The Fresno City College library group Friends of the Library has commissioned the design and creation of a graphic novel to promote the use of the Library. Funded from the library’s biannual book sales, the graphic novel will be designed to bring students in with questions.
“The overall premise is to make people laugh and bring them into the library to ask questions. We, librarians, aren’t so bad and the library can really save your world,” said librarian Laurel Doud.
This project stemmed from an article in the July/August 2011 issue of “College and Research Library News” that described a college in Kansas producing a similar graphic novel. The concept and storyline for FCC’s graphic novel was up for debate, according to Doud.
“The Friends of the Library and the library staff bandied about ideas and it was the general consensus that we didn’t want zombies or werewolves in our story and wanted the students to be the heroes,” she said.
Doud then drafted the story to be entitled “Dr. Strangeford and the Doomsday Device, or How To Use the Library to Save the World.”
In fall of 2011 The Friends of the Library held a contest for FCC student artists. The students were asked to submit a portfolio of their work. This contest, according to Doud, included 23 participants.
“We narrowed it down to six artists and then asked them to produce one page using the text from our story. Then they came in to interview with the Friends of the Library Board,” said Doud.
After choosing the artist, the storyboards had to be made so that the progress would continue. The whole process, from beginning to end, took a full year.
The graphic novel is currently in the printing process and will be available for the Friends of the Library gathering, Concept to Comic, on Tuesday, April 9. Alongside the reveal of the graphic novel, there will be a speaker from comic book publisher, Arcana.
At the event there will also be a superhero costume contest, a silent auction with comic-related merchandise and the announcement of the winners of the cARTalog and scholarship contests.
For more information on these contests refer to the FCC library.
