Book order with many graphic novels

The library received information from our accountant this week that allowed us to begin ordering books again. On Tuesday, Michele gave Sharon and I the good news and told us to go ahead and order books post-haste. Needless to say, she didn't have to tell us twice.

Sharon and I agreed that I'd place the first order because

1. I already had a list of books to order (some requested by Michele) that had been accumulating.
2. My order would be much smaller than hers and it would be easier to check her order against mine to avoid ordering duplicates.
   

Before Tuesday was over, I'd placed an order for around 40 items. Shortly after I placed the order, Sharon handed me a catalogue she had been saving called "Fiction K-12 Graphic Novels 2009-2010". I told her that I had done my order and it already included twenty or so graphic novels, but she said that I should take a look, and order more if I felt the need. I ended up making a smaller order (only another six items) just before I left the library last night.

Sharon spent the last two days digging through two hotlists from ULS (the company we order most of our books from) checking books that she'd like to order. When she's done with the hotlists (later today, she hoped), I'll be going through them to see if there's anything that I'd like to order that she hasn't already marked.

So, what did we order?

There are a few highlights for me. I ordered The Golden City, the final book in John Twelve Hawk's Fourth Realm trilogy and Sharon will be ordering Pirate Latitudes written by Michael Crichton shortly before his death.

The other highlights of the order (for me anyway) are mostly graphic novels and manga. Here's a list of what we ordered:

Amelia Rules! vols. 3-5 by Jimmy Gownley

• If you've been following this blog or my Twitter, you'll already know that Sharon and I absolutely love Amelia Rules! We're thrilled to be getting the next three volumes of it, and I am really looking forward to reading volume 5, The Tweenage Guide to not being Unpopular.
  

Amulet vols. 1-2 by Kazu Kibuishi

• I borrowed the first volume of Amulet through an ILL on a whim, and thought it was a fun, fantastical story.

Bleach vols. 7-8 by Tite Kubo

Bone vols. 1-9 by Jeff Smith

• The library already owns the complete Bone collection. The problem is that it's one extremely large paperback volume that has been in and out of book repair repeatedly. As a result, Sharon suggested that we order the individual volumes which will be smaller and less prone to damage.
  

Death Note vols. 7-9 by Tsugumi Ohba

• We're closing in on the finish line with Death Note. After this we'll only have three more volumes to purchase to finish the story, and a fourth volume that helps explain the series which we may or may not purchase.
  

Death Note: Another note by Nisioisin

• Another note is a prequel novel for Death Note that explains and expands on the history of L. I enjoyed the book when I borrowed it through an ILL, and I hope that it will serve as a literacy gateway. If Death Note readers enjoy the manga enough, hopefully they'll read this novel, and will continue on into other mystery novels.
  

Manga Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet by Richard Appignanesi

• I found this in the graphic novel catalogue Sharon passed to me. In this version, Romeo and Juliet live in Tokyo and belong to different warring Yakuza families.

Phoenix vol. 2 by Osamu Tezuki

• The library has had Phoenix vol. 1 since before I started, and I've put off buying any more because of the price (it's twice as expensive per volume as Bleach or Death Note). But when we're trying to order the number of books we normally would have in the last few months, it isn't as big an issue.
  

Star Wars Legacy vols. 1-2 by Jan Duursema

• We try to keep up with some of the Star Wars books (the Darth Bane trilogy, etc.), and thought that it might be neat to try one of the graphic novel series. Instead of going with a series that just rehashes the movies, Sharon and I chose Star Wars Legacy, which takes place over 100 years after the movies and focuses on the exploits of one of Luke Skywalker's descendants who has left the jedi.

More graphic novel/manga news as it happens. Stay tooned!

Graphic novel/manga collection

For the past few months, Sharon and I have discussed expanding our graphic novel/manga collection. We had some very good graphic novels such as Watchmen, Sandman, and various DC superhero stories, but we really didn't have that many of them and they were stuck in a poor location in the library. Since the graphic novels were moved to the very end of the adult fiction section, I'm not sure how many people have even looked at them. So Sharon and I discussed the situation and agreed on a four part plan.

First, I made a (fair sized) order of new graphic novels and manga. We agreed on an amount of money to spend, and I did the research. I picked a mix of graphic novels (mostly superhero stuff) and manga (continuing one series we already have, and starting a new one), and talked about my suggestions with Sharon. She agreed that they sounded good, and I ordered them.

Second, we talked about making a new home for the graphic novel/manga collection. The library manager had commented that we could probably box up much of our foreign language collection, because the books were either out of date or were written during communist regimes and were propaganda. I had a page box up many of the foreign language books, and I shifted books around until we had a vertical section (4 shelves) that could be dedicated to graphic novels and manga.

To make life easier for the pages, I relabelled all of the graphic novels with the prefix GN. This labelling replaces the hodgepodge of AF, APB, JF, JPB labels that were previously on the graphic novels/manga. It also helps set apart this collection from the rest of the library. Previously, they were books that belonged to different sections of the library but just happened to be shelved together.

Finally, Sharon and I agreed that we'd continue to develop our graphic novel/manga collection gradually, by adding another title or two to every book order we make. Sharon just completed a very large book order, and included another four titles (three manga, one graphic novel) in it.

As it currently stands, the titles I ordered have been backordered (Sharon's order is still being processed), but here is what will be coming to the Tumbler Ridge Public Library:

Graphic novels
Batman Year One
Green Lantern: Rebirth
Infinite Crisis
Serenity: Better Days
Serenity: Those Left Behind
Superman: Birthright

Manga
Bleach volumes 3-6
Death Note volumes 1-5