We have tentatively decided to keep graphic novels in 741.5 and its subdivisions, where we have been classing them with cartoons, caricatures, and comics. Our proposal is to improve the development at 741.5 rather than to relocate graphic novels to another set of numbers. First, the DDC puts works that combine graphic arts and literature in the 700s with the arts, not in the 800s with literature; hence graphic novels belong somewhere in the DDC 700s, not with strictly textual novels in the 800s. Second, graphic novels share so many characteristics with comic books and collections of comic strips that separating graphic novels would be difficult for classifiers to do consistently. We also believe it would not be helpful for most end users. Many discussions of graphic novels, even though they may acknowledge a narrow definition of the term, go on to use a broad definition that includes not only stand-alone stories in comics form published as books but also collections of stories initially published serially in comic books and collections of newspaper comic strips reprinted in book form. We have tentatively decided to treat everything from single-frame caricatures to three-frame newspaper comic strips to comic books to graphic novels all in the same way. Although this is a broad range of material, we have found no good places to break the continuum so as to separate the material usefully into different categories. We propose to change the notes and captions at 741.5 and its subdivisions to make clear that all these kinds of materials are being treated the same way.

A lot of librarians hate that approach. One blogged about it:

Here’s what bugs you about us librarians: we might all agree to call Garfield a comic, but we librarians do love to call everything else a graphic novel. Even if it is not a novel. Laika, about the Soviet dog in space? We call that a graphic novel. It’s not. It’s non-fiction. Smile, a memoir? We call that a graphic novel, too. Myths? Legends? Bring ‘em on. We’ll call ‘em all graphic novels. Part comic, part text, like Diary of a Wimpy Kid? Absolutely. Graphic Novel. Frankly, if it has a story that goes on beyond four panels, we graphicnovelize it.

That bothers you. A lot. I heard you loud and clear. [. . .]

Meanwhile, if I bought a biography in graphic format, it went in biographies; and it if was a Max Axiom book about energy, it went in the 300s. And that’s technically correct cataloguing, too — if the book’s primary purpose is to “persuade or inform,” it goes into the subject area to which it belongs.

Guess which titles circulated? The 741.5s. Guess which ones didn’t? The biographies and 300s. Guess which books I moved into 741.5 so they’d start getting kids’ hands? Yup. [. . ]

But here’s the thing. The 741.5 Club, the GN Brigade and you, the creators, have the same objective: to get your works into users’ hands. All librarians are trying to do is put items that are visually similar into the same place, because our users/patrons/students are currently choosing what to read based on the format it’s in. If we put T-Minus next to the space books, it’s not going to get into users’ hands as much as if we put it next to Bone. We’d rather have your stuff get read. And so do you.

So help us out. Give us some time to build our collections until the point that graphic content / comics / sequential art / books with panels-and-balloons can be further subdivided (or the economy improves and we aren’t so frightened of taxpayer/administrator backlash). In the meantime, try not to fret. And keep writing. Our kids love what you do. That’s why we put it where they can find it.

The only list I know if is over at Early Word: http://www.earlyword.com/publishers/

Karen, I totally feel your pain — I run into much the same problem. So, clearly we need a group of librarians to storm OCLC and fix all of the cataloging from years past! Once more unto the breach! :)

The short answer is “yes and no.” (Helpful, right?)

LC added a Genre/Form term of “Graphic novels” that catalogers can choose to add to a record. If you look at OCLC records in WorldCat, for example, you’ll see that it’s listed separately from the rest of the LCSH (which OCLC calls “Descriptors”). You can search on Genre/Form terms just like subject headings but they aren’t, technically, subject headings, because they aren’t indicating a topic but a medium.

Again, how aggressive or comprehensive an individual cataloger is will play a factor.

If you search in OCLC for the Genre/Form heading of “Graphic novels,” there are over 58,000 results.

If you search in OCLC for the LCSH of “Comic books, strips, etc.” you get over 147,000 results.

If you go for the Venn Diagram of how many use both terms in a single record, you get over 45,000 results–13,000 fewer than the Genre/Form usage, which means that, as I noted, some catalogers are just slapping a Genre/Form heading on there without including what has been used traditionally.

If you do a Boolean search for “Graphic novels” NOT “Comic books, strips, etc.” in order to see those 13,000 records, you find something like this record for “American Born Chinese”:

Descriptor: Graphic novels.
Chinese Americans — Fiction.
Identity — Fiction.
Schools — Fiction.
Cartoons and comics.
Genre/Form: Graphic novels.
Graphic novels — United states.

That’s just…just a nightmare. Someone has used Graphic novels both as Genre/Form AND as LCSH. And now there’s an LCSH I’ve never even seen before: “Cartoons and comics.”

What this means is that there is even less of a possibility of anyone being able to go to an online catalog and pull up the entire collection at one go, in order to browse it online.

It’s really unfortunate.

With the publisher participation at ALA, we need the librarians to basically “storm the castles” and demand better representation from the houses. Raina Telgemeier wouldn’t have been in DC to promote Smile if I hadn’t invited her. Scholastic hadn’t planned on bringing her to the show….seriously.

This will take a campaign, by the librarians, that is a lot like the I WANT MY MTV campaign. When MTV started running that promotional spot kids started hammering the phone lines of their local cable operators. Look where we are now.

With the publishers who did exhibit in the gn pavilion, we(at Diamond) are working harder to educate them on what the environment will provide them. The library shows are more of a two-way conversation than any other show. Publishers learn just as much about the market as the librarians will about the new books-IF they are ready to listen.

So, why didn’t we see more graphic novels in the booths of the major houses? Their marketing teams just don’t have a clue as to what the graphic novel format delivers. They have great books or they are distributing for houses like DC, Viz etc and they just don’t see the total numbers on the growth of the format. Probably because they keep looking for a “Harry Potter”. If they studied the growth of the market, they would see that the entire category is Harry Potter.

And though we are seeing a lot more great titles coming for older teens and adults the gold rush will be found in the tween category. That day is fast approaching.

We just need more librarians, and now teachers, to demand greater publisher support for the graphic novels that are getting produced.

Email, or call the publishers and tell them I WANT MY GRAPHIC NOVELS!

A check of a couple of writers indicated that in North Dakota libraries, GNs are generally shelved with the prose books.

I wonder how libraries go about budgeting for the purchase of GNs. Ideally, GNs should be read by a cross-section of the library’s patronage, or budgeting for them creates a “GNs versus ____” situation, which is undesirable. There’s also the matter of reading skills. In the endless “Should we buy what patrons want to read or buy what they should read?” argument, I’ve generally sided with the “want to read” advocates, because unread books are a waste of money, poor turnover stats will cause trouble, and reading something will foster interest in books that might lead to more demanding material eventually. If GNs are so different from books that reading them doesn’t improve reading skills or lead to greater interest in books generally, then there’s a drawback to emphasizing them as reading material.

SRS

So much like Bookscan I would assume that even if you take the time to add all these up it would represent about 70% of the market for libraries. I don’t know how ICv2 got their number – but I am going to assume that it’s bigger than they have estimated.

Graphic novels:
http://authorities.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?AuthRecID=4863735&v1=1&HC=1&SEQ=20100709104939&PID=LsqjlhCWjfTVy8WXSqJizVmD9t2

LoC has some 2860 titles under GN and 2006 under “Comic books, strips, etc.” This does not include subdivisions such as “Librarians–Comic books, strips, etc.”

Yeah… we librarians love to dissect cataloging… Is Neil Gaiman a British or an American author?

The ICV2 white paper at C2E2 did not break out library purchasing. How does one track that?

I feel almost like we should apologize to Rich for letting the comments sidetrack into a cataloging discussion — oh, librarians! It’s so easy for us to do.

To bring it back to the main point, I do have a question — how do we, as librarians, put pressure on the publishers to represent better at shows? How do we let them know one, the money they could make, and two, the necessity for their presence? Can we do anything individually?

I do agree that whatever you decide about cataloging, it needs to be consistent, and I fear the bulk of MARC records for graphic novels are not that at all. THAT’S something I’d love to see fixed.

I do see your point about having similar authors together — to take a comics author example, you could easily have all of Greg Rucka’s novels next to his comics work, or all of Neil Gaiman’s comics next to his prose works. In the future, when there is less prejudice against the format, we may well end up doing that. But — do you shelve all your videos and audiobooks with the authors prose works? Because that’s the same thing, to my mind.

Karen, does LC not have a graphic novels subject heading? We do, and I’ve noticed it finally being used more.

Charlotte Mecklenburg Library (where I worked until laid off last week) does shelve the nonfiction DVDs with the books, and I doubt they’re the only ones.

They have the GNs in a special browsing section (Juvenile, Young Adult & Adult in separate areas). And the manga is shelved by title–at least in the branch where I was–just like a bookstore.