Managing Manga in Your Library
The current surge of interest in manga is nothing short of a revolution in young adult publishing. Manga are Japanese graphic novels, in which stories that were originally published in magazines are then compiled into black and white paperbacks which can go on for dozens of volumes. With the uptick in interest in anime (Japanese animation) teens and tweens are flocking to the new medium. They cluster around shelving trucks of returned books and scarf them up before the books can hit the shelves. Manga brings young people into the library building and forms a ready base for programming and book talks.