists regarding the amount of graphic novels collected. Werthmann based his investigation on a list of 77 comic books that are highly regarded by critics, and then investigated which libraries had them as part of their collections. He discovered that most libraries had some graphic novels, but the amount collected generally correlated with the size of their collection, and some of the libraries surveyed had none of the titles on the list.

 

Research Goals & Objectives:

 

Comic books and video games represent two different generations of new media forms entering libraries. The primary goal of this research study was to assess the collection, use, and impact of comic books and graphic novels in libraries. The secondary goal was to study the role of video games in libraries as a point of comparison for the role of comics in the library, as both media forms have a similar media history. The central objectives of this research were:

 

 

Methodology

 

The first step was the development of a survey instrument based on research goals. Input from public library employees was used to frame the questions in the working context of a public library system. The survey instrument was hosted publicly on Google Drive, and was tested by a small number of pre-service librarians in a graduate MLIS program. The responses to the survey were automatically collected into a database also hosted on Google Drive.

 

Once the survey was constructed and tested, a list of public libraries was obtained. A list of over 9,000 American public libraries and library systems was retrieved from the US government data clearinghouse (Institute of Library and Museum Services, 2011).  Four hundred and fifty libraries were selected at random. The government database contains the web address of each library, and the individual websites of the selected libraries were used to identify the collections specialist for each library. The request to participate in the study was then sent by email to the collections specialist. If no collections specialist or person with a similar role was identifiable, the request was sent to the e-mail listed for general inquiries. Somewhat similar research has used Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to force libraries into participating in a study on patron challenges (Musgrave, 2013). In this case it was decided not to use the leverage of FOIA requests to ensure a completely voluntary participation.

 

The requests to participate included an explanation of the purposes of the research and a link to the survey instrument. Appeals for participation were also made over public librarian-related social media. To ensure the participants were from public libraries and had roles within libraries that gave them enough perspective to answer our survey, participants were asked for their position title and what kind of library they serve. Survey participants were also told that they could receive a copy of the final outcome of the survey if they included their e-mail address, and 85.8% of participants gave their address. The targeted nature of the appeals for participation and the specific nature of the professional questions were intended to help to ensure an appropriate sample. Results from participants who did not indicate they worked in a public library or did not provide any professional details were removed. The survey was kept online for two months from the time of the last request for participation.

 

Results

 

At the end of the surveying period, the final data included responses from 106 participants. Participants represented 31 states, and had an average library service population of 121,792 users. Participants included libraries that serve populations as small as 600 users, and as large as 3 million users; the median size was 16,000 users. Of the 106 participants, 104 indicated they had comics or graphic novels in their collections and only two indicated they did not. These results closely mirrored the results of the ALA/Comic Book Legal Defense Fund study from seven years earlier (National Coalition Against Censorship, 2006). This survey showed
98.1% of respondents had comic books, the earlier ALA/Comic Book Legal Defense Fund study (2006) found 96.7% did; statistically, this is not considered an increase.

 

The most apparent factor in motivating libraries to add graphic novels was user demand. Participants were asked in a free-writing format why their library began adding graphic novels to the collection, and 66.9% of libraries with comics indicated patron demand as the primary motivating factor. Twelve participants (11.6%) indicated that collections were started by library staff with an interest in comics, and nine participants (8.7%) stated that their libraries purchased comics in an attempt to encourage patronage. 

 

Participants were presented with age brackets of patrons, and asked which groups most commonly use comics and graphic novels. As seen in Figure 1, the most commonly indicated user for library comics and graphic novels was between the ages of 12 and 15 (making up 23% of graphic novel circulation), closely followed by users aged 10 to 12 (16%) and 15 to 18 (15%). Overall, 52% of graphic novel circulation could be attributed to people 18 years of age and younger.

 

Figure 1

Percentage of graphic novel collection circulation by patron age group.

 

 

The results indicated that 29 out of 106 (27.4%) libraries participating had clubs or events relating to comics. Out of the 29 libraries with comic-themed clubs or events, 6 libraries had both clubs and events, 9 libraries had a comic book/manga related club but no events, and 14 only had events related to comics. This activity seemed to favor larger libraries, as the average constituent population size of the libraries that had comic book activities (195,811) was more than double that of the libraries that did not host comics-related activities (95,793).

 

Participants were also asked questions about collecting console video games within their respective libraries. While not as prevalent as comic books and graphic novels, this study found a number of public libraries stocking console video games. Forty-eight out of 106 respondents (45.3%) indicated that they had console games in their library’s collections. Games for Nintendo’s Wii system were the most common, but games for Nintendo DS, Microsoft Xbox and other systems were found. Collecting console video games seemed to be more common in larger libraries, as the average service population size of the libraries with games was over three times larger (186,112) than the libraries with no games (53,521). Interestingly, only a low positive correlation was found between collecting video games and having comic related clubs and events (Pearson’s r = 0.164). Participants were asked to rate the popularity of their graphic novel and video game holdings with users, on a scale of one to five. Comic books were indicated as being more popular (μ = 3.81) than video games (μ = 3.31).

 

As mentioned, there has been discussion amongst librarians around the world about the classification of graphic novels and comic books (Masuda, 1989). Survey participants were asked where the comic books and graphic novels were shelved in their library.

 

 

While the results showed that only 14.5% of public libraries put all their graphic novels and comic books into a separate section, a portion of the librarians who indicated they kept these materials in multiple sections also indicated that they had a featured area for these materials. Overall, 23.3% of responding libraries indicated that there was a part of their shelving that included an area exclusively dedicated to comic books and graphic novels.

 

Pro-comics and graphic novel material for librarians often contains advice for working with comic books as a potentially problematic material. Of the 106 respondents, 6 indicated that they had policies for restricting materials based on age, in response to parental request, in their libraries, and none of these policies had anything particularly to do with comics or graphic novels.

 

Summarizing the results in the context of the research goals and objectives provides a portrait of activity that could potentially be useful for both librarians and researchers. The results:

 

 

Discussion

 

The first comic book debuted in 1934 (Nyberg, 2009), and the first commercial video game, in 1971 (Emmens, 1982). Thus, at the time of this writing, comic books are approximately 80 years old, and video games are just over 40 years old. The results of this study show that comic books and graphic novels have become a part of library culture, and video games are on their way to doing the same.

 

Future research could involve performing database searches to learn more about the small percentage of libraries that do not collect comic books or graphic novels. Werthmann (2010) found that, although rare, there recently were academic research institutions with virtually no comic books in their libraries. There is the possibility of more public libraries with no comic books or graphic novels than identified in this study. Libraries with limited resources may have been less inclined to participate in our survey, although our results are in line with previous ALA sponsored research.

 

A potential next step would be to look at the details of collection. For example, comic books can be subscribed to as periodicals or collected as bound volumes. It is not known if libraries collect periodical comics, and if these are handled differently. Comic books from Japan, known as Manga, are popular in the comic book genre. It would be interesting to know what percentage of libraries’ collections nationwide are dedicated to Japanese comic books, as a measure of globalization of culture. This study found that libraries collecting console video games was fairly common, but we did not ask if the libraries also carried and checked out the systems needed to play these games. Now that library collection of comic books and video games has been established, more details on the decisions surrounding that collection are warranted. This study relied on voluntary participation; it only asked library staff to give broad numerical estimates on the ages of people who check out comic books and their popularity in circulation. Asking a staff member what percentage of their comics are Japanese in origin or what video game console is checked out the most would be better served by a separate study where libraries’ collection databases are accessed directly.

 

It is currently a tough climate for many public libraries; over 40% of states handed budget cuts to public library systems in the last three years, and 45% of public libraries state that they still don’t have sufficient internet speeds (ALA, 2012). On the surface, it might seem somewhat intuitive that larger libraries would be more likely to collect video games due to larger operating budgets. However, in reality, the retail price of video games tends to be between $20 USD and $60 USD, meaning that they are not tremendously more expensive than books. Anecdotally, the two libraries that stated they did not have comics and graphic novels in their collections each indicated an average service population size of under 5,000 users. The total service population of the combined libraries of survey respondents was over 11.9 million.  While the results showed that over 98% of library systems surveyed had comics, the percentage of the American population that has a local library with comic books or graphic novels could certainly be higher.

 

The results could potentially be interesting to literacy specialists, as more than half of comic book and graphic novel checkouts are to people under 18 years of age, and these are generally considered difficult years for male students and reading (Young & Brozo, 2001). The results are also potentially interesting on a commerce level, as the survey results showed that the demographics of people who check out comics from the library are substantially different from recent research on the demographics of the people who purchase comics. DC Comics recently paired with Nielsen to do a demographic analysis of comic book readers in coordination with the launch of their comic book line titled The New 52 (DCE Editorial, 2011). The results showed that less than 2% of their sales were to people under 18 years of age. In the same study, DC found that half of their readers were 35 years of age and older, and that their most active demographic is aged 25-35 years. Comic book companies should understand that these results indicate that comic books in the library are not a threat to sales from comic book stores. Further research could specifically investigate if there is a link between library behaviours and comic purchasing behaviours.

 

Conclusion

 

The clear takeaway from this study is that comic books have become an ingrained part of public library holdings in the United States. While it is not impossible to find a library with no comic books or graphic novels, this is now the second study to show that upwards of 97% of public libraries have them in their collections. Video games, being approximately half the age of comic books, are still only found in less than half of libraries, showing that they are far from being fully embraced by libraries as a whole. The results also show that larger libraries are using graphic novels and comics for community engagement with a far greater frequency than smaller libraries. The collection discrepancy is even wider in the adoption of video games.

 

A public librarian considering resource allocation can be assured that collecting comics and graphic novels is a widespread library phenomenon, and that their collection can promote young adult circulation. Publishers of comic books can also use the results of this study to understand that libraries collecting comics is a potential pathway to comic book sales later in life. While the differences between large libraries and small libraries in the collection and use of graphic novels and video games might seem troubling on the surface, overall trends show an American Public Library system that is adapting to changes in patron demand and changes in the overall media landscape.

 

 

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