Cred for Comics

If you're still defending the importance of graphic novels in your media center, take heart. The New York City Department of Education has launched a major campaign to embrace graphic novels as a valuable reading and learning tool for libraries and classrooms.

With backing from Barbara Stripling, the director of New York City's school libraries, Diamond Book Distributors is currently conducting in-service spring training sessions to hundreds of K–12 school librarians throughout the city's five boroughs to talk about collection development, lesson plans, and how graphic novels appeal to all levels of readers, says John Shableski, sales manager at Diamond, the largest distributor of English-language comic books.

Why focus on librarians? “They're starting with librarians, as they know this is the foundation for the rest of the school,” he adds. “They are also looking to harness the attraction of graphic novels to a new generation of readers—and that graphic novels are a draw for the library.”

This may be the first time such a large school district has formally endorsed graphic novels in this magnitude, adds Shableski, who, along with colleague Janna Morishima, hosted three programs last month, each of which drew about 100 attendees. Close to 1,000 media specialists are expected to attend a final session on November 4.

“There are librarians and teachers across the country who have either begun using graphic novels or would like to,” Shableski says. “This validates and justifies the efforts of so many teachers and librarians. It's as if someone placed a formal seal of approval on the format and said, 'This is something that really works!'”

Stripling agrees, but cautions that since graphic novels are still relatively new to the field, librarians need to figure out how they best serve kids—and that includes developing selection criteria.

“We need to focus on strategy,” she says. “We need to know why these are good for kids if we're going to sell them to teachers and administrators.”