Adult Graphic Novels

I was recently given a special collection development project for the library I work at part time. For several reasons they decided to create an "adult" graphic novel collection. The head of adult services knew that I was somewhat of an expert in graphic novels and asked that I put together a list of classics of the genre as well as well reviewed current material. One very valuable source was Stephen Weiner who writes graphic novel reviews for "The Library Journal" and has also written a book called, "The 101 Best Graphic Novels".

Abel, Jessica - "La Perdida"
Abel, Jessica & Pleece, Warren - "Life Sucks"
Akino, Matsuri - "Pet Shop of Horrors: Toyko v.1"
Anderson, Ho Che - "King: A Comic Book Biography"
Arellano, Eddy - "Dead in Desemboque"
Auster, Paul - "City of Glass: The Graphic Novel"
B., David - "Epileptic"
Bagge, Peter - "The Bradleys"
Bagge, Peter - "Buddy Does Seattle"
Baker, Kyle - "Nat Turner: Encore Edition Vol 1."
Bechdel, Alison - "Fun home : a family tragicomic"
Bertozzi, Nick - "The Salon"
Brown, Chester - "I Never Liked You: The New Definitive Edition"
Brown, Jeffrey - "Clumsy"
Brown, Jeffrey - "Incredible Change-Bots"
Brunetti, Ivan - "Misery Loves Comedy"
Burns, Charles - "Black Hole"
Butcher, Jim - "Welcome to The Jungle"
Carey, Mike - "God Save the Queen"
Clowes, Daniel - "Ghost World"
Coe, Sue - "Dead Meat"
Cotter, Joshua W. - "Skyscrapers Of The Midwest"
Crumb, R., Kominsky-Crumb, Aline - "The Complete Dirty Laundry"
Crumb, R. - "The R. Crumb Handbook"
Daly, Paul - "Athena Voltaire: The Collected Webcomics"
Dick, Philip K. - "A scanner darkly"
Doucet, Julie - "My Most Secret Desire"
Dysart, Joshua - "Captain Gravity and the Power of the Vril"
Eisner, Will - "The plot : the secret story of The protocols of the Elders of Zion"
Giardino, Vittorio - "A Jew in Communist Prague Vol.1"
Guibert, Emmanuel - "Alan's War: The Memories of G.I. Alan Cope"
Hasiguchi, Takashi - "Yakitat!! Japan vol.1"
Hernandez, Gilbert - "Heartbreak Soup (Love & Rockets)"
Hernandez, Jamie - "Maggie the Mechanic (Love & Rockets)"
Hernandez, Jamie - "The Girl From Hoppers (Love & Rockets) v.2"
Hernandez, Jamie - "The Education of Hoppy Glass"
Hernandez, Jamie & Gilbert - "Love & Rockets: New Stories #1"
Hicks, Faith Erin - "Zombies Calling"
Higuri, You - "Cantarella Vol 1"
Jackson, Sherard - "Assembly"
Johnson, Mat & Pleece, Warren - "Incognegro: A Graphic Mystery"
Katchor, Ben - "The Jew of New York"
Kendall, David (editor) - "The Mammoth Book of Best War Comics"
Kominsky-Crumb, Aline - "Need More Love: A Graphic Memoir"
Max - "Bardin the Superrealist"
Modan, Rutu - "Exit Wounds"
Moore, Alan - "Watchmen"
Moore, Alan - "From Hell"
Morse, Scott - "Barefoot Serpent"
Muth, Jon - "M: A Graphic Novel"
Normanton, Peter (editor) - "The Mammoth Book of Best Horror Comics"
Nowak, Naomi - "House of Clay"
Ocha, Machiko - "Train Man: A Shojo Manga"
Oh, Se-Kwon - "Utopia's Avenger"
Panter, Gary - "Jimbo's Inferno"
Parks, Ande - "Capote in Kansas: A Drawn Novel"
Pekar, Harvey - "The New American Splendor Anthology"
Pekar, Harvey - "American Splendor: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar"
Pekar, Harvey - "Our Cancer Year"
Pope, Paul - "Heavy Liquid"
Rodriguez, Spain - "Che: A Graphic Biography"
Rudahl, Sharon - "A Dangerous Woman: The Graphic Biography of Emma Goldman"
Sacco, Joe - "Palastine: The Special Edition"
Sacco, Joe - "Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992-1995"
Satrapi, Marjane - "Persepolis"
Satrapi, Marjane - "Persepolis 2 : [the story of a return]"
Satrapi, Marjane - "Embroideries"
Shanower, Eric - "Age of Bronze"
Shanower, Eric - "Age Of Bronze Volume 2: Sacrifice"
Shanower, Eric - "Age Of Bronze Volume 3: Betrayal"
Shirow, Masamune - "Ghost in the Shell"
Simone, Gail - "Welcome to Tranquility"
Simone, Gail - "Birds of Prey: Dead of Winter"
Sizer, Paul - "Moped Army"
Spiegelman, Art - "Maus : a survivor's tale"
Spiegelman, Art - "Maus II : a survivor's tale : and here my troubles began"
Spiegelman, Art - "Breakdowns : portrait of the artist as a young %@[squiggle][star]!"
Stavans, Ilan - "Latino USA: A Cartoon History"
Sturm, James - "Jame's Sturm's America: God, Gold, and Golems"
Tatsumi, Yoshihiro - "Good-Bye"
Tezuka, Osamu - "Buddha Vol. 1 through 8"
Thompson, Craig - "Blankets : an illustrated novel"
Tomine, Adrian - "Shortcomings"
Trillo, Carlos & Risso, Eduardo - "Chicanos v.1"
Van Lente, Fred - "Action Philosophers!"
Van Lente, Fred - "Action Philosophers! #2"
Wantanabe, Taeko - "Kaze Hikarui"
Ware, Chris - "Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth"
Willingham, Bill - "Robin/Batgirl: Fresh Blood"
Wilson, G. Willow - "Cairo : a graphic novel"
Winick, Judd - "Pedro and me : friendship, loss, and what I learned"
Wood, Brian & Kelly, Ryan - "Local"

More Facebook fan stuff for your library

So now that we've created a basic Facebook fan page for your library, let's talk a bit about all of the other options that Facebook offers.

First of all go back to your library's fan page that you created in Facebook. If you still need to do this you can look at my last entry for step by step instructions.

You should be in the admin/editing page so you can make changes.

On the left side of the page you should see several boxes; Information, The Wall, Discussion Board, and Mini-Feed.

These boxes can all be edited, deleted, and their order can be changed by clicking on the blue bar on the top of each box.

In the "Information" box click on either the "edit" link in the upper right hand corner of the box or the "Add Information" link in the middle of the box. Click on the "Detailed info" tab at the top of the box. If you haven't done so already type in the address of your library's web page in the "Website" field. You can put multiple websites in this field if you would like as well. Perhaps a link for your library's main page but also a link to your events calender? It's all up to you.

Below the Website field is a field called "General Information". This is where you can put in some general information about your library. It seems that most library's use this field as a place to put their mission statements. It can also be used to post contact information such as email addresses.

After you've updated these fields click on the "Save Changes" box at the bottom of the page.

In the upper right hand corner click on the "Back to editing "Your Libraries name"" link.

This will take you to a page that explains each of the possible fields and the types of information they can contain. You've entered the basic information about your library. Now you can enhance your fan site and start adding fun stuff!

Discussion Boards - are just what they seem. You can post various discussion board topics and patrons of your page can respond. "What are your favorite books?" "What are your favorite movies?" "What sort of events would you like to see at your library?" These discussion boards can be a great way to interact with your patrons.

Events - This is the area where you can post events for your library. This can be a little work intensive as each event needs to be posted individually. Fans of your page will be able to RSVP to events that you post.

Notes - Can be used in several ways or not at all. Some libraries use the Notes area to put up information about special events such as author visits or musical events. These notes are a little more open ended and can be used however you want. Some libraries don't use this field at all.

Photos - Is just what is seems. An area to post photos of your library, staff, and patrons. The photo upload on Facebook is very easy to use and your patrons can post photos as well.

Video - This is an area where you can easily post digital video content. Perhaps a virtual tour of your library? How about a video of a recent special event? What about a video walking patrons through the electronic resources of your library and how to use them? There are a lot of possibilities here.

The Wall - Is an area where the fans of your library's site can post comments or start discussions on their own. This area should be monitored and any inappropriate comments can be responded to or removed if needed. This is another area where library patrons can interact with the library.

There are other things you can do with your library fan page if you explore Facebook even more and learn how to enhance your site.

Other possibilities include setting up links to RSS feeds and real time IM chat. There are online tutorials available through Facebook to do these more advanced features. In the meantime you should be able to set up a great Facebook fan page for your library with all of the basic tools available. Good luck!

How to create a Facebook fan page for your library

Since opening itself up in late 2006 to anyone with an email account over the age of 13, Facebook has exploded. 2008 seemed to be the year of Facebook with everyone setting up an account. The Facebook culture changed from college students sending pics back and forth of the party on Saturday night, to a bunch of parents trading kid pics. While this may be an oversimplification, the reality is that Facebook has turned into one of the most important social networking tools on the internet.

Because of this, 2008 was also a year when a number of libraries set up Facebook "fan" pages to create a presence in Facebook for their libraries. If your library hasn't set up a Facebook fan page you should consider doing so. It's easy, quick, and a great way to connect with your patrons in the Web 2.0 world.

Step 1: Create a Facebook account. If you haven't done so already you'll be amazed at how many of your friends and family are already on Facebook. You'll also need to do this so you can be the administrator of the fan page.

Step 2: Find another library's fan page. In the upper right hand corner of the Facebook page type, "Skokie Public Library" in the search box, and you'll see a link to their fan page.

Step 3: Scroll to the bottom of that page. You should see a link that says, "Create a Page for My Business". Click on this link.

Step 4: At this point you should see a page called, "Create New Facebook Page". The "local" category should be selected and highlighted in blue. There is a drop down menu. Click on this and you'll see that one of the options is "Library/Public Building" Select this option.

Step 5: Click on the box titled "Name of Library / Public Building" and put in the name of your library.

Step 6: Click on the "Create Page" button at the bottom of the page.

Step 7: At this point you should be presented with a new template page for your Facebook fan site. At the very top you should see a box that says, "Your Page has been created. To start, add information or upload a picture". Click on the "add information" link in this box.

Step 8: You should see a page where you can now input basic information about your library. Fill in the Address, City/Town, Zip, Phone, and Hours fields. There are also tabs for "Picture" and "Detailed Info". Click on the Picture tab and upload a picture of your library if you have one available. Clicking on the Detailed Info tab will bring up a page where you can put in your library's web address and field for any general information about your library.

Step 9: At this point you should get a message that your changes have been saved. Click on the link for your library's fan page that should appear in the upper left hand corner of the page. You should be back at your Facebook fan page template and you should see any information or pictures or links that you created in the previous step. At the top of this page you should see a message that says, "This Page has not been published. To make this Page public, publish this Page." Click on the "publish this Page" link.

Congratulations! You have just created a basic Facebook fan page for your library. In our next post we'll go into more details about other information and features you can add to your library's Facebook fan page.

Favorite books of 2008

While these may not be the best books of 2008 they are my personal favorites.

My favorite non-fiction book of 2008 was "Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets" by Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh.

This book is a sequel of sorts to one of the most popular chapters of the popular "Freakonomics" by Steven Levitt, called "Why Do Drug Dealers Still Live With Their Moms?" It tells the true tale of a University of Chicago grad student who goes into the housing projects of the south side of Chicago to try to learn more about the people that live there.

While the title of the book makes it seem like an examination of gang life in Chicago the book is much more than that. Ultimately the book is about life in the Robert Taylor homes and how the residents there survived. Things that we typically take for granted, such as calling 911 for an emergency and getting a response, are completely different in that world. This book shows how hard things were for the residents of the Robert Taylor homes but also how resourceful these residents were in overcoming the odds that they faced.

This book hit home with me on a personal level because I lived in the Hyde Park area of Chicago in the late 80's early 90's when the events in this book were taking place. I worked at the University of Chicago for a number of years during this period as well. I may have well bumped into the author on campus. I also can't imagine going to the Robert Taylor homes and hanging out with the people there. I often passed by the Robert Taylor homes on the way to White Sox games and a chill would go up my spine. To get an inside glimpse into the lives inside the buildings was an eye opening experience for me.



My favorite fiction book of 2008 was "The End of Baseball" by Peter Schilling Jr. In 1944 Bill Veeck tried to purchase the Philadelphia A's and integrate baseball by creating a team of stars from the Negro Leagues. In reality, when baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis found out about Veeck's plan he quickly put it to an end, and it wouldn't be until 1947 when Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers integrated baseball.

In "The End of Baseball" Peter Schilling imagines a different past were Bill Veeck was able to outsmart Landis and put his team of Negro League superstars on the field. The book imagines a team full of some of the greatest stars from the Negro League era, Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell, and Martin Dihigo, and gives them personality and life. For this fan of baseball history it was a great read.

Josh Gibson is the tired old gladiator, beaten down by his past, Satchel Paige is as colorful as always and easily dispatches American League hitters, and Martin Dihigo is portayed as a baseball superman, able to play any position better than anyone else. Bill Veeck starts a promotion where a random fan comes on to the field before the game to spin the Martin Dihigo wheel to see what position he'll play that day. One of the options is for Mr. Dihigo to play an inning at every position.

Basically I found this book to be a fun read and a good time. Any fan of baseball history and especially of the Negro Leagues would find this enjoyable as well.