China Beyond Deng: Reform in the Prc Book

Full disclosure: I work with Randy.

Randy is a pioneer of comics librarianship. For decades he was the sole banner-carrier confronting the profession with its unjustifiable marginalization of comics. Always of good humor, though, his assessment of the issue here is never mean-spirited. It's funny and fun to read. His hard work and high spirits have paid off, with comics librarianship being an accepted specialization in the field, if still a rare job.

Randy has worked harder, however, on the actual work of being a comics librarian. He's built the largest collection of comic books in the nation, a huge collection of comic strips, and a huge collection of scholarship on comics. MSU Libraries attracts scholars from far and wide because of Randy's life's work.

His book represents the foundation of where he's coming from: basic ideas on why and how to do comics librarianship. As he has been a pioneering librarian, this is a pioneering book for it's day, but Randy acknowledges how out of date it is. He's been approached about a second edition, but says it would take a complete re-write, something he'd consider doing in retirement, but not right now when there's actual comics library work to be done. Nevertheless, anyone interested in comics librarianship, its history, or how to challenge the biased assumptions of the library profession should read this.