Comic Convention Provides Exposure for a Library and Its Collection

From Library Journal, Sep 27, 2011

The people attending PalmCon: The Palm Beach County Comics Book and Collectibles Show held in Greenacres, FL, on September 17 had a chance to connect with the Palm Beach County Library.

The convention organizers had offered the library a free booth at the convention, and staff saw it as an excellent opportunity to expose the library’s collection to an audience that might not be aware of everything the library had to offer (such as ebooks).

“We were there to promote the library and give out information of what we provide, particularly our graphic novels, manga, and our anime club,” said Kelly Handy, a library associate, who was one of seven staff members who handled booth duties at the convention and circulated among the crowd of about 500 attendees.

Read more: Comic Convention Provides Exposure for a Library and Its Collection.

See our pics: PalmCon 2011

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This month Drawn to Comics is highlighting Iron Man, but most updates will feature new titles in the system.

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Yeah . . . that’s all I’ve got.

Getting to know you

Hi! I’m Jessica, one of the bloggers for ToshokanComix. I’m a Youth Services Library Associate II at the West Boca Branch Library. [Update: as of March 2012, I am now a full-fledged Librarian!]

I read mostly shoujo manga like Fruits Basket, Love*Com, and Tokyo Mew Mew. I am also partial to Superheroes (Batman, X-men, and all the other -mans), Science Fiction and Fantasy genres, and Mysteries. I will pretty much read any thing and I’m always open to suggestions! ^_^

I’m also really into video games! My current favorites are Rock Band and Fable 2.

Thank you, Technical Services!

I recently had the pleasure of spending a week on a job exchange in our library’s Technical Services department.  This is the side of the library patrons don’t see–a room full of carts and carts of new books with librarians and technicians putting them into our computer catalog, making sure everything is labeled correctly, and sorting them into crates to be sent to the branches and put on the shelves.  It was fun to try on a different hat for a week and get a look at all the new graphic novels and manga coming in to the system.
 
Besides actually getting to catalog and print out labels for GNs and manga I think my favorite part of my job exchange was telling Tech Services employees how much their hard work is appreciated.  Because these folks don’t get to work with the public like I do, they don’t get to see the end result like I do every day.  So many times I have seen teen patrons carrying teetering stacks of 20 or more volumes of manga.  Without Technical Services to catalog these volumes it would be impossible to put them on hold and be able to read an entire series in order.  I love getting crates of new books, putting them face out on display and coming back a couple hours later to find a lot of them already gone, picked up by patrons who are just as excited about shiny new books as I am.
 
To work in Technical Services you must have a lot of patience, be very detail-oriented, and not have a short attention span.  I already appreciated what this department does but after spending a week here I appreciate it even more, because I can see how meticulous and dedicated everyone here is.  Thanks for having me, Tech Services!

Getting to know you

I’m Amanda, one of the bloggers for TokoshanComix. I’m a Librarian Trainee in the youth services department at the Wellington Branch Library.

I’ve been hosting teen programs at the library since 2005, but I’ve been with the system since 2000.

Though I like some anime and manga, and enjoy the occasional superhero comic, my favorites tend to be off-the-beaten-path graphic novels, like “Blankets” by Craig Thompson, “Castle Waiting” by Linda Medley, or “The Arrival” by Shaun Tan.