Reads Well With Others

Unshelved #11

by Gene Ambaum, Bill Barnes

Our very first full-color collection, Reads Well With Others features stirring tales of library derring-do, often inspired by, and occasionally blatantly documenting, true stories from librarians around the world. In this volume you'll find strips about:

Unattended children
Creeps
Staff trainings
Website redesigns
Reading Levels
Confidentiality
Bookstores
Coffee

... and much more, including Conference Tips never seen on our site.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Humor, Comics, Books About Books, Fiction, Adult, Graphic Novels Comics

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 2015

About the author

I write Unshelved with Bill Barnes. I've worked as a paper boy, auto mechanic, courier, English teacher, operations manager, teen services librarian, and staff development coordinator. I enjoy a wide range of graphic novels and am currently obsessed with the work of Lewis Trondheim, Emmanuel Guibert, Hope Larson, and Kazu Kibuishi. My favorite book without words is Owly The Way Home & The Bittersweet Summer by Andy Runton. My favorite book without pictures is Ursula LeGuin's A Wizard of Earthsea.

Reviews

[Rod Brown]

The staff of Mallville Public Library continue their ongoing struggle to help patrons who are vexing, aggressive, and dumbfounding.

There is a return to the dementia storyline briefly begun and quickly dropped last volume, but this run of strips is also is rather abrupt and lacking in emotion. I guess there is a reason these guys stick to gag-a-day writing rather than serialization.

Anyway, this series is always amusing if you like customer service horror stories. At the same time, the repetition and negativity can get to be a bit much, and I bet that played a role in the series concluding with the next volume.

My library doesn't have the final volume, though, so I'll need to track it down elsewhere . . .


FOR REFERENCE:

Reprinting Unshelved comic strips originally published on the Unshelved website from April 1, 2013, to September 25, 2014, and Conference Tips originally published in ALA Cognotes newspapers in June 2013, January 2014, and June 2014.

[Amanda [Novel Addiction]]

It's my life in comic form.

[Jerry Yoakum]

I love these. My only regret is reading them out of order since the characters develop over time.

[Jenna]

I'm tempted to add a non-fiction label, as quite a lot of the scenarios in the book are familiar and might've occurred...

[Rex Libris]

One of the best sequences in this volume is where Coleen activates the print-based reference librarian network to help a patron find the information he is looking for. The on-going characterization of the library director Mel is a constant reminder of why I am so happy I don't work for another librarian.

[Julia]

Gene Ambaum has clearly walked the librarian walk. Love this library-specific comic series. A must read if you are in the library profession, or are a library power user.

[Pam]

So much truth in these comics.

[R.K. Scott]

Very funny comics about what some librarians wish they could say to people. LOL

[Julie]

3.5

[Sunny]

Hilarious, and (some) true stories about library culture. I rarely laugh out loud while reading books but this one had howling.

[Emmy]

Unshelved is ALWAYS funny!

[Clodjee]

The Unshelved web comics is very dear to my heart despite the very average quality of the drawings (although it's probably quite good for a web comics). The reason for that is quite simple: I work in a library myself and I can recognize in those strips situations I've found myself in so many times. Believe me, it's much better to choose to laugh about it than go insane!

The quality of the strips is improving with each new volume, but unfortunately the novelty of the concept wear off so it's not uproarious anymore. However it's still quite funny and entertaining to read (maybe less if you don't know well the library domain). Again, like the last couple of books, I deplore that they haven't included the “Unshelved Book Club” pages, but at least now the book is 120 pages in full color. You can choose to read the comics for free online, but personally I prefer the convenience of having a real book in my hands (and it offers encouragements to the creators). This should be a mandatory reading for all library staff!

You can read my entire comment on http://clodjee.blogspot.ca/2015/09/un...

[Brenda]

My favorite one of the series.

[John (JP)]

Yes there are stupid questions and they are asked by unexpected dumb people. Welcome to the secret world of reference librarians. Have you ever wondered what a librarian is really thinking when you walk away, this is that book. The drawing are average. What makes the stories special is that a they are drawn from the experiences of real library workers. This is definitely a rare frank look into the minds the people whose job into help you.

[Bruce]

Library life in the as viewed from both sides of the desks by librarians and customers in the library. It’s also sprinkled with offsite visits to the coffee shop, bookstore, and library conference. It hard to say which side has the advantage when it comes to making snarky comments, but the interactions are both characteristic and LOL funny.

[Nessie]

It's funny because this is what I do, and these situations are completely real! It's nice to know I am not alone, but also odd to know that crazy people are wide spread and crazy in very similar ways.

[Rebekah]

Now I am all caught up and have to wait for the next book.

[Brian]

So much truth to this strip!

[nidah05 (SleepDreamWrite)]

Love this series. The characters, the setting, each volume has its moments and its a funny read. And the covers are also good. Another good volume. One of my new favorite series.

[Heydi Smith]

Another masterful work! So many of these I've personally experienced. Thank you for capturing them.

[Joe Vigil]

I work in a library so the humor found here hits close to home.

[Rebecca]

I picked this up at ALA midwinter. Good library humor.

[Rachie]

This is the first I've read in this series, but it was funny and I could relate to it as a often beleaguered librarian myself.

[Julia]

So many identifiable situations with so many fantastical responses to them.

[Kelly]

Good comics.

[Amy]

True life

[Abraham Ray]

great collection of the latest unshelved comics!

[Rachel Ashcraft]

This is the first I've read in this series, but it was funny and I could relate to it as a often beleaguered librarian myself.