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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Parsons on March 17, 2007 at 12:10pm

Huh. I thought the point of a novel is that it's a work of fiction.

But it would make sense to shelve non-fiction items with other non-fiction items on the same subject. However, if it's more of a photographic or artistic display, you may want to file it as art about a certain subject, or what have you.

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Permalink Reply by adri on March 17, 2007 at 12:22pm

"Graphic novels" that are about actual events should be placed in the subject area. They are called "graphic novels" because of their format -- but their content is factual -- so they should be shelved by subject.

/Of course that's just my opinion.
//And that's how I shelved such material in my academic library when I was a cataloger.

^_^

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Parsons on March 17, 2007 at 3:24pm

I suppose that's fair, but keep in mind that not all fiction based off of historical events is necessarily accurate. Personally, I'd shelve that in Fiction.

However, I think this is a matter of personal taste; I certainly understand why someone would shelve The Killer Angels with other books about the American Civil War.

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Permalink Reply by adri on March 17, 2007 at 5:38pm

Actually what I was referring to were actual true non-fiction events done in "graphic" format -- which people tend to call "graphic novels" even though they are true. :)

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Permalink Reply by Fred Jahns on March 18, 2007 at 9:28am

I think it's a matter of what you feel would work for your library. I've gone with shelving them all in 741.5 for a couple reasons: one, that way they are all located in the same place- I can point students to one location for all the graphic novels, comics, and manga. Cataloging them as fiction scatters them on the shelves. I usually set up a separate display, but when I need to shelve them, like for inventory, its easy as they all go together in the 741.5's. Yes, it's not all true to dewey, but I believe we in k-12 do not need to be so stuck to the dewey as I find a greater need to meet the accessibility and access needs of our students. Two, most come that way from the vendor and changing that is not easy or subject to mistakes and regarding my first reason, it's easier to go with it.

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Permalink Reply by Krista B on March 20, 2007 at 12:02pm

We do have some non-fiction graphic novels, and they are kept in non-fiction by DDC#. But we also have another section of graphic novels in our teen center that I believe are uncataloged. At some point, we're supposed to find a way to have them all in one place...

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Permalink Reply by adri on March 20, 2007 at 7:57pm

I'm curious -- Why is there an interest to shelve non-fiction graphic works with the fiction graphic novels? I see the special shelving of graphic materials as a way to keep them pegged as a not main stream genre -- I think that's why I always shelved them by Dewey (our fiction was in the 8xxs as well) at the university because I want people to view them as equal to other material in the library.

I guess if it's a space issue I can understand but -- dunno just a random curious thought....
^_^

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Permalink Reply by Robin Brenner on March 21, 2007 at 9:43am

First off, of course we offer nonfiction graphic novels (and, to step on my soapbox for a minute, everyone should. Really.)

In all my work with graphic novels (which has been for, what, almost seven years now? Goodness!) I will say that what's worked for my (public) libraries and what the patrons seem to want is to shelve the format together. So, put all the graphic novels (despite the misleading movel part of the name, we're kind of stuck with it for now) in one place.

I do think they do better on a separate shelf or space, not with 741.5, because they get lost in nonfiction and the folks looking for graphic novels would never, ever think to look for them there and are unlikely to ask about them.

However, with nonfiction graphic novels -- the ideal would be to have 2 copies, and put one in the nonfiction area it belongs (Maus in Holocaust memoirs, for example) and put the other in with the graphic novels in call number order. However, most libraries don't have the funds to do both, so I'd say choose one or the other. Having browsers find graphic novels alongside other books on the topic is certainly something to hope happens.

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Permalink Reply by Diane on December 4, 2007 at 4:34pm

Hello Robin,

I've been ordering for the adult graphic novels (our newest collection) and think I may have seen you on a YLSA panel this June at the Annual ALA conference? I agree with this idea and since we have more than one copy of MAUS I and II may suggest it as an option for having the duplicate copies in 741.5. This has been an exciting adventure and I just made a leap and applied for the MODERN MARVELS LTAI Grant from ALA where we will discuss five Jewish Literature graphic novels. If we got it it wouldn't be until Fall 2008. It 's been an interesting experience to learn about styles in artists and writers. I'd also be interested in hearing what your favorite two top titles, one non-fiction, one fiction for adult graphic novels are currently please?

TTYS,

Diane

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Permalink Reply by W Greg Taylor on March 21, 2007 at 4:55pm

One public library I work with shelves them throughout the non-fiction shelves
under the appropriate Dewey #(eg. 971.051092 for Chester Brown's 'Louis Reil:
a comic-strip biography,' and 955.0540207 for Marjane Satrapi's books about
Iran).

Another one has them in special display units with all the graphic novel format
books.

Generally, I favour the first approach. For instance, given the wealth of historical
notes in Chester Brown's book, it makes sense to have it near the regular histories.

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Permalink Reply by Daniel Horvat on October 21, 2010 at 9:17am

Hi all,

In our library we put all the graphic novels in a separate section. As we don't separate our novels by genre, but by authors and respective countries, we do the same with our graphic novels collection. The users like the approach, and can easily browse through them. We've been keeping the graphic novels section for about years now, and the interest is growing. We have a separate shelf for Gnovels in English and Italian, the rest is in Croatian. They are all catalogued in 741.5
Are there some publications about graphic novels in public libraries? I've read some works, but we would like to have some books on the subject in our fund.
Cheers!

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Permalink Reply by Diane on December 1, 2010 at 5:48pm

Hi Tamra,

In our library by collection i.e. CD audio booksets to Teen or Adult book collections, begin with the Fiction section arranged alphabetically by author then continue with Non-fiction in a numeric progression divided by the Dewey Decimal system into to their topical areas. If as suggested you were to classify the Graphic Novel Non-Fiction all in 741.5 the topics would be lost to people looking for ESL supplementation of illustrated histories with minimal text, or those that may help lower level readers. These volumes may capture the imagination of students looking for ideas of how to make a topic graphically appealing for presentations.

So we have the Cartoon History of the World, Maus, Persepolis and other Non-Fiction titles arranged by topic divisions at the end of our Graphic Novel Fiction for those who prefer this type of genre and format. It makes them easier to find to recommend to teachers. Also their placement encourages the reader of comics to look at excellent biographies on Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and Jimi Hendrix as well as travel diaries and other subjects i.e. The Stuff of Life (on Genetics and DNA), and enjoy a different approach to factual information. We include some of the graphic texts on comic creators in this related area as well.

There are my two cents!

Diane Rice
Reference Librarian/Program Coordinator (and Comic Advocate)
Ada Community Library

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