Comics Librarianship

We started ALIA Graphic Novels and Comics in February 2020. The first episode of our podcast was published in March 2020 as the world prepared to go into lockdown and it's been a whirlwind ever since. As I was editing and preparing to publish the 100th episode of the ALIA Graphic Podcast (it will be out Monday or Tuesday and it's a little celebration - make sure you listen), I saw a bunch of really exciting news that show how much comics librarianship has grown and how its influence is expanding. So I couldn't help and reflect on where we are with comics librarianship. 

Comics librarianship was virtually non existent twenty years ago but things have changed drastically. There were a few turning points and I won't go through all of them but the creation of the American Library Association's Graphic Novels and Comics Roundtable(GNCRT) was, I'd say, the most significant of all. It was first informally formed as a Facebook group but then, with enthusiastic member support, the group became an official roundtable at the 2018 ALA Annual Conference.

Ever since, the GNCRT has achieved a great amount. Just to cite a few, they launched the yearly Best Graphic Novels for Adults and Best Graphic Novels for Children lists. They didn't create one for young adults as YALSA has been doing this for years already. They published a large number of webinars, established a committee to address comic book bans and challenges, they collaborate with the Eisner Awards for the Eisner Graphic Novel Grants for Libraries and they also offer librarian conference travel grant for comics librarians to attend the ALA Annual Conference. If that wasn't enough, the GNCRT has established a relationship with various comic cons and had a presence in them from speaking at panels, to ask a comics librarian sessions and comics themed story times. The San Diego Comic Con has also hosted the Comic Con Conference for Librarians and Educators since 2018.

Just today, I have seen that Matt Noe, one of the greatest ambassadors of graphic medicine in the world and past president of the GNCRT has presented in a couple of panels at New York Comic Con, including one moderated by Amie Wright, who was the first elected president of the GNCRT when it was formed. Also, just today, she has been announced as the new Executive Director of the renown Toronto Comics Arts Festival. Which really seems like the perfect excuse for me to finally go to Canada. Something I've been meaning to do for decades.

All that put together is quite astounding. Best of all the GNCRT has inspired the Australian Library and Information Association's Graphic Novels and Comics special interest group, which formed in February 2020 after my presentation at the New Librarian's Symposium 9 in Adelaide. While our achievements are not as big as the GNCRT's, we have been active. Our website, YouTube channel and podcast feed showcase a lot of what we have achieved.

We've been publishing monthly roundups of news, resources, webinars and new titles published since March 2020. This takes an enormous amount of time to compile but we feel it's important to share everything we have gathered, not just among the committee but with everyone and anyone interested. We have also made a special effort to interview as many Australian comics creators as possible. Our creator chats focus on Australian creators discussing what they love about comics, how they fell in love with the medium and, of course, their comics and graphic novels. A lot of them are on our YouTube channel and all of them are on our podcast feed (because some of them are camera shy and that's totally fair). We never could've imagined but we are about to publish the 100th episode of our podcast.

We have also created the yearly ALIA Graphic Notables celebrating the best graphic novels by Australian creators in any given year. The ALIA Graphic Notables list was first published in 2021 celebrating the best of 2020 and, I must admit, it was done in a very haphazard, improvised way. The response and feedback from comics creators and librarians has been really positive and we've been getting better at organising them. The 2024 ALIA Graphic Notables will be announced in the first half of 2025 and the committee is planning to make it better than ever. In fact, if you're reading this and work in a library as a librarian, or library officer, or you're an information management student you can apply to be in the judging panel right now. Just fill in this online form.

We have also collaborated with other organisations. We've participated on GNCRT webinars a couple of times, I spoke at a panel at the Perth Comics Arts Festival last year and we have collaborated with the Comic Arts Awards of Australia facilitating a comics librarian to be in the judging panel for the last three years.

Next year, the Perth Comics Arts Festival will see the biggest presence of the ALIA Graphic group yet. I can't reveal much yet, it's early days, but the ALIA Graphic Committee has received an invitation from the festival and we plan to be there both for the Academy Day and tabling at the Market Day.

All this just to say, there's something in the air. Comics librarianship is real, it's active, it's growing and it's here to stay. There's no turning back and I can't wait to see it continuing to develop.