Saving money and boosting circulation

With budget cuts threatening libraries across the country, children's librarians have joined in the search for inexpensive, popular materials that will satisfy the rising number of library users. Many of them have found that graphic novels and comic books are a great way to provide materials for kids without breaking the budget. At New York's Comic Com this month, librarians clustered around the ALA booth to learn more about this format and to share news on their push to get a comic book interest group established within ALA. An article in SLJ reports on a number of librarians who have found that comics circulate more heavily than many other materials. They offer suggestions about how to help them circulate even more by, for example, shelving DVDs next to the print version of stories. The downside of comics is that they also tend to raise more complaints than more conventional materials. The surprise is that many of the complaints come from library staff rather than from the public. Perhaps its time to do more continuing education about graphic formats, how they work and what the conventions are. We know that kids love the format--it's time for adults to catch up and discover the roots of the appeal. We may not become great fans, but at least the effort will bring us closer to our patrons.