The point I’m taking clumsy swats at is that I was tryng to help the library “save itself” from possible comics backlash. But in doing that I was urging them to be more prudish with comics than they would for, say, the Young Adult fiction section–where there’s all kinds of sex and repression and lesbians! And why not–libraries aren’t supposed to be babysitters for the public.

Or something like that.

Sorry if this isn’t the most relevent response, but I think it does sort of indicate how those who want librarians to “know more” about their comics may be asking for a double standard for comics!

–cd

Great take on the issue. Obviously I don’t want the books taken off the shelves or I’d go ask the librarian if she knew what Milk and Cheese were up to, but thier presence remains facinating to me.

I don’t know how the buying process works at our library– they have some odd items– such as a Thor Visionaries hardcover first edition signed by Walt Simpson. I can’t imagine how that got that. I suspect that many of the comics were donated– I in fact gave the library a Captain Britain graphic novel, thinking it would be sold in a fundraiser book sale, but it ended up on the shelves instead. Might be the same for Milk and Cheese, which would make it even less likely they examined the book- probably just checked to see if they had a copy, saw that they didn’t, and shelved it. Akira, since the have the entire set, must have been a purchase, but it’s likely that someone requested those.

But no matter how these books got there, I kind of like the idea that the library can still be a little shocking– keeping up with the internet and all that. I guess I’ll never know if that potential to shock is intentional or accidental.

–G