Pikes Peak Library District has fourteen locations and a very active mobile library service. The way each location participates varies. Some locations put comics on a table with a sign that talks about FCBD and to only take one. Other locations have passive programs like superhero coloring pages, Make Your Own Comics, or Cubeecrafts (super fun, but time-consuming!).

At one of our larger libraries, we have an annual event that brings in over four hundred people! For the event, we try new activities every year, but some things just work especially well! Our program takes over the teen center, and readers of all ages are welcome. During our three-hour celebration, we have stations with activities, or patrons can grab a comic and head out. This year we will have a professional face painter, cookie decorating, Cubeecrafts, Sphero, Make Your Own Comics, a superhero name generator, magnet-making, and games on the XBOX Kinect! That takes a lot of work from three staff members and five volunteers. Staff and volunteers take turns staffing the stations and making sure that everyone gets comics.

Do you want to get in on the action, but you want to do more or hear about different ideas? Never fear—there are other things that you can do! Try a photo booth with props for all kinds of comics, and when people take a picture, ask them to post it on Facebook or use Twitter and a hashtag. Stormtroopers from the 501^st Legion will visit in costume, but often require a long lead time. Many cosplayers are excited about sharing their knowledge and passion; ask them to share and lead a program. Panel discussions about superheroes, villains, and other comic book-related topics are really fun.

Getting the word out about events is always tricky. Fortunately, on the FCBD website, they have provided many marketing materials for print and social media. They will even provide generic press releases when asked.

Post your ideas below, and we’ll see you at FCBD 2016!

The post Free Comic Book Day in the Library! first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

“The gate count is over 1,000!”

On August 8, 2015 we were two hours into our library’s first ComiCon and attendance was surpassing anything we had imagined. By the end of our four-hour event, over 1,700 had come to share their love–correction, passion–for everything that the heroes and villains of Sci-Fi, fantasy, comics, games, graphic novels, and gaming meant to them. Community “geeks,” obsessed with their hobby, had discovered our library!

How did four young library staff members, who share their love of geek culture and the literature that inspires this fandom, manage to stage such a fantastically successful event? Never have I met committee members on any project who spoke in such concert, who agreed on their goals from the start, and who never faltered in what they hoped to achieve. What follows is their collective voice relating how they brought the first Electric City ComiCon to our library. Perhaps the specific details and the actual process they went through will inspire you to host a Comic Con at your library.

OUR MISSION
We are fascinated with the geek culture, especially when fans bring their favorite characters to life from literature. We all promote literacy and already had formed a bond through social media. When we found out two years ago that the 2015 theme for Summer Reading would be “Heroes,” it hit us that a comic convention or Con would be the ideal way to culminate the program. Some of us had been to Cons and were already familiar with how they worked, but they were more adult-oriented. We wanted to offer a safe place to our library patrons in real space for their passion and interests, and what place better represents a safe haven to our community than our library! And, more importantly, we wanted to focus on our younger patrons, our Tweens and Teens. We wanted parents to come with their kids to find out what we have to offer, and we insisted that our Con be “family friendly.”

PERMISSION AND PLANNING
We pitched the idea, first, to the Head of our Children’s department. She gave us overwhelming support, became part of the initial planning stage, and was integral throughout the process. Next, we had to convince our library director, Faith Line. She was reluctant to let us hold such a venue without a lot more research on our part. Did we really know what we were getting into? As we worked on gathering more information, she took a leap of faith and gave us the go-ahead. She was a very exacting mentor, and we learned to think more from her position as director and to consider all the issues involved: Library Board approval, security, staffing, and a hundred logistical matters. Well in advance of our Con we had to write our photography policy and post it publically. We wanted to have those who attended in costume have the opportunity to be photographed digitally against the green screen with the background of their choice. Those photographed were advised that their digital photo might be posted on any of our social media sites.

Our learning curve was huge and the planning took us over a year to complete. We deeply appreciate the guidance Faith gave us and the hard work she put in with us, right up through the day of our event.

FINDING FUNDING, PARTNERS & SPONSORS
Faith sent some of us to Spartanburg, SC, to attend their SpartanCon. Their organizers graciously shared all their planning notes with us, but it was obvious from their event that they had a substantial budget while we had zilch to spend. We concentrated on where to find funding. Friends of the Library gave us money and we wrote an LSTA grant tied into the Summer Reading program to help pay for publicity. The Children’s department purchased a green screen for us to use for the photography part of the venue.

This was a brand-new library event and we had no track record to convince potential partners or sponsors. We developed a sponsorship packet, which didn’t turn out as effective as we wanted because we started too late in the year to approach big corporate sponsors. We had no way to judge how popular our ComiCon would be, so we couldn’t make solid projections or promises of return for their participation or advertising. We did a lot of pleading to our sponsors,and they too, had to take a leap of faith.

Books-A-Million and Planet Comics agreed to be our major partners. Smaller local businesses donated gifts for the panelists or food for our Green Room. The Independent-Mail, the local newspaper, provided free ad space. An up-scale downtown inn, The Bleckley, provided lodging for one of our guest panelists. People’s Bank, BlueRidge Security, Forx Farm, (ever taste goat’s milk fudge? Wonderful!), and the SC  State Library sponsored us in significant ways. We were fortunate that, as we evaluated the costs, we only had to use library funds for prizes for the FanArt and Cosplay contest.

PLANNING PROGRAMS
As lead-ups to our ComiCon, we engaged regional artist Enoch Vaughn to hold three Super Hero Creation workshops aimed at teens to adults. We also decided to sponsor a FanArt Contest, which we initiated two months ahead of the Con. FanArt is a huge part of the geek culture, as you can see when you go to Instagram and Tumblr and search the hashtag #fanart. Artists are constantly reimagining characters or placing characters in weird worlds and having character cross-overs. Although FanArt contests are not typically held at ComiCons, we used the contest as an inexpensive way to advertise our Con and to get our community engaged in the world of heroes. We were hoping it would appeal to our teen demographics; however, our contest was open to all ages. Entries would be judged on the day of the ComiCon. Two weeks before the Con, we only had a dozen entrants and we were worried that it wasn’t being well-received. In that last week the entries flooded in and we were blown away by their quality, in all age divisions.

We weren’t sure if the patrons understood what “cosplay” was—that it’s a combination word: costume + role play, not intended for a stage production. Our director bought a dozen or so books on cosplay topics and we set up a display. Those books were checked out immediately! To heighten interest we contacted Sybil Todd of White Knight Cosplay—who knew we had such an expert in our own backyard?–and she presented two “Getting Into Costuming and Cosplay” workshops for teens in early July.

GETTING PANEL PARTICIPANTS
Since our ComiCon was the culminating event of the Summer Reading program, we planned two sessions for our local young heroes in the Children’s Department on “How To Be a Hero.” These were presented by Heroes in Force, a regional group specializing in motivational activities for kids. Thanks to them, Batman made an appearance at our Con and wowed the kids. We scheduled their programs so that panel sessions would not be competing with them.

We sought experts for the authors, cosplay, and artists panels who understood heroic characters for young adults, and we wanted local or regional authors and artists. We also wanted artists of comics and graphic novels who could speak to young people about combining art with words.

We contacted local cosplayers to talk about cosplay etiquette, how to approach weapons and mask making, what steampunk costuming is, and what cosplay design involves. We already had been going where authors, artists, and cosplayers were appearing—the DragonCon and AnachroCon in Atlanta, SC Comicon, and other regional Cons—in order to make personal contact with them. We attended book signings. We sent them brief inquiries via email and told them what we were planning. We also sent out letters and made myriad phone calls inquiring whether stated fees could be waived. We worked on the philosophy of “why not ask?” and took a chance. Our mantra became, “They can’t come if you don’t invite them.” The trick was to get them all to come for free!

One of the most pleasant surprises was to find out how willing authors, artists, and cosplayers were to work with us once we told them our objectives. Those who responded “yes!” are great advocates of libraries and literacy and we were thrilled to have them as our panelists. We owe special thanks to David Weber, Megan Shepherd, Delilah S. Dawson, Robert Venditti, Tara Lynne, George Farmer, Allen Swords, Marla Roberson, Gypsey Teague, and Amanda Finley for their support of our event. On the day of our Con, we were very disappointed when Robert Venditti cancelled due to illness. Enoch Vaughn agreed to substitute and the panel went on as planned. ComiCon people do form a very cooperative community.

STAFFING AND DIVISION OF RESPONSIBILITIES
We shared the responsibilities and all of our decisions were made by consensus, although we each had specific tasks we worked on. We didn’t move forward until we all agreed that what we were going to do met our basic goals. And we also knew that there was no way our library could hold this event without the help of staff.

The Summer Reading/Electric City ComiCon staff T-shirts were designed by Sara Leady. With special ALA approval, she modified the official library logo by dressing the Big L in a green superhero cape with mask. Each staff member who worked our Con wore a special T-shirt, with the same logo on the front as the Summer Reading T-shirt, but with the logos of all our sponsors on the back, a salute of thanks to them for their support.

VENDORS
You can’t have a ComiCon without vendors, but we had to get Library Board approval to waive the rule of no commercial activities in our library. We started looking for potential vendors almost two years ago. We visited vendor booths at all the major Cons, craft fairs, and through location-based searching on the internet. We narrowed our list of over one hundred down to thirteen—the number determined by our space limitations. One advantage for the vendors was that we did not charge a booth fee. The authors had booths and their books were available for purchase and autographing. Some of the cosplay panelists had booths dedicated to costume accessories. Our IT department installed an additional access point to our Wi-Fi so that vendors had internet access from their locations.

MAPPING THE FLOW
We mapped what we thought would be effective crowd flow. We had no idea how many people to expect and how much open floor space in our two-level library we would need for crowds. We wanted everything located in logical, accessible places, with freely-flowing traffic between events, without blocking the day-to-day routines—we performed normal library operations during our Con! For weeks prior, we posted signs throughout the building warning our patrons to expect a lot of noise on Con day.

We debated how we would set up the vendors and eventually agreed to assign them all to one space to allow equal access to the attendees. We had to deal with the main stairway and elevator ingress/egress to the upper level when locating the FanArt display, the panel tables, and audience seating. We were concerned that the activities in the Children’s area on the main level would be overlooked by those immediately going upstairs to the panel presentations and the gaming stations in the Teen Center. Our fears were unfounded. The huge attendance meant that all areas were visited by large numbers of people.

SECURITY
One major concern, of course, was security. Since our building is County-owned, our director arranged for two additional county deputies (three in all) to be on duty throughout the event. One deputy manned the main entrance as a weapons inspector. In cosplay many participants come with prop weapons as part of their costume, and we did see several really convincing Uzi’s in the hands of storm troopers! The deputy inspected and tagged each one to reassure us that they were not real.

The other two deputies circulated through each level during the event. They commented how well-behaved the crowd was. We understood why. For the most part, those who attend Cons come seeking others to bond with, to meet up with others who they may have already communicated with via various social media avenues. We saw several teens from several different schools laughing and talking with each other about their costumes. After all, a Con is a community of fellow-fans geeking together. We also planned a combination vendor supply room and public first aid/lost and found station adjacent to the vendor area and near the main entrance.

FOOD & REFRESHMENTS
We discussed having a public food concessions but our director nixed the idea for valid reasons. We had already bitten off a big hunk of this Con to manage, and having to deal with food, inside or out, would add another responsibility or headache, not to mention burden the clean-up crew. We decided that a Green Room for panelists and vendors would be sufficient for this year.

POST EVENT ANALYSIS
For us, the Electric City ComicCon was a mind-blowing success! We already have our second Con calendared for August 6, 2016, from 10-5. We learned a lot about how to improve our event:

HOURS AND ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING

• Add three more hours to avoid overlaps in the schedule and provide more time between panels.
• Relocate the panel stage to avoid crowd noise and traffic.
• Add a steampunk panel.
• Have an Artists Alley with prints and posters for sale.
• Host more lead-up events for Tweens and Teens.
• Provide more cosplay workshops.
• Have more comic books for sale.
• Readdress the location of photo station and traffic flow by it. It was such a popular activity that traffic got jammed up and blocked access to other areas for children.

STAFFING

• Involve more geek volunteers. (We had one enthusiastic volunteer this year.)
• Involve more staff in the preplanning.

PROMOTIONS

• Create a brand for our Con that is used on all our advertising and everything we print, display, or digitally broadcast.
• Consider selling Con T-shirts. Many, many attendees wanted to buy our staff T-shirts.

FUNDING

• Start early to solicit corporate partners and sponsors for next year. Funding will always be the big issue, but fortunately we’ll have this year’s impressive gate count to entice more sponsors for 2016!

OTHER ISSUES

• Consider shuttle buses to and from city parking lots to address limited parking issue.
• Investigate providing ATM access.
• Print more programs. We only printed 500 and had to run off copies on-the-fly.
• Encourage survey returns. We had a survey on our website and included a printed survey in the tri-fold program. Although the survey results were overwhelmingly positive–Bigger! Longer!–we didn’t get back a significant percentage of them.

We overheard one of our attendees say enthusiastically, “The library is interested in what I’m interested in!” That’s why we held our own ComiCon, not only to have people come through our doors, but to shift the attitude held by so many of what they think a library is into what we know it can be for them…to see the possibilities of libraries…the possibility of their library. For more information, contact us at: electriccitycomicon@andersonlibrary.org

Resources:

Banaszak, Mark. “Library Articles. Convention Development: Creating A Mini-Con At The Library.” Diamond Bookshelf. January 20, ? http://www.diamondbookshelf.com/Home/1/1/20/181?articleID=130000 (accessed August 28, 2015).

Cruz, Rebecca. “Comics, Super Heroes, Pop Culture, and Libraries.” Public Libraries Online. August 17, 2015. https://publiclibrariesonline.org/2015/08/comics-super-heroes-pop-culture-and-libraries (accessed August 28, 2015).

Hamdan, Kate Denwiddie and Kareemah. “We Put On a Comic-Con (And So Can You!).” Virginia Libraries. July-September 2013. http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/VALib/v59_n3/pdf/denwiddie.pdf (accessed August 28, 2015).

Lynne, Tara. “Introducing Electric City Comic Con!” The Geekiary. June 3, 2015. http://thegeekiary.com/introducing-electric-city-comic-con/25050 (accessed August 31, 2015).

MacDonald, Heidi. “How to Throw a Comic Con at Your Library.” Publishers Weekly. April 18, 2014. http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/comics/article/61940-how-to-throw-a-comic-con-at-your-library.html (accessed August 31, 2015).

Anderson County, SC website: http://www.andersonlibrary.org/

Electric City ComiCon Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/electriccitycomicon

Spartanburg, SC Spartancon website: http://www.infodepot.org/zReaders/Spartancon.asp

David Weber’s website: http://www.davidweber.net/

Megan Shepherd’s website: http://meganshepherd.com/

Delilah S. Dawson’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DelilahSDawson

Robert Venditti’s webpage: http://www.dccomics.com/talent/robert-venditti

White Knight Cosplay: https://www.facebook.com/whiteknightcosplay

Heroes in Force website: http://www.heroesinforce.com/

Enoch Vaughn: https://www.facebook.com/enoch.vaughn

George Farmer’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ArtofGeorgeFarmer

Gypsey Teague’s website: http://www.gypseyteague.com/

Amanda Findley’s Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/AmandaFinleyCrafts

AnachroCon, Atlanta, GA: http://www.anachrocon.com/

DragonCon, Atlanta, GA: http://www.dragoncon.org/

The post Geeking @ the Library: Con is Community! first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Perhaps this illustrates how popular cultural icons, such as The Simpsons, have been successfully utilized by school teachers and college professors to engage students with what is normally considered boring topics. There are numerous books and websites devoted to such applications. For example, during the very first season of The Simpsons, episode two (“Bart the Genius”) provides an ideal lesson discussion opportunity for students about scholastic honesty. Bart cheats on an intelligence exam and learns the real liability of dishonesty, experiencing multiple encounters of others’ retaliation to his actions. A website called Creative Thinking (http://creativethinking.nku.edu), designed for educators’ use and developed by the authors of this article, offers related lessons about plagiarism and copyright awareness utilizing film clips, such as this one from The Simpsons.

Animation of varying types, including animé, appeals to a wide range of ages, especially children and teens. Teaching young people about intellectual property can be a challenging task. Using pop cultural resources and animation to relate to a younger audience makes this task both fun and educational.

Intellectual Property Information Literacy

As intellectual property librarians, we have collaboratively worked with children’s librarians, teen librarians, school librarians, and other educators. Our goal is to promote many types of Intellectual Property Information Literacy (IPIL) programs in the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky metropolitan region.

After conducting successful science inventor patent programs for children—on behalf of Patent and Trademark Resource Center (PTRC) libraries representing the United States Patent and Trademark Office—we were searching for ways to include other intellectual properties, particularly trademark and copyright, as well as topics such as music, arts and humanities, and business entrepreneurship. These types of “creativity and innovation” programs have included InventorFest² and Creative Thinking,³ which is an online K-12 intellectual property awareness curriculum to teach youth about originality and avoiding plagiarism. The Creative Thinking site also includes an original interactive database entitled “Which Simpsons Character Is Your Intellectual Property Profile?” Students test to see which Simpsons character they compare to, in relation to intellectual property challenges such as plagiarism and copyright.

Before offering superhero intellectual property awareness programs for public libraries, we presented an engaging IPIL book discussion for a regional middle school student workshop at Northern Kentucky University (NKU). The popular tween novels Masterpiece by Elise Broach (2008) and Scumble by Ingrid Law (2010) were utilized to engage students to analyze the creativity of these books’ characters. Students proactively explored synthesizing research skills while learning to respect others’ intellectual works. They learned how to avoid plagiarism, while becoming aware of copyrights, trademarks, and patents that could also apply to their own creative and innovative works.⁴

Superheroes and graphic novels have also been tied to library research lesson plans for high school students, such as Joan Upell’s “Creating 21st Century Superheroes,” published in the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Learning4Life lesson plan database.⁵ Upell’s instruction demonstrates the wide-ranging possibilities of educating students on multiple topics. It is also tied to the AASL/Common Core State Standards Crosswalk. A similar lesson plan, “Using Graphic Novels with Children and Teens,” posted on the Scholastic website for teachers, claims that, “educators have reported great success when they have integrated graphic novels into their curriculum, especially in the areas of English, science, social studies, and art.”⁶

Recently, science graphic novels have been published that can support students’ academic success. Studies have demonstrated that science-themed comic books, utilized to supplement traditional teaching resources, can improve student learning and attitudes towards science.⁷ There are even educational comic books with intellectual property as the main subject, published by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain.⁸ These best practices and resources further assisted us in our use of the superheroes theme in educating younger audiences at public libraries about intellectual property.

Running Superheroes through a Pedagogical Pace

For our public library intellectual property awareness programs for children and teens, we utilized the same pedagogical approaches mentioned previously and applied them to the history of superhero comics. We introduced how intellectual properties were associated with the concept of superhero characters and their creators. Our initial public library target audience was for ages 6 through 12. We avoided any clip art of proprietary superhero images, only using generic artwork for the published promotional materials. After our first round of presentations, we discovered that the content presented was received even better by 8- to 12-year-olds. Later, we adapted the program for teens and adult audiences at other public library venues.

We collaborated with branch libraries at both the Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County (PLCH), and the Kenton County (KY) Public Library (KCPL). The branch libraries handled all of the publicity and venue set up, including displaying related-topic books onsite to supplement our program content. We asked the branch librarians to have plenty of paper, crayons, pencils, felt-tipped markers, and so on available for younger children to create their own superhero artwork or stories. We prepared a visually engaging PowerPoint presentation to support our topic, and showed a few superhero cartoon clips from YouTube to supplement our talk. This was especially important for the younger attendees. We displayed short 6-to-12-minute film clips that were authorized promotional presentations from the studios representing DC Comics and Marvel Comics. We also found perfectly fitting film clips from YouTube which provided instruction on how to draw a superhero.⁹ We supplemented this drawing instruction with a few “How to Draw a Superhero” workbooks or educational webpages. The Cleveland Public Library also provided its own Superman crossword puzzle and trivia sheet that we distributed at the venue for older teens and adults. Cleveland is the home of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the creators of Superman. Additionally, a local comic-book shop retailer co-presented with us at one of the older teen and adult venues. The retailer was able to bring along plenty of free sample comic books and memorabilia for attendees. Inviting local artists that specialize in drawing animated characters or superheroes for a demonstration could be considered too.

We presented another version of this superhero matinee program (that we called “Behind the Mask”) for teens and adults at PLCH’s second annual Comic Con series. This audience included adults who were actively working on artwork or graphic novels of their own, as well as teens who were interested in drawing or writing. We again used the history of comics to introduce intellectual property concepts. We talked about freedom of expression challenges, such as the now defunct Comics Code Authority¹⁰ that was adopted in 1954 to regulate the content of comics. We also answered many thoughtful copyright questions from the audience. The organizer of the Comic Con series commented: “Thanks for putting on that great program! I think your program was one of the most educational yet fun ones we’ve had so far.”

At the first annual iMAGiNExpo (a free community creativity and innovation seminar)¹¹ at KCPL’s Covington branch in May 2014, we presented the “Behind the Mask” program to an audience of mostly teens who were fascinated by the YouTube video of an artist creating a superhero in real time. This audience was very interested in the drawing aspect of the program, but were also introduced to some basic intellectual property concepts. As with the younger participants during the summer programs, the seed concept about intellectual property was planted.

How to Host a Superhero Intellectual Property Program at Your Own Library

It’s easy to create a superhero intellectual property awareness program at your library by adapting the following outline to your program’s unique audience needs:

1. Start the program by displaying an image of a large group of superheroes from a book or website. Ask the attendees questions such as: What are superheroes? Which words best describe superheroes? Can you provide examples of some of the super powers that they possess? Which sidekicks do they have? Who are their archenemies and nemeses? Which mediums convey the stories of superheroes? Who creates these characters and stories? What theme ties these stories together? This leads well into detailing the history of comics, showing examples from notable earlier era characters and using a few short videos from YouTube. For instance, the Katzenjammer Kids, Happy Hooligan, and Barney Google are great examples of early newspaper comic strip characters before the development of superheroes. Little Orphan Annie, Popeye, and Dick Tracy offer examples of transitional heroes at the dawn of the Golden Age of superhero comic books (1930s to 1950s), which featured Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Subsequent eras include the Silver Age (1950s to 1970s) with such works as the Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer, the Bronze Age (1970s to 1980s) with the Amazing Spider-Man, and the contemporary Modern Age today with long-standing and new characters alike. There are many books which provide more historic details, such as Gail Stavitsky’s Reflecting Culture: The Evolution of American Comic Book Super Heroes.¹² (This portion should last about 15 minutes.)
2. Introduce the intellectual property subjects of copyright, patent, and trademark and apply these concepts to the superheroes and their creators. Returning to questions about authors and artists leads well into this topic: How do these authors and artists create these works? Have you written any creative short stories, songs, poems, or drawings? Are you an author or artist? How might you write about or draw superheroes? How do artists and authors protect their intellectual works? For the older teens and adults, discussing common literary storytelling techniques from related instructional books is effective.¹³ For all audiences, books or short YouTube video clips on how to draw superheroes are displayed. (This portion should last about 15 minutes.)
3. Next, instruct younger participants to create their own superheroes. Ask them which special powers they will create. Will s/he use any gadgets? We suggested that they give the superhero a name, too. In our programs with youth, participants shared their creations with the group. We reminded them that they were now the copyright holder of their very own superhero drawing! For the older teen and adult groups, we asked if they had created any intellectual works related to our topic. If so, we asked them to compare or contrast their original characters’ innovative attributes to those of any characters from a popular book or movie. Then we discussed which intellectual properties (e.g. patent, trademark, or copyright) might apply to their characters or stories.¹⁴ In addition, you might ask older participants to apply their scientific innovation and/or artistic creativity to dream up an invention of application or technology within their field of interest that would support a superhero or a villain. (This portion should last about 30 minutes.)
4. To wind down the program, display library books and videos about superheroes for customer checkout and for further discussion to tie the use of videos to the pedagogy of intellectual property awareness and the educational aspect of the workshop. (This portion should last about 10 minutes.)
5. Optional concept: invite a local comic-book retailer or animation artist to participate. Also, refer to recently published newspaper or magazine articles related to intellectual property and superheroes. For example, the local Cincinnati Enquirer¹⁵ published a timely news story about the seventy-fifth anniversary of Superman, including a photo of the original writer Jerry Siegel and cartoonist Joe Shuster looking over Superman sketches while visiting the Enquirer art room in 1942. Other articles of interest included “Marvel’s Superhero Licensing,” featured in the June 2012 issue of WIPO Magazine.¹⁶

Observations and Feedback from Program Participants

The question-and-answer sessions near the start of the program were very popular for discussing the superhero characters; that is, comparing Marvel versus DC characters or villains associated with specific heroes or even gadgets and gizmos associated with superheroes. The younger kids were extremely enthusiastic to answer questions posed about the various characteristics of the superheroes and which ones were their favorites.

The history and origins of Batman was among the most popular of the characters discussed. Attendees were surprised to learn how old the publishing origins were of the early DC characters, around the year 1939. It surprised them to learn that was the same era of the classic film The Wizard of Oz. This led to a discussion about book adaptations to films and television programs. This, in turn, helped to pave the way for the copyright and authorship topic.

When authors and artists were discussed in more detail, students were very engaged to chat about the intellectual property concepts protecting creative works. We tied this concept to their original drawings, poems, superhero gadgets, or costumes. We demonstrated the use of drawing a copyright © symbol. This led into the concept of originality versus plagiarism and the characterization of copycats as literary villains. We discussed the public domain by presenting the superhero American Crusader from the early 1940s by a company that went out of business and subsequently entered into the public domain as many others did from that era.¹⁷ We defined copyright, trademarks, and patents next. Trademarks were associated with the Marvel and DC brands and characters. For our teen and adult programs, we discussed how the term “super heroes” is a federally registered trademark¹⁸ for toys and comic books that is co-owned by DC Comics and Marvel Comics. We displayed US Design Patent D329,321 from the year 1992 for the Batman headdress from the popular film series.

Near the close of our program, we asked the younger participants to draw their own superheroes or favorite interpretations of the characters they liked. They were very excited to create their own drawings, and some children even wrote short stories and poems. Some invented unique super-gadgets in their drawings, too. When they were ready, attendees shared their works of art with others. An onsite popularity poll was implemented where everyone applauded when each child presented and described their work in front of the others. A grand-prize winner was determined and announced, while everyone received motivational adhesive stickers. Instructional coloring and drawing sheets were provided as references when attendees needed inspiration or ideas.

Multiple children’s librarians participating noticed that although the younger kids might not have fully understood the concept of intellectual property, they felt that the seed had been planted. For example, they understood the authorship tied to ownership concept and that copycats were dishonest and wrong.

Conclusion

Superheroes once again have come to the rescue, this time to save the day with public library programs that educate our youth about the legality and respect of the intellectual property of others. Who knows, perhaps Batgirl a.k.a. Barbara Gordon (the Gotham City librarian in the Batman comic) has utilized similar programming for the children of Gotham City to learn about intellectual property. Such awareness programs about intellectual property can be based upon best practices and the proven pedagogy of educators’ related lessons and librarians’ information literacy instruction, making all of our library customers more aware of intellectual property.

References and Notes

1. Sara Bibel, “Sunday Final Ratings: ‘Family Guy’, ‘60 Minutes’ & ‘The Mentalist’ Adjusted Up; “The Simpsons’, “Bob’s Burgers’, ‘The Best of Jimmy Fallon’ & ‘Betrayal’ Adjusted Down,” TV by the Numbers, accessed June 30, 2015.
2. John Schlipp, “Best Practices and InventorFest: Community Partners and Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries (PTDLs),” Intellectual Property (IP) Journal of the PTDLA 4, no. 2 (Nov. 2007): 1-12; accessed June 30, 2015.
3. John Schlipp, “Creative Thinking: A Student-Centered Approach to Plagiarism and Copyright,” Kentucky Libraries 74, no. 3 (Summer 2010): 28-32.
4. John Schlipp and Linda Kocis, “Using Popular Fiction to Spark Student Creativity and to Teach Intellectual Property Information Literacy (IPIL),” Kentucky Libraries 77 no. 1 (Winter 2013): 26-32.
5. Joan Upell, “Creating 21st Century Superheroes,” Language Arts Lesson Plan Published in AASL Learning4Life Lesson Plan Database,” accessed Oct. 22, 2013.
6. Scholastic, “A Guide to Using Graphic Novels with Children and Teens” lesson plan, accessed July 1, 2015.
7. John J. Meier, “Science Graphic Novels for Academic Libraries: Collections and Collaborations,” C&RL News (Dec. 2012): 662-65.
8. Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain, Tales from the Public Domain: BOUND BY LAW?, accessed July 1, 2015; and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), “Publications for Young People and Schools,” accessed July 1, 2015.
9. “Illustration & Drawing Tips: How to Draw a Superhero,” YouTube video, 5:26, posted by expertvillage, Oct. 9, 2008, accessed July 1, 2015.
10. Amy Kiste Nyberg, “Comics Code History: The Seal of Approval,” Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, accessed Jul. 1, 2015.
11. Eileen Fritsch, “Cincy Is Creative: iMAGINExpo 2014 Inspires Creators to Think about Intellectual Property Rights,” WCPO.com, June 1, 2014,
    accessed July 1, 2015.
12. Gail Stavitsky et al., Reflecting Culture: The Evolution of American Comic Book Super Heroes (Montclair, NJ: Montclair Art Museum, 2007).
13. Dennis O’Neil, The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics (New York: Watson-Guptill, 2008).
14. Steve Brachmann, “How to Get a Trademark for a Comic Book Superhero Character,” eHow, accessed July 1, 2015.
15. Jeff Suess, “Superman Created by Cleveland Duo: Man of Steel Debuted in Comics 75 years Ago,” Cincinnati Enquirer (Apr. 28, 2013): B7.
16. Nicole J.S. Sudhindra, “Marvel’s Superhero Licensing,” WIPO Magazine (June 2012), accessed July 1, 2015.
17. “Public Domain Super Heroes,” Wikia, accessed July 1, 2015, http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Public_Domain_Super_Heroes.
18. Matt Brady, “Super Hero Trademark Story,” Newsarama.com, Mar. 27, 2006, accessed July 1, 2015.

Further Information

See the foundation of our presentation and activity based upon exercises from Novels for Students: Presenting Analysis, Context and Criticism on Commonly Studied Novels, volume 25 (Thomson Gale, 2007), page 11, lesson planner utilizing The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.

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One way of connecting with people interested in comic conventions is through partnerships. San Diego Public Library worked with convention organizers to host the Art of Comic-Con, which contains forty-five years of Comic-Con art. This free show includes art work from some of the best known illustrators and comic writers in the business, including many works that haven’t been seen before.[1]

Another way to become more involved is to be at a convention in whatever way you can. During 2015, many Colorado libraries were able to do outreach at Denver Comic Con (DCC) through a booth arranged by the Colorado State Library (CSL). With attendance of over 100,000, this was a fantastic opportunity for participating libraries.

Ashley Kazyaka from the CSL explained that the inspiration for getting libraries into DCC came out of the 2014 Colorado Association of Libraries Conference (CALCON). “Library staff from multiple districts expressed interest in Comic Con, but were unsure about how to coordinate the effort,” explained Kazyaka, so she took it on. DCC is run by a non-profit called Pop Culture Classroom, which focuses on literacy, and they were supportive of having libraries involved. To highlight some of the new technology that libraries have and people don’t necessarily know about, Kazyaka specifically talked with libraries involved in the maker movement, as well as people who had expressed interest at CALCON 2014. Kazyaka also put together a Google map of Colorado library makerspaces and handed out information for people to access it.[2]

When asked about the experience, Kazyaka said, “Nearly all of the interactions that I witnessed between library staff working the booth and DCC-attendees were not just positive but enthusiastic…There were times that people would be drawn to a particular activity, get engrossed in it, then suddenly have an excited realization, ‘THIS is the library, really?!’” Kazyaka is convinced that being at DCC is worthwhile, and all the participating libraries are interested in doing it again in 2016. If you’re interested in trying to get involved with your local comic con, Kazyaka recommends planning early and making sure your promotional materials reflect everyone involved.[3]

Some libraries have taken this kind of event a step further and started offering their own conventions. Just do an Internet search for ‘libraries and comic con,’ and the results pile up. Libraries all across the country are experiencing great success with everything from panels, to signings, to cosplay! Publishers Weekly even had a 2014 article called, “How to Throw a Comic Con at Your Library.” If that’s not enough, Diamond Bookshelf of Diamond Comics also has an article to provide ideas for libraries.

Connecting with people is one of the specialties of libraries. What better way to connect with new users and add a new service for those who are already library lovers than through comic cons!

Sources

[1] Yarbrough, Beau. “Comic-Con 2015: Comic Art Show at the San Diego Library, No Badge Required.” Los Angeles

Daily News. July 8, 2015. http://www.dailynews.com/arts-and-entertainment/20150708/comic-con-2015-

comic-art-show-at-the-san-diego-library-no-badge-required (accessed July 15, 2015).

[2] Kazyaka, Ashley, email interview by Becca Cruz. Project Manager (July 16, 2015).

[3] Ibid.

The post Comics, Super Heroes, Pop Culture, and Libraries first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

The following are a few places to begin your journey into the wonderfully diverse world of genre literature.

• Bitten by Books is a site dedicated to the paranormal reader community. Features on the site include author and reader community chats, book and film/ TV reviews, and contests and giveaways. http://bittenbybooks.com/
• Goodreads is a virtual reader community and social network that allows users to provide book reviews, create forums and groups, link up with their favorite authors, win book giveaways, and create lists. Although it is not a genre site like the others listed, it does have features that earn it a place on this list. Goodreads invites users to rate “best of…” books annually and within genres,  authors and publishers host chats and forum discussions frequently on the site, and genre-based groups regularly make suggestions, hold virtual book club meetings, and share news with members. http://www.goodreads.com/
• Io9 is the resident science fiction, fantasy, and related genres blog from the Gawker community. Its regular features include “Morning Spoilers,” with news of upcoming genre media; “Superlist,” which include book and other media “best of…” compilations; and reviews of novels, graphic novels and comic books, films/DVDs, and other media releases. io9 is sure to be a useful resource for anyone looking to learn about what genre fans are talking and to what they’re looking forward. http://io9.com/
• No Flying, No Tights is a one-stop resource for librarians and educators interested in graphic novels, comic books, and manga. Though the site was developed primarily as a resource for adults working with YA readers, No Flying, No Tights does have a page dedicated to adult-level titles.  Remember, however, that comic book and graphic novel readership interests, reading levels, and content often overlap between YA and adult readers. Therefore, much of the site’s content is applicable for both young and adult readers. http://noflyingnotights.com/
• Smart Bitches, Trashy Books is the romance-reader’s blog. Never pandering to the stereotype of the avid romance genre reader, Smart Bitches infuses reviews with thoughtful criticisms and worthwhile recommended reading titles. Posts on the site include essays about the genre, news about upcoming titles, romance author Q&As, publisher and retailer sales events, and more.  http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/
• Steampunk.com is a website dedicated to topics of interest to the steampunk genre including book reviews, suggested reading and “best of…” lists, steampunk lifestyle and fashion tips, and other interest articles. This site is an especially good introduction to the steampunk genre in all its facets. http://www.steampunk.com/
• Street Fiction is a site dedicated to reviews and features of the street lit genre. Books of this genre are urban-centric realistic fictions (or non-fictions) with characters, settings, and situations that relate to living in urban areas and often minority or disenfranchised communities. Street Fiction includes reviews, author interviews, and other features related to street lit titles. http://www.streetfiction.org/
• Tor is the consummate genre geek’s blog. Its tagline is “Science fiction. Fantasy. The universe.” Articles cover the gamut of genre from all ends of the media spectrum and include features on upcoming and existing titles. http://www.tor.com/

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