Check-out our Graphic Novel Collection in-person at the Learning Resource Center / TRITON LIBRARY / Building #A. If you enter the building from the Main Entrance off 5th Avenue, look for the SUPERMAN and YODA posters on your right side and the Graphic Novel Collection is right there, just before the staircase.
FAQ:
The content on this page was initially created by PT Reference & Archives Librarian, Mary Grace Maloney, 2013-2014.
"I have listened to teachers, professors, and scholars say that reading comic books is one of the best ways to teach literacy to young children. Because in order to enjoy and appreciate and be wrapped up in a comic book, you have to be able to read the dialogue balloons. Otherwise you won't know what's happening. The youngster forces himself or herself to read what is lettered there in order to follow the story. So many teachers have told me that whent hey put comic books in the classroom, children get better marks more quickly in English and in literacy than in any other way. There is something about the physical look and feel of a comic book that young children love." - Stan Lee, co-creator of Spider-Man
Source: American Libraries Association. "Newsmaker: Stan Lee." American Libraries Magazine 45, no. 5 (May 2014): 16.
What is a Graphic Novel?
Graphic Novel is a term used to describe a story told in sequential art or comic book format. The word novel can be decieving because graphic novels can be fiction or nonfiction. Some of the most widely read graphic novels are memoirs: Maus by Art Spiegelman (Pantheon Books, 1986) and Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (Pantheon Books, 2003).
Seeing graphic novels at an academic library is a rare thing. Triton College Library originally started collecting graphic novels through our McNaughton Collection. Then Faculty Librarian, Dr. Dubravka Juraga, noticed the popularity of the graphic novels with Triton's students. As a child growing up in Europe, Dr. Juraga loved the comic adventures of TinTin and other international comics such as Lucky Luke. She developed a life-long love of reading because of these comic books. In charge of developing the English As a Second Language (ESL) Collection and while teaching ESL at Triton, Dr. Juraga collected and presented research on the benefits of graphic novels and comics for Triton's student population. The graphic novel collection was then born with the collaboration of Triton's librarians.
Once the new graphic novel collection was put on display, books began to disappear and be checked-out by students and faculty. The librarians chose to display the graphic novels in a high-traffic area in the library (near the water fountain) and Dr. Juraga believes the combination of the location and the titles launched the success of this new genre in Triton Library. Superhero and classic comic titles dominated the circulation of graphic novels and the library continued to get new releases through the McNaughton Collection.
In January 2013, when Dr. Juraga was promoted to Chairperson of the Library, she passed on the collection development responsibilities of the graphic novel and comics collection to Reference and Archives Librarian, Mary Grace Maloney. Since then, Ms. Maloney focused on developing the core collection of classic comics and graphic novels as well as keeping up with the popular superhero titles and introducing more literary and nonfiction selections to the collection. The popularity of this unique academic collection continues to grow as many titles circulate to colleges and universities around the state through I-Share or inter-library loans.
Dr. Juraga currently maintains Triton's graphic novel collection.
-- This history was written by Mary Grace Maloney, after interviewing Dr. Dubravka Juraga in 2012, and revised 2016.
