Confession Magazines

Abstract

The results of this survey underscore the controversy surrounding the elimination of OCLC's Serials Control Subsystem. The survey evoked responses more numerous and fervent than I anticipated when the project began. As might be expected, those libraries that used the system more extensively and checked in the higher number of formats on SCS were most likely to describe the impact of SCS's elimination as serious. Most of the respondents expected that their immediate choice for a new serials control system would be permanent. As one respondent commented, “…librarians cannot afford to be switching serials control systems every few years.” Among libraries using the Serials Control Subsystem, approximately one-third chose to switch to OCLC's SC350, but no alternative serials system emerged as the second choice.     

Culinary Magazines

Abstract

Marvel Comics, along with rival DC Comics, is one of the two powerhouses of the comic book industry and has been for many decades. The company was founded in 1939 by pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman. Goodman owned various publishing houses responsible for a variety of pulp titles, including Marvel Science Stories. In 1939, a colleague persuaded Goodman that comic books were the upcoming trend in periodical publishing, so Good-man launched a book called Marvel Comics. Issue no. 1 contained a story by Bill Everett about the Sub-Mariner, as well as the first appearance of the Human Torch. Both characters quickly became leading draws of the Golden Age of comics. Soon after, Goodman hired writer Joe Simon and artist Jack Kirby, who were to become giants in the industry. Simon and Kirby created Captain America, a character who remains a comics icon even today. In those early days, Goodman also hired another future legend: writer Stan Lee, who happened to be Good-man's nephew.

Goodman's comic company was known officially as Timely Comics, Inc., then later as Atlas Publishing. The firm did not change its name to Marvel until the early 1960s. Timely benefitted from the comics boom of the early 1940s, but interest in super-hero stories waned later in the decade. Atlas briefly revived its super-hero line-up in 1954, but the company spent most of the next decade publishing romance, western, horror, and humor comics.1 1. Les Daniels, Marvel: Five Decades of the World's Greatest Comics (NY: Abrams, 1991), pp. 17–23, 26–36, 40–61.¹     

Tabloids

Abstract

Comic books and libraries do not seem to get along, at least not in North American libraries. Aside from a few dozen specialized, noncirculating research collections, retrospective comic book holdings remain virtually unknown as a library resource.1 Browsing collections of current comic books are equally rare in public, school, and college libraries. In a 1984 article, comic book bibliographer Randall Scott observed, “In most communities, if you want to read or refer to a comic book, you have to buy it.” Librarian Doug Highsmith concurred, writing in 1992 that public libraries carrying the latest issues of popular comics titles are “still the exception rather than the rule.” Both statements remain fundamentally true today.     

Designing and modeling innovation across scales for urban water systems

Urban Ecosystems - Effective, sustainable management of urban water systems, including drinking water, stormwater, wastewater, and natural water systems, is critical to the health and well-being of...