Research Narrative

Thinking about doing a research paper or having to just do research gives me these awful flashbacks to high school and our wonderful librarians. We had a very affectionate term for one, the Library Nazi, for her sheer ability to instill terror in all those who entered her domain. Our teachers would announce a special library session when we needed to do any kind of research. It was always followed by a collective groan around the room and a stern reminder that we should take advantage of the opportunity we have This involved the same speech heard tens of times before about where to look for information, how to use the library catalog, and all that other nonsense. The speeches never changed and the Library Nazi would stalk around the room and look over your shoulder as you worked at the computer. I can never look at research the same.
I can’t say a particularly hate doing research, but it’s definitely one of those things that needs to be quick and painless. So when I started to do this assignment, I wanted to find the quickest book and I could go, look at, and leave. I started first looking for another book by Scott McCloud. I really like the one we had to read for class so I was hoping to find the something similar. I went onto MadCat and searched for his books. I got four results: two from the Historical Society and one other new book. I really didn’t want to venture to the Historical Society and the other book was at College Library. I could handle College Library, I already have had to do research there. I was getting ready to make my library trek when I found some disappointing news. In my earlier excitement I missed a small minor detail: the book was already checked out.
I started looking up some works by other authors we have read, but I was disappointed that no books were in my beloved College Library. Everything was in the scary Memorial Library where they checked my ID so they could find me if I made too much noise or did something wrong, at least in my imagination. I settled on another work by Nyberg, mainly because she had the least number of options. So I sat in my dorm room staring at my computer, trying to get the courage to actually go to Memorial Library cursing the very existence of English class. Why did I need to practice looking up books again? Didn’t I already know how to do this?
I made my way over to Memorial Library and went inside the lobby. The place really seems overly formal for a library, but I showed my ID and walked. I was very excited to know I had the right pass to get in and I made it through phase one of my mission. Luckily I found the stacks directory right away. I had my call number and according to this map, Nyberg’s Seal of Approval: The history of the Comics Code was on this floor in the South stacks. Alright now I was getting somewhere. I went into the room and found it quite empty and dreary, quite different than the lobby downstairs. Although I suppose how fancy do a bunch of books need to be. I made my way through the stack till I found the right place, but to my dismay, the book I needed was missing. Great, I thought I was almost done with this library business.
I started to look at the book around Nyberg’s knowing that similar books are always grouped together. I found more books about comics but they were all so boring. I was literally a plain navy blue or army green cover with some writing on the front and page after page of small print inside. How could a book about comic not have any pictures of comics? I sat looking through what seemed like the same book over and over again completely disappointed and worried I would have to start this whole process all over again. Then, I hit the jackpot
One shelf above I found the coolest book of all the comic options, and this is coming from a non-comic lover. Stupid me decided not to bring a pen or anything to write down the title, and all MadCat searches following proved unhelpful. So number one thing I learned when doing research: bring a pen. Anyway, this book was amazing. It had comics from all over the world and a history of where is came from. It had a compiling of every comic every created with descriptions about them and pictures to go with many. Being the Disney lover that I am, I was completely excited that they had Disney comics in this book. It also brought back some good memories of French class in high school as I found Asterix, a French comic character. I also found it interesting that this book had compiled previous trials regarding comic books and child delinquency. If I were doing a paper on comics, this book would have been perfect.
The thing that I think bothers me most about research is that it’s a hit or miss kind of activity. Sometimes you find what you really need and sometimes you don’t. It’s always great to find exactly what you need right away, but as long as you go in with an open mind it doesn’t turn out to be so bad. I you may even overcome your fears of big college libraries like me. I thank the library gods who created the cataloging system because it cuts out a lot of extra work when books by the same subject are all put together. I’m ready for my next library trek and ready to tackle the research world. Besides, the Library Nazi is still stuck in her high school lair, and she can never haunt me again.