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People in Comics Outreach: Karen Green
2008-01-02 15:46:35
Comics for All is back from a holiday-time hiatus. We’ll kick off the New Year with a profile of another person working in the interest of bringing comics and readers together.
Karen Green is the Ancient/Medieval Studies Librarian and Graphic Novel selector for Columbia University’s libraries. I met Karen a few months ago at a Publisher’s Weekly panel about the ways in which comics distribution is evolving. During the Question-and-Answer session, Karen asked the speakers about their thoughts on comics in academic libraries, explaining that she selects the comics for Columbia’s collections, and that their needs are different than those of public libraries.
Karen got my attention because her job involves helping people learn about what comics have to offer… and because I happened to work at Columbia’s library myself back when I was a college student. After the panel, my co-worker introduced Karen and me because of our common interests, and I’ve had the chance to get to know her a bit more since then.
Karen said that she’s been asking around for years about how to help bring comics into academic libraries, and never really got an answer. But when she asked the same thing at November's panel, people started coming out of the woodwork to talk to her about the topic. She also started writing a column at comixology.com.
Karen kindly took the time to answer my usual questions, about how people relate to and acquire comics.
What is your favorite way to get comics?
It used to be to go to a bookstore (I've always bought hardbound titles, never the periodicals). Now I'm too lazy! I'll either buy stuff online or I'll wait to read the copies that I buy for the library. Although, sometimes, when I go to the store we [at the Columbia U. libraries] use as a vendor, I'll find something that appeals to me and buy it right there.
What do you like about your favorite way of getting comics?
It saves time, which I never seem to have enough of.
How do you decide what comics to read?
When I was younger, back in the '80s, I subscribed to Heavy Metal, and it was like a big sampler for me. I'd go out and buy, say, Ranxerox, because I'd really liked the story I'd read there. That's also where I discovered Charles Burns, whom I love. Now, lots of ways.
When I go to Jim Hanley's Universe (our vendor for the library), their staff will suggest things, or something will catch my eye. I've been really, really fortunate here at the library to always have some longtime fanboy around, usually a grad student, who'll tell me, "Oh, you HAVE to read [fill in the blank]!" I also read PW Comics Week religiously, and while I read it primarily for ideas of titles to add to the library's collection, sometimes a review will really speak to me and I'll make sure that I check it out when it arrives.
I also have certain favorites: I'll read anything by Brian K Vaughan, for example, whom I first discovered via Ex Machina, which I wanted to read because it was so NYC-centric. I love stuff that builds on the energy and the craziness of my town.
What (if anything) do you do to get comics to people who will enjoy them?
I'm still working on that! I've had reference consultations for students who are working on comics-themed papers; the person who does triage on consultation requests knows to direct them to me. I love finding material that works with someone's paper topic. I have a subject guide on our library's website:
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/eguides/graphic_novels/index.html ,
but it doesn't do enough. I've tried to use it to make it clear how difficult it can be to locate stuff you don't already know about: we're a research library, not a public library, so we don't have a browseable "GN section."
If anyone has ideas of how to get the word out better, I'd love to hear them! Eventually, when the collection has some real heft, I'd love to start an event series, where well-known local artists/writers come and talk about their work. But that's down the road a piece, I'd say.
What do you think the comics industry should do so that more readers are aware of comics that might interest them?
So many of the reviews I read emphasize what age level the comics reviewed are appropriate for. That's just not a factor in my world! I'd like to see comics and GNs reviewed the way any other book is reviewed: on its literary and/or artistic merit, on what it has to say, on what its themes are. But, hey, that's just me--that's the sort of info *I* want to hear about.
I remember walking the aisles at JHU with one of their staff, and he told me about The Walking Dead. He said, "It's really popular right now, but I don't know if it's appropriate for an academic collection like yours." So I didn't get it. But I kept on hearing good things about it, so I bought myself a copy of the first volume. And my lord it is brilliant. And it addresses themes that aren't so different, say, from Jose Saramago's Blindness--and Saramago's won a Nobel Prize for Literature! So now I've bought the whole series for our collection.
So, for myself, I don't want to know just what age it's best for or even if it's really popular: I want to know how it works as an artistic creation. Maybe that's just me, but I can't believe I'm alone! And I think that sort of reviewing is what will bring more people like me into the fold.
How have comics affected: a) the nature of your job, b) your overall workplace, and c) your relationship with colleagues and patrons?
The first time I went to NY Comic-Con (the first one, in 2006), I came back to the office afterwards and said, "This was definitely the first work-related convention I've been to where there were so many people dressed up as Imperial Stormtroopers." So, the world of comics is definitely a different milieu than the one I'm accustomed to: trust me, it's a lot different than the annual International Medieval Congress, for example. As such, comics have added a new dimension to my job, but I wouldn't say it's changed the nature of my job itself.
I bring to collecting GNs for the library the same passion I bring to collecting, say, medieval hagiography (that was my area of study in grad school). And I haven't had the chance to change the workplace much--although if I ever get that lecture series started, that may change!
I think there has been a change in my relationship with my colleagues: it's been interesting to see who has been an avid supporter of this new collecting area, who has been an amused onlooker, and who has been aghast. Believe me: comics have not yet reached a level of real acceptance in academia! They're starting to lose their pariah status, but they are not embraced. Scholars are only just starting to see the larger issues that studying comics can afford. Just as film studies took a while--or media studies, or women's studies, or queer studies--this will take a while. So it was good that I already had some stature as a Classics and History librarian; I was able to bring that professional cred to my desire to be the GN librarian as well.
As to how it's changed my relationship to patrons; I think it's too early to identify any large trends. But it's nice to have people who come and talk to me about the collection. It puts a different face on the library as a whole for them. After my first Comixology column appeared, I got a terrific email from a student who thanked me for providing a collection of material he could read when he wanted to take a break from studying--but which he could also use for course papers.
The thing is, all of us who buy materials for the library in various subject areas count on our student and faculty community to bring titles to our attention that we might miss through our usual channels. But for the people who bring comics titles to my attention, who make purchasing recommendations of titles that have had meaning to them, it brings them a certain feeling of validation. Not that the industry needs that, but it sure doesn't hurt. So in a way it tightens the bond between the library and its patrons, and I think that that's only good!
Comics
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Posted by King Calum on 2008-01-06 10:51:22
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About this blog:
A guide to Marvel’s comic offerings for librarians, parents and teachers.
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Nicole Boose is an Associate Editor at Marvel Comics, working on various titles including the Marvel Illustrated classics. She oversees the comics in Marvel’s custom publishing program.
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