Library News
Graphic Medicine Collection
November 06, 2024
Did you or someone you know hate reading as a kid? Do you remember what book changed their mind? What was the title and why was it Captain Underpants?
Stories supplemented with images are more than just fun to look at—they’re engaging readers in a whole new world of stories and information that might not have moved them to read had they been only text on a page. What Dav Pilky, author of Captain Underpants, knew, and what we know at the Grand Valley University Libraries, is that readers come in all shapes and sizes and mindsets and preconceived notions, and it takes a big, beautiful, diverse collection to meet all those readers’ needs.
To this end, the GVSU Libraries health campus location has created a Graphic Medicine collection. The term “graphic medicine” refers to “the intersection between the medium of comics and the discourse of healthcare” (Czerwiec, 2015). Basically, it’s any story that involves healthcare that is told with images in addition to words. This includes graphic novels, comics, and manga, all centered around topics in healthcare. Topics like nutrition, cancer diagnosis, medical history, and disabilities are all covered and beautifully relayed in this collection. With dozens of books in the collection, we hope students and faculty alike will find someone that interests them and take a chance on what might be a new medium.
So come in and visit us at the Frey Foundation Learning Commons, located in DCIH 205 and have a browse! Not on the health campus? Not a problem! You can see all of the items in the collection using out catalog’s Frey Graphic Medicine filter.
-Emily Metcalf, Liaison Librarian
Source: Czerwiec, M., Williams, I., Squier, S. M., Green, M. J., Myers, K. R., & Smith, S. T. (2015). Graphic medicine manifesto. Penn State Press.
