Donating UY to libraries

General discussion about Usagi Yojimbo, the comics, the stories, the characters, collectibles, TV appearances, Stan Sakai, Space Usagi, Nilson & Hermy, and all other related topics.

Moderators: Mayhem, Steve Hubbell, Moderators

Post Reply
User avatar
Jet_Jaguar
Shugyosha<Student Warrior>
Posts: 1281
Joined: Tue Sep 11, 2007 21:37 -0700
Location: TX, United States

Donating UY to libraries

Post by Jet_Jaguar »

Has anyone here ever donated volumes of UY to libraries? If I can find good deals on a couple of UY TPBs at amazon marketplace, I'm considering getting a few to donate to a couple of libraries (I already have all of them except Grasscutter II). The libraries where I have have some comics and graphic novels, but no UY. I think every library should have at least a few volumes. Maybe I'll get a few copies of Grasscutter to donate if I can pick up a few inexpensively.

Anyone have suggestions for other volumes that might be particularly good to donate to libraries?
"It doesn't matter whom you are paired against;
your opponent is always yourself."

-Nakamura (via Joe R. Lansdale's Mucho Mojo)
User avatar
Stan Sakai
Sensei
Posts: 4896
Joined: Wed Sep 18, 2002 12:21 -0700

Post by Stan Sakai »

I've donated a bunch of comics and graphic novels to libraries. A few publishers send me comps, many of which I have given to the Young Adult librarian at the main branch in my city. Make sure they are appropriate for the readership.

I've also given a few copies of UY, but they already have quite a few volumes on their shelves.
User avatar
Colin Solan
Shugyosha<Student Warrior>
Posts: 314
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2005 18:49 -0700
Location: MA
Contact:

Post by Colin Solan »

I donated my TPB copy of Book 2 to my local library after acquiring a hardcover edition.
bookdriver
Shugyosha<Student Warrior>
Posts: 29
Joined: Thu Apr 07, 2005 19:19 -0700
Location: Fremont, CA
Contact:

Post by bookdriver »

I work as a clerk at a library system in the San Francisco Bay area. We're told to accept all donations courteously, but many items do not become part of the collection. We get lots of old and out of date nonfiction, last year's fiction best sellers, VHS videos, college textbooks, old magazines, single issues of comic books, etc. Even some good items might get overlooked among the junk.

You should try to find a sympathetic librarian who you can trust to add the book to the collection. Stan's Usagi books won a national ALA young adult award so be sure to point it out. Sometimes a big news story, unfortunately, often obituaries such as for Will Eisner or Carl Barks, will raise awareness among the noncomic reading librarians.

From the inside, I sit down with one of our book buyers every couple months. She's most receptive to the animation and comic art books I give like the Art of Finding Nemo, Art of Spirited Away, andMutts: the Comic Art of Patrick McDonnell. Those are good, colorful "one off" books in hardcover which she is happy to have processed and made part of the collection. She has been reluctant to accept just the first of a comic series as the library may not be able to buy the follow-up volumes. She's turned down out-of-print anime DVD's as she could not buy more if demand develops.

I did get to sit in on some meetings of the children's librarians when they got to buy graphic novels. From showing them some of my books, they ended up buying all three of those handsome Image hardcovers of James Robinson and Paul Smith's Leave It to Chance and Rod Espinosa's Courageous Princess.

Best,

Steven
Post Reply