Queens College

The Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, in partnership with Manga in Libraries, will conduct a three-year research project to understand why BIPOC teens read manga (Japanese comics). This applied research project is at the intersection of two LIS issues: the need to provide services to BIPOC teens who have been historically underserved, and the need to address the knowledge gap of librarians who are undertrained/unfamiliar with manga—the fastest growing print media format in the United States. This project will: 1) identify and find patterns in the manga series teens are reading, document the visual/textual literacy of BIPOC teens, and compare the data with earlier findings for a connection between social-emotional learning and reading manga; and 2) develop and deliver 12 workshops and online resources “in their own voices” to school librarians, public librarians, and preservice librarians about how they can support BIPOC youth.