Word on the Street

Library Journal reviews Underground and Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels

This month's issue of Library Journal contains a review of Underground and Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels! Cheryl LaGuardia says:

Stunning in quantity and in quality. . . . a tour de force. . . . It's clear that the understanding of the genre behind the construction of this product is formidable. The file gets a ten-plus for content. . . . An absolute must-have for libraries serving scholars and serious students of comic books and graphic novels.

LaGuardia highlights the content in particular. Underground and Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels is the first collection of its kind, with more than 75,000 pages of original material and more than 25,000 pages of secondary material—criticism, theory, journal articles, interviews, and more. Alexander Street aims to make silent voices heard, and we're proud to be a part of drawing (no pun intended) this art form the attention it deserves.

Click here for more information about Underground and Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels. To learn more or request a trial, email sales@alexanderstreet.com.

News on comics and Dr. Frederic Wertham

Alexander Street's Underground and Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels continues to grow and garner praise from some of the most influential publications in the comics industry. Recently, comics editor Greg Urquhart spoke with ICv2 to discuss the creation of the online collection. You can read the full article here.

Libraries are also taking notice of the collection and using it to enhance there comic book collections. The Library of Congress boasts the country's largest collection of comic books, and they recently opened the personal papers of Dr. Frederic Wertham. Wertham, as you'll recall, authored Seduction of the Innocent, which paved the way for the Comics Code Authority and their ban on material deemed unsuitable for the public. A great article about Wertham and the Library of Congress was just published by Washington City Paper, and can be read here.

Underground and Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels is available to libraries and academic institutions worldwide. For more information, including a free trial and price quote, please contact sales@alexanderstreet.com.

New MARC records sets available

Four new sets of MARC records have just been uploaded to http://marc.alexanderstreet.com. The new record sets include:

• Underground and Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels - This is the first set of book-level records for this collection, and it includes 133 records in MARC8 format.
• Black Short Fiction and Folkore, supplement 3 - This file includes 5 records representing 145 links to periodical sources.
• Contemporary World Music - The first set of records for this streaming audio collection includes 504 records representing 529 albums. This set is intended for customers in the U.S. and Canada only.
• Contemporary World Music, supplement 1 - This supplemental set includes 434 records representing 446 albums, and is intended for customers in the U.S. and Canada only.

Additionally, we've released several new lists of titles with URLs linking directly into our collections. Newly added title lists include:

• American Song (for customers outside of the U.S. and Canada)
• Classical Music Library (for customers outside of the U.S. and Canada)
• Classical Music Library (EMI titles available in select countries. Please view the spreadsheet for a complete list of territories where EMI content is currently available.)
• Jazz Music Library (for customers outside of the U.S. and Canada)
• Contemporary World Music (for customers outside of the U.S. and Canada)
• Smithsonian Global Sound^® for Libraries
• Alexander Street Literature
• Black Short Fiction and Folklore
• Black Women Writers
• Caribbean Literature
• Irish Women Poets of the Romantic Period
• Latin American Women Writers
• Latino Literature
• The Romantic Era Redefined
• Scottish and Irish Women Poets of the Romantic Period
• South and Southeast Asian Literature
• Counseling and Psychotherapy Transcripts, Client Narratives, and Reference Works

We will continue to produce MARC records for the collections listed above, but in the meantime the title lists are available at http://marc.alexandestreet.com.

Graphic novel news

On August 8th, Fantagraphics founder and president Gary Groth spoke at the Sydney Opera House. The program, called GRAPHIC, also featured Neil Gaimon, Kevin Smith, and others. You can learn more and download the program on the Sydney Opera House's Web site, and see photos and videos on the GRAPHIC Facebook page. In addition to publishing The Comics Journal, Gary Groth is an advisor on Alexander Street's Underground and Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels.

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If you haven't yet read Library Journal's graphic novel Q&A, you can find the full article here. In Q&A: Librarianship's Graphic Novel Experts, Martha Cornog talks with librarians who have recently published books on comics and graphic novels. They answer questions about being introduced to comics as kids, reading comics online, and the permeation of comics into popular culture.

Underground and Independent Comics has new content and features

Underground and Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels has been updated with thousands of pages of new comics and enhanced features that make the collection even more powerful. Underground and Independent Comics currently features about 32,000 pages of content, and is growing to include more than 75,000 pages upon completion.

Recently added content includes 45 new issues of The Comics Journal, which has never before appeared in a searchable, digital format. Also available now is Seduction of the Innocent by Dr. Frederick Wertham, which led to the Senate hearings that led to the formation of the Comics Code Authority.

Newly added features make the collection make it even easier to search and browse. The text of all secondary materials, including The Comics Journal, us now fully searchable. There are also new browse categories, including "Character", "Subject", and "Genre".

You can now follow our comics editor on Twitter @Urqness.

Underground and Independent Comics is available to libraries and academic institutions worldwide. Email sales@alexanderstreet.com to request a free trial and a price quote for your library.