For those who don’t know, 741.5 is the Dewey Decimal number for graphic novels. Cataloging can be an absolute nightmare for librarians when there are differing opinions at play. Some people might be amazed to see the fiery heat of a debate between something as mundane as which order books should be put under a shelf. Just choose any method you say? Ha! If only it were that simple. As a librarian, findability of items is a major part of the job, and not every librarian feels the same way about each genre.
During the first minute interning at the library, I was pulled into a department meeting first thing where the topic of Graphic Novels came up. Do we shelve them by author or by title? OH BOY WAS THAT THE BIG DEBATE. One of staff members was so disturbed by the possibility of having to organize Graphic Novels by author instead of titles they dramatically remarked that they would throw themselves in the nearby lake! At this point, it has come to my attention that there is quite a lot of controversy over what to do with graphic novels.
What makes this topic so interesting is that there is no definitively correct answer. Graphic Novels are often written as a series written by many authors and other collaborators and even sometimes have a guest author. However, there are some graphic novel authors who have become very popular and have patrons request their books by the author’s name instead of by title. This is less common to the genre as a whole, but it still holds weight in the argument for author over title.
Personally, I believe organizing by title would be the best decision. Unlike regular novels, Graphic Novels are better remembered by their title, not author. As with most series based genres, patrons tend to care more about looking at a graphic novel series in chronological order and might be confused as to what is available to them if organized by author instead. As for the few popular author-known novels, that’s why we have librarians! Part of being a librarian is to assist patrons by finding any books they are unable to find.
So what’s the answer? This debate is far from over! It has already been over a week subject was brought up on my first day and I am eagerly waiting for its inevitable conclusion. ‘Til next time? We’ll see!
Shelf Adulation 