Two mild traumas, both inspired by TV shows

[oakenguy]

1) For something to do over the holiday break, I took out Season One of 'Gilmour Girls' from the library. I watched an episode yesterday. I also read two stories from Stephen King's newest book.

Can you guess which one gave me nightmares? Go on, guess.

I don't know what it is. Well, I might--Deb has a thing about social anxiety, and while she'll watch part of an episode with me there are times where she'll flee the room like a terrier running from a thunderstorm, and it's rubbed off a bit. And the episode I watched yesterday was particularly bad that way, with a couple breaking up messily and another main character having a high school scandal blow up around her will probably get someone else (the one who was just broken up with) fired for misconduct...even I fled the room at that point. And last night my dreams took over where the show left off, only with highwaymen robbing people in parking lots with club-sized candy canes as a side bonus.


2) We've also been watching 'Hoarders'. Which is scary in a totally different way--I can't get through an episode without looking around the room desperately figuring out what I'm going to get rid of first, because it's suddenly obvious things need to go. NOW. EVERYTHING.

So, related to this I now have three shopping bags full of comic books that wound up in the 'donate' stack after I did my sorting and organizing. I'd really like to donate them--they're not BAD or I wouldn't have bought them, just not good enough to keep--but I'm not sure where to start. Comics geeks on my f'list, do any of you have any experience with this? Librarians and teachers, do you have any ideas?

Comments

[in-water-writ.livejournal.com]

If you have any single issues, there are organizations who send comics to US Troops overseas, as they are light, portable media. They don't take TPBs, but I'm sure there are more options for donating TPBs than there are for single issues.

[in-water-writ.livejournal.com]

PS- I'm sure there are several college comic book clubs that would be happy to accept a donation of TPBs/graphic novels.

[daemionfox.livejournal.com]

Generally speaking, unless they're in a graphic novel format, you're not going to be able to pass them onto a library.

Even if they're graphic novel format, you'd have a hard time unless the library itself has a progressive YA librarian.

If you want to donate them, I'd suggest finding a pediatrics center or a hospital that handles younger patients long term, and see if they'll want them for their patients.

[in-water-writ.livejournal.com]

I hear the East Branch of the Somerville Library actually has a decent graphic novel section.

[joyeous.livejournal.com]

I've seen a decent sized one in the Main Branch, if that's the one you're referring to! The one in Davis is too small. The main Cambridge library has a pretty big section too.

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

Suprisingly, the Leominster Public Library has a very impressive collection of graphic novels and manga.

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

> Even if they're graphic novel format, you'd have a hard time unless the library itself has a progressive YA librarian.

I don't know if the librarian's "progressivism" is the only issue. I know a number of YA librarians whom I'd consider extremely progressive and who adore graphic novels, but collection development is a complicated issue. It takes library staff's time and effort to add something to a collection, and TPBs, being paperback, can be difficult to deal with. It costs money to catalog each item (the cost of the item itself is definitely not the only or often even the major cost of adding an item to a collection), for example, and graphic novels generally get heavy use (so they fall apart faster) and are also more likely to be stolen, so the investment of initially cataloging it has limited return. That doesn't mean a librarian will automatically refuse to acquire it, because if it will bring in patrons, especially YA patrons, it may be worth it even if the item won't last long in the collection -- which is why many libraries do acquire paperbacks and tape them up heavily and resign themselves to the reality that they may be stolen if they're popular targets -- but what if funds are very limited? They'll have to decide if there are better investments for those funds. Also, there are other things to be considered, like, if it's part of a series, does the library have the rest of a series? All that said, relatively few libraries seriously increase their collections through donations of items anyway. Space is not infinite and donated items are not all that likely to match up with collection development needs. They'll take anything in really good condition that they were looking to purchase anyway, but the majority of donated items end up in Friends of the Library Booksales, and the money goes to address that "limited funds" issue, which is a win-win situation for everyone. TPBs are likely to sell well in such a booksale so would probably make a good item to donate. They probably have their donation guidelines available somewhere.

[temperlj.livejournal.com]

Social messiness, humor for some, nightmares for others (I can relate and guessed correctly-first try)

Hoarders, I am one collectible set away...if it weren't for visitors and fear of maintenance men, there but for the grace.

Comic shops will also often buy back books for resale.

[telepresence.livejournal.com]

See, Hoarders makes me feel comforted. I watch an episode of Hoarders, then look around my apartment and go "Hm. Stack of CDs. But it isn't 6 feet tall and encrusted with animal feces, so I'm OK!"

[anadandy.livejournal.com]

In December, RIF (yes, good old Reading is Fundamental) was having a comic book donation drive for their literacy program. I don't know if it's still going on - but might be worth contacting them.

[lisefrac.livejournal.com]

Hoarders is always disturbing to me, too. Mostly because I see tendencies towards hoarding in myself. I mean, I'm not a hoarder now, but I see how so many of these people changed drastically after a crippling life event, like the death of a parent. And I know that my grandmother was a hoarder, and I feel like hoarding is the kind of addictive behavior my family is known for - so yeah, it makes me fearful.

[renshai.livejournal.com]

If you've got a children's hospital, or a hospital with a dedicated teen ward nearby, they might take them (assuming, of course, that we're talking about Superman as opposed to Transmetropolitan). Or a youth center might take them - that's where my old 90s comics went when I cleaned my closet last summer, to the local Boys and Girls Club.

[joyeous.livejournal.com]

I just asked Mike (@Comicazi) and he couldn't think of any places to donate them to. You could always try selling a few to him if you think some are of value, but I think what other people have already suggested is pretty much it.

[lemur-catta.livejournal.com]

An adult literacy outreach or ESL program might want them?

[clarkieburger.livejournal.com]

"Hoarders" makes me want to get clean. I see it as a therapeutic way of tackling the mess around me.