A Trip to the Pop Culture Library

Our family recently spent an afternoon at the Browne Popular Culture Library on the campus of Bowling Green State University in Ohio. I could spend hours looking through their holdings. 

The entire fourth floor of the university library is dedicated to pop culture studies. They have an astounding collection of movies, recordings, and periodicals. But best of all, they have over 50,000 comic books. It's one of the largest library collections of comics in the world, although exceeded by the comic collections of the Library of Congress (over 100,000 comics) and the Comic Art Collection at the Michigan State University library (over 240,000 comics). 

Even Golden Age comics are available. You can actually touch them and read them. Now some of the older, more valuable stuff has to be read on microfiche on the first floor reader. But duplicate issues are also available in hard copy.

So we took the elevator to the fourth floor where we turned right down a hallway that took us to a room with tables, a computer, and a help desk. Shelves held a number of reference works on the history of film, comics, TV, actors, fictional characters, and popular music among other topics. The reference books cannot be taken from this room. 

Here is what was different from what I had envisioned: There were no stacks to browse in hopes of serendipitously running onto something that strikes your fancy. All items must be requested at the help desk, so it's good to know what you're looking for before you get there.

People unaffiliated with the university as either staff or students are at a bit of a disadvantage. First, you have to pay $25 if you want a library card. Parking can be a pain since so many lots are reserved. You cannot use a laptop to browse the card catalog since only school affiliates have passwords to access the wi-fi. While the website boasts large collections of Spiderman and Star Trek memorabilia, none of it is on display.

But the librarians will bring out whatever you want to see. I found the staff to be most helpful, friendly, and accommodating. They gave my kids some discarded hard cover comics and I came away with a reference book from the discard table. The librarians can log you into a library computer for use of the card catalog. So in spite of some inconveniences, I intend to make use of access to a library of this caliber which is within driving distance from where we live. 

(Photo courtesy Flickr)                  

Comments

[Vicki]

Sounds like your home away from home! I have a question..I found a large amount of mostly hardback comic editions at Hastings on sale. How do I know what is or if they are collectable? They come wrapped in plastic wrap so I can't look at them. They had Hulk, Spiderman among others.

[Dr. Retro]

Vicki,

Whether something is collectible depends on what you mean by that. If you mean that it will likely increase significantly in monetary value, then the books you're talking about probably won't. Everything is so mass produced these days that it isn't likely much of the new stuff will increase in value.

Now if these are "Marvel Masterworks" Editions being sold for a lower than usual price, that might be a good deal since they reprint old Marvel comics in chronological order. I'd be interested to know if they are Masterworks (it will say on the front if they are), original graphic novels, or reprints of recent comic stories. If the price is right I might be interested, but I would need to know the titles. If you can get some exact titles I could find out. Any DC stuff or is it all just Marvel?

What makes a comic collectible in terms of monetary value is how rare or hard to find it is. It's supply and demand. Some comics may be easier to find in good condition but harder to find in fine or near mint conditions, which makes the better conditions worth a lot more.

Comics from the 30s and 40s are usually collectible since so many were destroyed in paper drives to support the war effort. Many comics from the 50s, 60s and 70s are worth something as well.

I'd guess that most of the stuff from 1980 on will never be worth much because of mass productions, second printings, and trade paperback reprints. Although, I do have a few comics from that era that are highly collectible.

Collecting comics, or any collectible merchandise, as an investment alone is probably not wise since the value does not usually increase quickly enough to keep up with the rate of inflation. Investments in conservative money markets are probably better for investment purposes. The only reason a person should save collectibles is if they love it and they have a passion for it.

So much is being reprinted these days that I think that will negatively effect the back issue market. People can get the same stories for less money. But some older stuff won't be reprinted and some will always be worth a mint.

So that's my projection on things. Let me know more specifically what those hardcovers are if they still have them.

[Dr. Retro]

Oh, Vicki, BTW,

I was saying I might be interested in some that aren't worth much. If you want some for yourself that's okay with me.

[Ron Cole]

That Bowling Green place sure sounds interesting. How did you ever hear of it?

[Dr. Retro]

Ron,

It pays to be acquainted with those people who are in the know.