In the Reserve Room on the first floor of the Ned R. McWherter Library, hidden in the left corner, there are five not-completely-full shelves of comic books, waiting for students to check them out.
Kay Cunningham, electronic resources librarian, said there should be more.
Cunningham has worked at The University of Memphis for five years and as a librarian for 20 years. In her office filled with various DC comics and Marvel memorabilia, she plans ways to bring more comic books and graphic novels to The U of M.
"Actually, we have a pretty decent collection," she said. "The former collection development librarian was trying to get more hard copies. My predecessor bought a lot of graphic novels personally for the collection and donated them."
Cunningham gave her The Spirit collection, then she won an Amazon gift card and bought a few more for the library, including Swamp Thing, Halo Jones and some other Alan Moore books.
The library's collection needs more comic books and graphic novels, she said, because comics are stolen more often than any other item from the shelves.
Now, they are searching to bring more to the collections.
"Donations can be iffy," she said.
Monetary donations are preferred because of a clause in the gift form that says the library gets all rights to the gifts, and is allowed to dispose of them however they see fit if they are not needed.
Cunningham said she wants more comic books and graphic novels so that students have more to choose from and enjoy. People can learn things from them, she said.
"It's often mistaken for children's literature," Cunningham said. "It's not a genre, but a medium, because there are nonfiction comics. It's an alternative to print. Some are very sophisticated."
Her passion for graphic novels began as a little girl, when her uncle would give them to her once he finished reading them, she said.
When she began reading comics, both male and female children read them, she said. But that changed in the late '60s.
"Less than 5 percent (of women read comics), but then in the '80s, X-Men attracted some women readers. Today, it may not be 50/50, but comic sellers recognize that while girls like comics, they may not like the same ones."
Cunningham has even replaced her daily intake of news with comic books, which can leave her "out of the loop," she said.
"With most of the news, I find that I can predict what's going to happen or already know what the story is about," she said. "With comics, you don't know. I just try to pick up things that look interesting."
Sitting across from her Batgirl poster that reads, "Librarians are Heroes Every Day," she said she kind of "stumbled into her current job."
Even though her mother was a librarian and Cunningham worked at a library when she was younger, she said the idea of becoming a librarian didn't hit her until mid-career.
"A lot of librarians come to it as a late career," she said. "As soon as I started, I thought, 'Why didn't I think of this sooner?' I do like it."
She received her information and library science degree at The University of Tennessee at Knoxville, the only school in the state to offer the degree.
Her interest not only lies in comic books, but also in movies about comics.
Some favorites include Sin City, Iron Man and all the Spiderman movies.
Cunningham said she was disappointed by the recent film adaption of the famous graphic novel The Watchmen.
"I liked it, but it was ok," she said. "I wanted it to be great, but it was just ok, so it was disappointing to me."
She said she doesn't watch much television, but when she does, she watches Heroes.
Her immersion in the world of comics and graphic novels has shaped her personality, she said.
"Unfortunately, you become more willing to stick your neck out," she said. "You wonder, 'What would Superman do?' Sometimes that can get you into trouble."
She said she would like to have written for comics but didn't have the knack.
"Everyone who reads comics has that fantasy," she said. "I never could come up with the ideas for stories."
Her favorite comic book hero is Batgirl, she said.
Batgirl, also known as Barbara Gordon, is the female counterpart to Batman. She is the daughter of Police Commissioner Gordon, who helps Batman fight crime in the streets of Gotham City. In her spare time, Batgirl works at Gotham City Public Library.
And why is that one her favorite?
"Because she is a librarian," Cunningham said as she packed up to head over to Comics and Collectibles on Poplar Avenue to sift through the new shipment.
