CURRENT POSITION Library Media Specialist, Jefferson County Public Schools, KY DEGREE MS, Library Media Education, Western Kentucky University, 2010 FOLLOW X: @MisterLibrary; Tiktok, Instagram: @themisterlibrary; sites.google.com/view/misterlibrary Photo by Michael A. Foley

Graphic Literacy

What do graphic novels, Grimace shakes, and Barbenheimer have in common? For 2022 Kentucky School Librarian of the Year Tim Jones, they can be tools for helping students develop media literacy.

Inspired by a TED Talk by cartoonist Gene Luen Yang, Jones focuses on using graphic novels and comics to help students of all ages grasp broader concepts, including perspective, point of view, and pacing. “You give kids a comic and you can ask, ‘What do you think happens between these two panels and why?’ That leads [them] to think about evidence and making their case,” he says. Moreover, he adds, comics and graphic novels are static, so students can take their time analyzing.

He also brings in viral moments from popular culture to get students practicing their skills. Super Bowl commercials encourage them to create their own storyboards; memes give him an opportunity to talk about sloganeering and propaganda. It works for Jones’s students. “You get kids reading in different formats or listening in different formats,” he says, “and I think that’s all good.”

Media literacy is particularly important as books and librarians have come under scrutiny in recent years. Jones is battling back not only by building students’ proficiencies but by tapping into his family’s business. NIMCO, Inc., which specializes in awareness-themed promotional products.

“I wanted to make it a lot more library market–driven,” he says. The most prominent item is the “Eraselet,” a bracelet made of erasing material, which features such messages as “Erase book bans,” “Erase censorship,” and—of course—“Erase boredom with graphic novels.”

Bracelets, T-shirts, and being a librarian are all part of a bigger message: “Telling people that we do media literacy, we do collaboration, we do educational development,” he says. “What we do matters.”