Here’s a quick post to share that I had an article published in Booklist‘s third annual Guide to Graphic Novels in Libraries (July 2021). The piece, “Creating a Graphic Nonfiction Collection for Kids,” is mostly aimed at collection development librarians, but there is a small bibliography of recommended titles that could be useful for anyone.

Some background info: I’ve been buying kids comics for my library system since 2018 and, over the years, I started to notice an uptick in the number of informational graphic novels being published. So, I decided to clump all those together in a section so patrons could find them more easily. Like the article states, the collection is pretty small. I look forward to watching it grow in both size and usage as more patrons discover it.

As someone who didn’t read many comics until adulthood and is by no means an expert, I’ve learned so much from reading the other pieces in this guide. If you’re a superhero comics fan or buyer, there are three pieces that work in tandem to offer tips on building better collections. Kristin E. C. Green shares some history and pointers about collecting superhero comics that will help newbies get started. Logan Dalton considers superheroes beyond the Big Two (DC and Marvel). Jack Phoenix gets down to the call numbers and advocates for classifying superhero collections in a way that makes more sense to readers.

The other articles are equally useful. Alex Brown’s “Decolonizing Your Library: Building an Inclusive Graphic Novel Collection and Beyond” should be required reading for all librarians, as the ideas presented can apply to any collection. Melissa Thompson makes a case for resource sharing to increase access to graphic novels amid cost or other barriers. Lastly, Laura Winnick writes about zines and zine fests in school libraries.

You should be able to read the whole issue for free here—at least through the month of July. For more about Graphic Novels in Libraries Month and other related content, check out this post.