ALA Great Graphic Novels for Teens nominations and another questionnaire

It has just been brought to my attention that the ALA nominations for their list of Great Graphic Novels for Teens has been posted for 2010. This list seems to be a lot longer their their previous ones, which gives librarians a lot of titles to choose from. I was excited to see a longer list of titles in the nonfiction section with a variety of intriguing topics. R. Crumb's adaptation of Genesis has been included on the list, as well as Michael Keller and Nicolle Rager Fuller's adaptation of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species. The main theme for the nonfiction titles seems to be war though, which makes sense because we are fighting in a war at this moment in time.
On the fiction list, I found a lot of manga titles. I also found Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell's Sandman: Dream Hunters listed, which I think shows that when selecting a title to put in the library that the title should be thoroughly researched before placement. A librarian would not want to place Sandman in an area of younger teens because it is intended for mature audiences. I do not reconize most of the nominations that ALA has listed, but I have picked out Nate Powell's Swallow Me Whole to read and review for this blog.

I have another questionnaire that was answered by Sarah Cody of the Bedford Public Library and is the reference assistant there. She writes:
Brittany,
I'd be happy to help. I make selections for the adult graphic novel collection in my library, so I do not specifically deal with YA titles. However, a large portion of my collection circulation comes from our young adult borrowers. I think this is, in part, due to the fact that our adult collection is cataloged separately from our general collection and stands in its own special location. The few titles in our CYA department are intermixed with the 741.5 non-fiction materials, so they are harder to separate.
To answer your questions:

1) How large is your library?
We have 20,179 borrowers, and are considered a mid-size library.

2) How many graphic novels do you have in collection?
805 in our adult collection

How many of those are manga?
323 manga

3) Do they circulate well among the YAs?
Yes, very well. I don't have any statistics on it, but I can say that the majority of my purchase requests come from YA range 15+.

4) Do you receive any input from YAs concerning graphic novels?
Yes. We do accept purchase requests and gently used donations, so our readers know they can have a say in collection development. I have a couple of kids who make sure I know when new things are coming out.

5) Why do you think some libraries are reluctant to purchase graphic novels?
I think there is still some stigma out there of comics being for children, and not a serious medium. Particularly for an adult collection, it is hard for some individuals to see it as anything but child's amusement. Even with the distinction between adult and juvenile material, they find the visual content questionable and shocking.

6) Do you believe graphic novels are sincere forms of literature?
Yes. I only need to look at titles like "Maus," "Persepolis," "Pride of Baghdad," and "WE3" to see extremely well-written books that have great social import. Some of the art from these books is amazing! Look at Alex Ross..

7) Do the higher prices of graphic novels a major deciding factor when purchasing titles for your collection?
Not to say that I don't look at prices, especially in today's economic climate, but they are not the largest deciding factor. Although, logically, I'm not going to purchase a $99 Absolute Sandman collector's edition either! The major deciding factor for me is the question "Is there interest?" If there is interest, it deserves consideration as per our collection development policy.

8) Where are your graphic novels located? Are they in the general collection or in a spot of their own?
Our adult collection has its own collection "GRA" designation, and stands alone in a shelving unit in our reading room. We have a nearby sofa that our patrons like to use when browsing.

The CYA collection keeps its selections intermixed as regular non-fiction in the 741.5 area.

9) Are there any graphic novel titles are are currently very popular among YAs?
My teen borrowers tend to like manga titles more than traditional graphic novels. Popular titles are: Vampire Knight, Bleach, Parasyte, Fruits Basket, Naruto, Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, Rave Master, Alive: The Final Evolution, and MARS (Fuyumi Soryo)
Cody, Sarah. "Re: [GNLIB-L] Seeking help for a young adult literature class." Email to Brittany Makufka. 23 Oct. 2009.

I see here again with Sarah's library that manga is very popular among young adults, even over traditional graphic novels. I have not read much manga, but I have read Bleach, Dragon Ball, and Dragon Ball Z. I think manga may be more popular because it is so closely tied to it's television counterpart - anime.
I like that, when talking about price, the thought of patron interest is more important than price. Graphic novels get pricey, especially the volumes of manga that come out monthly at about $10 a volume. But it makes sense that price wouln't be a problem if you have enough people who want to read it, but therein lies another problem. If a librarian wants to introduce a new title or series into the collection, they have to take a chance by purchasing that title. This is where donations come in nicely.
I am also glad to see more librarians seeing graphic novels as real literature. Prior to doing this project, I thought that most librarians held the thought that graphic novels are "fluff" but am now finding out that I was wrong. I was also interested in her comment that she thinks some people find the visual content shocking. This makes sense because graphic novels must tell their story visually, so some plot elements, violence for example, have to be seen to understood. To some people actually seeing the offending elements is more disturbing than visualizing them through reading text. But since this is personal taste, I don't think that graphic novels should be censored from libraries. Because, in all technicality, public libraries should not be censoring. As is a reoccurring theme in this blog - I think people's minds need to be changed about graphic novels. And as a librarian, the best of these materials should be made available to them to explore.