Newsletter No. 133
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ISSN 1460-7239 20th March 2003 No.133
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IN THIS ISSUE
EDITORIAL
MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
By Joe Tarrant
FREEPINT BAR
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TIPS ARTICLE
"Military History on the Internet"
By Jonathan Crowhurst
BOOKSHELF
"Business Darwinism: Evolve or Dissolve"
Reviewed by Dafydd Lewis
FEATURE ARTICLE
"Librarians & Comics"
By Emma Finney
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EDITORIAL
You won't be aware of this, but I've actually spent quite a while now
writing and rewriting this Editorial.
The problem is that if you're talking to someone on a one-to-one basis
then you generally know (or can discern) a bit about who they are,
what they might want to know about, etc. If you're talking to a bunch
of people then there's likely to be a common interest or background
between members of the group, which again helps when deciding what to
say.
When I started FreePint five years ago, it was simply information
professionals talking to information professionals. I'm an information
professional. I have a degree in information science. I've worked for
information vendors in the past. I'm a member of information-related
associations. The majority of my colleagues and contacts are in the
information industry. Simple.
Not so simple now though. As the awareness of the importance of
information has mushroomed, thanks to the Internet, information
seeking skills are now needed by pretty much anyone looking for
serious information on the Web. So, where are the boundaries of the
information industry now? Who are its members?
What is slowly starting to dawn on me is that there are no boundaries,
and indeed there should be no boundaries. Everyone's welcome. The
information profession is not a private club. It's not 'members only'.
Having information management skills is something to which many people
aspire. They can see a direct relevance and use for them in their
everyday work. They don't want to be 'information professionals'. They
don't want to have a degree in the thing, or charter. They just want
to learn new skills which will be useful every single day.
There's been discussion about this again this week at the FreePint
Bar. For instance, someone asked "Are there many young people going
into the profession?" <http://www.freepint.com/go/b22337>. My answer
would be that there are hundreds of people of all ages and backgrounds
with an interest in information who are joining the fringes of our
profession all the time.
So, bravo to those educational institutions, associations,
publications, companies and individuals who've worked this out; and
there are many more than you may realise. Let's talk, and think about
how, together, we can make the most of the diversity in the
information profession. We can talk at the TLS/ILI show next week
<http://www.total-library.co.uk> or at the various conferences in the
States and Europe which I'm attending in the next couple of months.
I'm very proud to be an 'information professional'. However, I realise
that there's a lot of work to be done in updating how the profession
is viewed, from both outside the industry and (I'm afraid to say)
within it too.
Cheers
William
William Hann BSc(Hons) MCLIP
Founder and Managing Editor, FreePint
Email: <william@freepint.com> Tel: +44 (0)1784 420044
Free Pint is a Registered Trademark of Free Pint Limited (R) 1997-2003
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MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
By Joe Tarrant
* <http://www.wired.com> - A technology newsfeed - usually at least
one tech article worth reading and one oddity. And the magazine's
online as well with an awesome back archive.
* <http://www.apple.com> - You can run MS Word, a Unix shell, the
world's best MP3 software and the world's prettiest GUI on stunning
hardware AT THE SAME TIME. What more can I say?
* <http://www.ora.com> - Already mentioned. O'Reilly write techie
books for techies and non-techies and they give away a lot of
content for free. Cruise the Open Source section for great writing.
* <http://www.photo.net> - Mentioned previously on FreePint, I'm sure.
This site is amazing.
* <telnet:towel.blinkenlights.nl> - This is the best thing I've ever
seen on the internet and it doesn't matter how slow your connection
is, so long as your firewall lets you telnet, it'll still work.
Enter the command above from your Windows/Unix commandline and JUST
WATCH. The command to exit on telnet programs is control-]
(control-right angle bracket).
Joe Tarrant has worked at University College Cork (Ireland), UCL, IME
Ltd and The Chartered Institute of Bankers before a move to Clifford
Chance LLP in 2000. He has been a shelver, cataloguer, documentation
writer, software tester, helpdesk geek, researcher, webmaster, systems
admin and general dogsbody.
Submit your top five favourite Web sites. See the guidelines at
<http://www.freepint.com/author.htm>.
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TIPS ARTICLE
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"Military History on the Internet"
By Jonathan Crowhurst
The Internet has much to offer the military historian. There are many
excellent resources available out there whether you are a re-enactor,
an historical researcher, a war gamer, or a scale modeller. Although I
work in legal information in my day job, military history has been a
major interest of mine for as long as I can remember. I would like to
take this opportunity to share some sites that I have found to be
really helpful in my quest for military-related information: starting
with some more general sites; looking at some sites relating to World
War one; then my own story of how I found out about one of my
relatives who died in that war.
General Sites
=============
Getting over a million hits when you type in "Military History" on
Google means that there needs to be some sort of smart targeting when
doing your research. I would hazard a guess that most people using the
Internet to research military history will have a reasonably good idea
of what precisely they are looking for, which is half the battle. The
best place I found to start, although I came to it from researching
some market information on the UK defence industry rather than
personal interest, is the Web site for the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD)
<http://www.mod.uk/>. In America the equivalent is provided by the
Department of Defense <http://www.defenselink.mil/>.
<http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/> is an excellent US site
covering many periods of military conflict, with a different special
feature each month. February looks at the role of Afro-Americans in
conflicts past and present.
King's College London's Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
<http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/home.htm> is a large collection of military
documents, including the recollections of over 500 senior generals
serving this century. It is not possible to look at the collections
online, but it is possible to look at the catalogues, contact numbers
should you wish to view the material, and some handy research guides
on various areas of the collection. These should be consulted before
visiting.
For museums relating to the military, the Imperial War Museum site
<http://www.iwm.org.uk/> is highly recommended, linking to the museums
at London and Manchester, as well as the Cabinet War Rooms and HMS
Belfast. It covers from the First World War.
For the British Army around the world from 1485 to the present,
the National Army Museum is the place to visit
<http://www.national-army-museum.ac.uk/>.
<http://www.regiments.org/milhist/regtintro/index.htm> is also a great
index of the histories of the British Empire and Commonwealth.
Returning to the UK MoD site, as well as all publicly available
information on current military affairs, are individual sites for the
Armed Forces at <http://www.army.mod.uk/>,
<http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/>, <http://www.raf.mod.uk/>.
The MoD links page is the best place to visit initially as it is a
huge list of pre-sorted links <http://www.mod.uk/links/index.html>.
This includes links to the Defence Ministries for most countries and
links to most of the search categories one could think of in relation
to the military. I would start off with
<http://dmoz.org/Society/History/By_Topic/Wars_and_Conflicts/>,
<http://dmoz.org/Reference/Museums/Military/>,
<http://dmoz.org/Regional/Europe/United_Kingdom/Society_and_Culture/Military/>,
<http://dmoz.org/Regional/Europe/United_Kingdom/Society_and_Culture/Military/Veterans/>.
These sites will provide search results for each category and the
layout will be familiar to anyone who has used a search tool such as
Yahoo. These have been organised by the DMOZ open directory project. I
cannot recommend these links strongly enough since the pain of
trawling through a load of irrelevant results from a keyword search
(unless it is very specific) has been removed. It remains for the
individual to select the sites that are most relevant to their area of
interest. Re-enactors might visit the wars and conflicts link for
example, where over a thousand results are tabled under Living
History.
World War One and the Web - A Case Study
========================================
Since military history is such as vast subject, I would now like to
mention some sites which I have found especially useful in my own
current area of interest, the First World War. I will look at some
sites that provide background information to the 'War to End all
Wars', tracing veterans, and tracing those soldiers who never came
back. Some of us will have family from the past, perhaps still alive,
who fought in, or lived through, the Great War. Most of us will have
had family members killed, or know someone who did. It has not left
our generation's awareness - next August sees the 90th anniversary of
the start of the war.
General First World War
-----------------------
The Web can bring us closer to those who fought, and died. BBC2 is re-
broadcasting the seminal 1964 series The Great War on Saturday nights.
Shot entirely from archive film, some reconstruction and the voices of
the veterans, many of who were still with us in the 60s, and with the
powerful narration of Sir Michael Redgrave, this series brings the
horror of the Great War home.
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwone/> is a great start to those
who may be unable to see the programme and for general background to
the war. There are lots of features, for example an interactive
1914-1918 map of the trench system and campaigns along the Western
Front and is a good mix of texts and images.
Other First World War sites well worth visiting are the World War one
Archive, as it says an online archive of many of the significant
contemporary documents from the period
<http://www.hcu.ox.ac.uk/mirrors/www.lib.byu.edu:80/~rdh/wwi/index.html>
which is searchable by keyword and category. Amongst other things,
there are official documents, an image archive, and information on the
maritime war and the medical front which can be printed should you wish.
Veterans
--------
Those looking at veterans who are still alive can try the
Royal British Legion <http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/> to get in
touch with them, though survivors are declining in numbers with each
passing year. Their memory is perpetuated by The Great War Society, a
British Living History Group <http://www.thegreatwarsociety.co.uk/>.
There is an excellent links page here <http://www.tgws.fsnet.co.uk/>.
There are also a number of Regimental organisations such as the
Machine Gun corps Old Comrades Association
<http://www.mgcorps.ndirect.co.uk/>, and The Gallipoli Association
<http://www.gallipoli-association.org/home.htm> which may be helpful
in your research.
The dead of World War One can be searched for through a number of
sites. For those who did not come home, the Commonwealth War Graves
Commission (CWGC) maintains an excellent Debt of Honour register, more
of which later <http://www.cwgc.org/>. The Public Record Office
<http://www.pro.gov.uk/> would also be another obvious starting point
for the researcher looking at Veterans records. Their catalogues are
online and best consulted before going to the PRO at Kew.
A Personal Story
----------------
I would just like to relate how the Internet enabled
me to discover one of my relatives who died in the war. There was
always a Crowhurst read out in the roll of honour on Remembrance
Sunday in Church, and as I began researching my family history last
year I found out he was in fact my great uncle. I went to the
Commonwealth War Graves Debt of Honour register online (see above).
You need at least a surname, the arm of service, which Commonwealth
country's forces the relative was serving in, and the conflict (the
site covers World War One and Two and all the countries who made up
the commonwealth forces in both World Wars such as India, Canada,
Australia and New Zealand, whose dead are buried in cemeteries coming
under the auspices of the CWGC.
I had all the information required by the search facility so I typed
it all in and the records came up
<http://www.cwgc.org.uk/detailed.asp?casualty=296125> showing my uncle
died on November 4 1918. There was even a link to a picture of his
commemoration. I found <http://www.1914-1918.net/>, an excellently
researched and maintained site on the British Army in World War One.
I was able to find out which attack he died in, namely the assault on
the Sambre - Ouse Canal during the Battle of the Sambre.
I knew the Regiment my uncle was in, the King's Royal Rifle Corps
(KRRC) as this was listed on our parish church war memorial and
confirmed by the CWGC record, which listed him as being in the 2nd
Battalion. The KRRC was listed on this site's regimental listings at
<http://www.1914-1918.net/krrc.htm> and I was able to find the
Division his Battalion was part of, then link to a history of this
Division 1914 - 18 <http://www.1914-1918.net/1div.htm> which was one
of the key divisions involved in the attack. Details of this attack
are under construction on the site as I write.
Wilfred Owen's Regiment, the Manchesters, were also part of this
attack, and Owen was killed on the same day as my uncle. Putting in
the Sambre Canal brings up plenty of Wilfred Owen-related sites like
<http://www.hcu.ox.ac.uk/jtap/> and <http://www.1914-18.co.uk/owen/>
with some information about the battle. I was also able, through
the Royal Green Jackets Web site at
<http://www.rgjassociation.org.uk/index.html>, whose history the
King's Rifles have long since become part of through various
amalgamations, to contact the Regimental Archivist and get some
information sent to me on the Regiment's history at this time.
So for me, the Internet has helped solve a long-standing family
mystery, and made last year's Poppy Day a far more personal and
poignant event. Current events also remind us that war is still a part
of our world; the Internet can inform us of war's futility by being an
ever-changing monument to its victims.
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Jonathan Crowhurst is a trainee library assistant at City lawyers
Norton Rose, and deals with Tax and Competition law information. He
will be beginning an MSc in Library and Information Studies at City
University in October 2003. Contact him on samuelpepys1666@hotmail.com
to discuss any aspect of this article or military history in general.
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"Business Darwinism: Evolve or Dissolve"
Written by Eric A. Marks
Reviewed by Dafydd Lewis
The basic thesis of this book is that IT has come to play a central
role in corporate activities, in the same sense that culture plays a
central role in society, and that consequently a new approach is
required which aligns IT and business strategy more closely. The
author, Eric A. Marks, draws on his experience as an IT consultant to
suggest a macro-level business model which should help reposition
businesses successfully in the face of rapid change, and pre-position
them for the future.
Marks maintains that companies must invest more aggressively in IT. He
introduces the concept of Information Mastery as a critical core
capability of any modern organisation: superior strategic use of
information requires a shift from regarding information as a budgetary
expense to regarding it as a core asset. Consequently, new metrics are
needed to relate IT to the bottom line. Case studies - e.g. Dell
Computers - illustrate how this new thinking has proven successful.
The book traces how technology - from the printing press to the
internet - has had a liberating effect on information. Using
analogies with Darwinian evolutionary theory, Marks suggests that
companies' success in surviving and competing in the short term, and
replicating (developing) the business and adapting, in the longer
term, can be measured against the four criteria of revenue, profit,
cash flow and market share.
A potted history of IT in corporations is also provided, and a New Age
- as opposed to an Industrial Age - business evolution framework is
proposed which incorporates Weill and Broadbent's <1> IT investment
categories - infrastructure, transactional, informational and
strategic - and outlines how this can be 'flexed' in response to
business need. The business strategy model used is that of Gary Hamel
<2>.
There is nothing so practical as a good theory, and this book offers a
philosophical starting point to developing an IT strategy in today's
fast-moving, IT-dependent age. You will especially like this book if
you are partial to metaphors: how does 'corporate velociraptors' grab
you? If you are not - or perhaps if you are a creationist - you could
possibly get away with reading the introduction and chapters six,
seven and eight.
If I had a criticism it would be that the book could have sneaked into
its 270 pages of smallish type - and few pictures - some
acknowledgement of the importance of the social context of information
when designing information strategies. Using technology to solve
problems generated by technology, after all, tends to create more
problems if people are not sufficiently taken into account.
Consequently, I would recommend users of this book to also read Brown
and Duguid's entertaining and thought-provoking volume "The Social
Life of Information" <3>. Perhaps Amazon should offer a discount when
you buy both books together.
REFERENCES
<1> Weill, P. and Broadbent, M. Leveraging the new infrastructure.
Harvard Business School Press, 1998
<2> Hamel, G. Leading the Revolution. Harvard Business School Press,
2000
<3> Brown, J.S. and Duguid, P. The Social Life of Information. Harvard
Business School Press, 2000
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Dafydd Lewis specialises in competitive intelligence
<http://www.mayoconsulting.com> and minority language marketing
<http://www.triban.net>.
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Related FreePint links:
* Find out more about this book online at the FreePint Bookshelf
<http://www.freepint.com/bookshelf/darwinism.htm>
* Read customer comments and buy this book at Amazon.co.uk
<http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0471434418/freepint0c>
or Amazon.com
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0471434418/freepint00>
* "Business Darwinism - Evolve or Dissolve". ISBN 0471434418,
published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., written by Erik A. Marks
* Search for and purchase any book from Amazon via the FreePint
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To propose an information-related book for review, send details
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FEATURE ARTICLE
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/200303.htm#feature>
"Librarians & Comics"
By Emma Finney
Our idea of a comic depends on our experience and age. What is a
comic? A comic can be 2000AD, the Beano, Barefoot Gen, Eagle, From
Hell, Grendel, Hellblazer, Lenore, Maus, Palestine, Sandman, School
Kids OZ, Stuck Rubber Baby, Superman, Viz or the X-Men. They cover all
subjects and attract a varied age range of readers.
Why should we be aware of comics?
---------------------------------
It is important that certain sectors of information workers, e.g.
School, Public and University librarians are aware of comics.
Comics can be purchased for these libraries to widen the range of
material available, or to offer alternative formats from the plain
text of books or the glare of the PC screen.
Public and School librarians may find that for younger readers, comics
can be an attractive way in to literature, for some the leap from
picture book to text is not attractive at all. For these readers,
comics can be more appealing and maintain a reader's interest in
literacy and the world of literature.
For teenagers, there have been a number of comics written which deal
with 'coming of age' and sexuality issues such as 'Books of Magic',
'Stuck Rubber Baby', 'Strangers In Paradise', or 'Love and Rockets'.
These titles can be an alternative way of supporting teenagers need
for material in a format they may find more appealing than text. Rites
of passage can be depicted with imagination and graphics that may
appeal.
School and Academic librarians may be interested in comics which have
dealt with emotive issues in a visual medium such as the award winning
'Maus' which deals with the holocaust, 'Barefoot Gen' which deals with
the aftermath of the Hiroshima bomb or 'Palestine' which deals with
life under the Israeli occupation.
Comics can be used as outreach material to entice and encourage
reluctant readers and to convey difficult and emotive issues in
graphic and imaginative form.
Comic Books and Librarians
--------------------------
The incorporation of comics in libraries is dependent on the
librarian's personal and professional opinions regarding comics. Not
all of us were brought up reading comics and some of us may never have
read comics. So it would not be too surprising if comics did not make
it on to our shelves as we would have no experience or knowledge of
comics. Comic books may not appear on the library shelf if the content
is regarded as objectionable or unsuitable by librarians.
In 2000, the comic publishers Titan appointed a member of staff to
liase and promote their publications within libraries. Personally, I
like libraries to resound with different opinions, viewpoints, formats
and styles to support the needs of our users. We select our material
using our professional judgement about the quality of material,
collection relevancy, and personal judgment about the suitability of
content for users. It's the purpose of this article to point out useful
Internet resources for locating where the main comic collections are
and how to develop a comic collection within your library.
Significant Collections
-----------------------
It's pleasing to say there are collections of comics in many of my
local public, schools and academic libraries. I know this because
of a recent project completed in this area. The latex-loving superhero
genre including Batman and X-men, the sci-fi genre including 2000AD,
Aliens & Predator and the thought-provoking Maus and Sandman are all
represented in local Sheffield collections.
As we know, the Internet has widened access to our holdings with
library catalogues accessible via the Internet. The following Websites
have their catalogues on the web: some include images, reading lists,
collection development policies and research guides.
Within the UK, the British Library
<http://www.bl.uk/collections/comics.html> houses the British Comics
Collection from 1870 to present day with a brief collection overview.
The collection is mainly historical and not as contemporary as one
would wish.
The National Art Library <http://www.nal.vam.ac.uk/nalcomic.html> is
aiming to build a collection of contemporary comics to reflect ground
breaking design and art-work. It has recognised the academic nature of
comics and aims to build up a comic research collection.
The Centre for the Study of Cartoons and Caricature at the University
of Kent <http://library.ukc.ac.uk/cartoons/> aims 'to conserve and
catalogue cartoons' and encourages cartoon research. The Website
includes an online catalogue which displays thumbnail images including
broadsheets political cartoons.
In the U.S.A. the Library of Congress
<http://lcweb.loc.gov/spcoll/049.html> and Michigan State University
Libraries
<http://www.lib.msu.edu/coll/main/spec_col/nye/comic/index.htm> have
the largest collections of U.S. comics.
Michigan State University Libraries has an easily searchable comic
catalogue which includes images. R.W.Scott at Michigan State
University Libraries has contributed enormously to comic librarianship
and his expertise is reflected in the type of information available on
this Website for other librarians. It includes collection development
policies and links to other U.S.A. comic research libraries.
The Library of Congress holds around 6,000 titles and the collection
grows by around two hundred issues a month. The Website is not as user
friendly as Michigan State University Libraries with little added
value i.e. no images or introductory text about the collections but it
does include its comic collection development policy
<http://lcweb.loc.gov/spcoll/049.html>.
The National Library of Canada
<http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/superheroes/index-e.html> has an interesting
digital exhibition on Canadian superheroes. It uses Flash to create
the visual feel of a paper comic via a Website. It works well to show
how national libraries can exploit their collections via the Internet
to reach a wider audience, in this case, the fan boy!
The New York Public Library
<http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/grd/resguides/comix.html#controv>
has quite an extensive and growing collection of comics and related
material. The research guide is a useful tool for developing a
collection of comic based material in the library and identifying
background reading in the area.
Online Comics
-------------
The Internet is increasingly being used as a medium for online comics.
The OnlineComics Website <http://www.onlinecomics.net/> has over 1041
online comics in various genres from manga to horror to humour. The
quality and the subject matter does vary due to the self publishing
nature of the internet but there is an "editor picks section" which
aims to pick the quality comic from the less professional pieces.
One of the main advantages of online comics is that they can have
multi-language settings. For example 'Assassin' at
<http://assassincomic.cjb.net> can be accessed in Spanish or English.
The Guardians of the North exhibition
<http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/superheroes/> from the National Library of
Canada can be accessed in French or English.
Online comics use the advantages of ICT i.e. sound, Flash and
animation to create an online comic which takes on the traditions of
print comics and furthers the medium.
Useful Internet Resources for Comics and Libraries
--------------------------------------------------
The 'Comic Books for Young adults' Website
<http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/lml/comics/pages/index.html>
is a useful resource for librarians who wish to incorporate
comics into their collection. It answers questions like "do comic
books belong in libraries?" It addresses the collection development
issues of a comic book collection, for example, how to develop an age
appropriate collection. It provides recommended titles for a
collection i.e. Watchmen and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. This
Website is an extensive and valuable resource for comic book
librarianship.
If you want to develop a broader collection, Michigan State University
Libraries <http://www.lib.msu.edu/comics/intcomic.htm> has an
interesting Webpage dealing with international comic collections
including France, Mexico & Japan. The Website has an online European
Comics Collection Exhibition which provides useful collection
development pointers. Or, if you think your users would be interested
in funny kid comic books or horror comic books or even Kung Fu comic
books the genre search Webpage
<http://www.lib.msu.edu/comics/rri/grri/genre.htm#genres> allows you to
locate a title without having extensive comic knowledge.
The Comic Book Resources Website <http://www.comicbookresources.com/>
is an awarding winning Website. The Website has current comic news &
previews of the comic book industry. It provides access to Diamonds
Comics Previews catalogue
<http://www.comicbookresources.com/resources/previews/> which is useful
tool for finding out what's being published. The text version is
available free online so there is no need to purchase the print copy
to maintain current awareness in the comic world.
The Comic Book Database <http://www.cbdb.com/> covers over 20,000
comics. It is free to use with a simple interface to enable users to
find exactly the comics your collection needs. Users can search by
title, publisher, cover artist, date, issue number, story title,
writer, 'pencilled', 'inker' and characters. It is easy to use to
locate missing bibliographic details.
The Comic Book Legal Defence Fund Website <http://www.cbldf.org>
provides interesting information on the comic world. The CBLDF
protects the rights of people involved with the production of comics.
Comics have been known to cause controversy due to the usual suspects
of sex, violence or the depiction of women so if there is controversy
in the comic world breaking this is the place where it will be
covered.
Comics and Libraries
--------------------
Comics can be used for outreach, to draw in reluctant readers, to
visually stimulate minds, to widen the range of our collections, or to
present ideas or stories and issues in new & original ways. For our
users they enhance text with pictures to create visual delights but
only if we as librarians see their merits and include them in our
collections.
THE SANDMAN #19: 1991 was the first comic book to win the World
Fantasy Award for Best Short Story. Every other year a book has won.
They are not just for younger readers; they are for the alternatively
seeking reader which I think we all have among our customer base.
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Emma Finney is an Information Adviser in the Science & Engineering
Team at Sheffield University where she supports the school of Science
& Mathematics. In her own time she can be found reading comics; there
is probably little chance of her stopping now. She has yet to find a
comic or graphic novel that can be purchased to support her Science &
Mathematics students. She is a member of CILIP.
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