I’d just like to share a little discovery I made on the weekend, which may or may not surprise you – and may or may not be good news?! On a crisp and foggy Saturday morning in London, I’m walking to the local market to sample the homemade goodies and general richness, when I notice (for the first time) the Public Library hiding in plain sight by the side of the road and inviting me in. So with an inquisitive head-tilt and an open mind, I ventured inside and was pleasantly surprised.
Whenever I’m in a general book store, I always seem to search for Comics/Grovels first (if they even have any), then Art books/Coffee-Table books – then Biographies or Poetry – and assuming there’d be very few (if any) Comics and Grovels in a secret, silent Library, I skip straight to the Art books and began my usual nose-around investigation. On my way through to the far corner of the silent, study area with ‘clip-clop’ shoes and loud, silent whispers, I kind of… struck gold – a Graphic Novel section?! In a library?! with a solid selection of superheroes and all the time in the world to peruse and leaf through them. The pages are quite worn and ‘loved’ and they do smell like school but, whatever man… there was even a couch.
After a pleasing sense of discovery and a crazy need to look at absolutely everything, I make a strategic selection and take a few books (that I’ve been meaning to read for a while) to the counter, assuming there’s some kind of restriction or annoying rules applied to membership and such. The slipper wearing, whispering staff member tells me “You can have up to 12 items at once, you can keep them for 3 weeks… and (of course) it’s free”. So, with a smile on my face and a ‘man-bag’ full of goodies I made my escape, with a miss-placed feeling of guilt… is this a good idea? should I be buying these books from the local store? Or should the local stores offer a similar service for the graphic novels? Interesting…
In summary, what I’m thinking is… Should the local comic shop offer a rental service? Or, do they already?
Just thinking out loud again.
Anthony made a similar discovery at his local Toronto Library. In major urban cities the libraries usually feature an impressive graphic novel collection. My local library has two small shelves…
I haven’t checked out my local library in a while, because I was working through my own personal library of books and grovels. But I did discover how amazing Batwoman Elegy was, and was able to finally read The Dark Knight Returns. Even though these books were free from the library, I have since purchased them from my favourite store.
The great thing with the library is it gives people a chance to check out the material with no cost. Hopefully they will like what they read and then search out their local comic shop and purchase more.
Even though it’s free, I still think it leads to future sales of comic books. And getting people to read is never a bad thing.
I just read it… fantastic piece too.
Great minds I guess 🙂
A great shout. I guess the more comic shaped doors there are out there for people to find, the better… right?
Also, the collecting of the books – and owning them for yourself is a massive part of the fun for sure. You shouldn’t have to give comics back at any point. Maybe it’s just an extended test drive?
Cool either way.
Oh you people have been missing out! I’ve been raiding my own library system and that of the two neighbouring cities for YEARS! I’ve read tons of stuff I never might have otherwise and can converse about comics I’d never have bought so I at least know what people are discussing. And yeah, try before you buy is great.