Popularization of Graphic Novels in Russia and the Role of the Russian State Library for Young Adults in Formation of Loyal Library Environment

Abstract

The article presents the attempt to generalize the experience of working with graphic novels (comics, manga, etc.) available in the domestic book sector. The author considers the main stages of development in the historical perspective of forms and methods of popularization and distribution of graphic novels in Russia. At the first stage, formation of the segment of graphic novels in Russia was associated with the development of the festival movement. At the second stage — with the publishing boom and distribution of publications. Later — with work with a reader of graphic novels in libraries. Development of the festival movement was carried out due to the interest, first, in Japanese cartoons (anime) and Japnese graphic novels (manga), and secondly, in American comics and European graphic novels.The author presents the festival movement in the context of the main directions: anime festivals and comics festivals (with special emphasis on the work of the ‘KomMissia’ [ComMission] festival). The article gives general characteristics of these types of festivals and reveals the degree of their involvement in the processes of forming the readership and professional environment at a certain evolutionary stage.Bookstores and public libraries are the traditional operators of book dissemination and popularization of knowledge. The author explains why the integration of graphic novels into these spaces was delayed. The article notes the importance of reader communities in social networks in creating alternative channels for selling the products of publishers of graphic novels. In 2010, the Russian State Library for Young Adults (RSLYA) established the Centre for comics and visual culture, collecting graphic novels and providing methodological assistance to libraries that use graphic novels in their work. At present, it is the Centre for graphic novels and images that provides comprehensive support to libraries. The author highlights the role of the RSLYA as a methodological centre for library services to young people in the formation of loyalty to the new phenomenon among Russian library professionals. Based on the studied processes, the article gives characteristics of graphic novels as a new segment of the Russian book market with its inherent features of positioning in the reader’s environment.