Life at the Library, Updated

Whoa--over a month since the last post. If I want to keep current, I'd better try harder to post.

The problem is I haven't bought anything. I've got a nice long list of things to purchase (the most recent issues of Happy, Happy Clover; Calamity Jack; the next Lunch Lady volume; etc.), but my budget is, as my supervisor puts it, "more of an allowance". I have $800 to spend FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR. My little hand-written list of titles I want is almost $75 by itself. That $800 isn't just for graphic novels, however. I'm also responsible for maintaining parts of the fiction, nonfiction, and picture book collections. That's not just buying new titles, either. That includes replacing any that go missing or fall apart that are worth replacing (I'm talking about you, Garfield and Foxtrot).

Every month, we mark off titles we'd like from review sources like Booklist and Publisher's Weekly. This month, I'm in charge of making the purchases from those sources. I know a few of the titles I'd like are in those lists (i.e., Missile Mouse), but I think my library's juvenile graphic novel collection isn't going to be growing at quite the same rate this year.