Bookhunter

It is 1973 and a serious crime has been uncovered at the Oakland Public Library – a rare Caxton Bible on loan from the Library of Congress has been replaced by a forgery. Time to call in the Library Police to solve this nefarious crime or, as they quickly discover ‘basically…three concentric locked-room mysteries’ and they have only three days to do so.

If you are looking for the perfect graphic novel for your favourite librarian or bibiliophile, look no further than Bookhunter by Jason Shiga, a wonderfully over-the-top but clearly fond poke at the profession. It combines a mystery, some heavy duty SWAT action by the library police, and the real threat of deadly paper cuts as punishment for crimes against the public library show more system with some very funny inside jokes that perhaps only librarians can fully appreciate but still had me, just a poor librarian wannabe, giggling out loud. For anyone with a love of books and libraries, this is just a whole lot of zany fun. show less

The Library Police come alive in this CSI-inspired graphic novel. Special Agent Bay is tracking down a missing rare book, and has massive police power to go after it. It's a really funny combination of "mad professor" science ("[You need to] run an independent Argon check for another 75 [percent accuracy]") and esoteric librarian knowledge ("it's from a standard 60 yard roll of filament tape, minus about 20 yards. I'm guessing Demco Utility Glass"). The characters are an odd homely-creepy hybrid, but the backgrounds offer some sly commentaries on life in a library. If there's any complaint about the book, it's that it's too short. Strongly recommended, especially for any librarian that ever wanted to bring in the battering ram after show more scofflaw patrons. show less

This graphic novel tells the story of the investigation of a stolen book. In this world there are library police, who are outfitted like a SWAT team and seem to a fully-fledge investigative unit. I want to live in this world.

The story takes place in the 1970s, so we get a good look at the library technology of that decade. The microfilms, shelves that move by wheels, the teletype machines, all of it making me, as a librarian, quite nostalgic. At one point, there's talk of how the thief used a 75 baud to dial into the library's computer system. I currently use 9600 baud to dial into phone servers at work. 9600 is slow; I can't even begin to comprehend 75.

I liked that the book didn't bother to explain the technology. It just assumed we show more knew about book-binding and printing. For obvious reasons, this graphic novel greatly appealed to the library nerd and bibliophile in me.

I loved this book and would love to give it as a gift to every librarian I know, because we've all wished we could hunt down stolen books, and doing so in a gritty sepia world like this would definitely appeal to most all of us in the trade. show less

Do you know what they do to book thieves up at Santa Rita?
–Special Agent Bay, in Bookhunter

A historic bible on loan from the Library of Congress has been surreptitiously swapped for a fake, and the library detectives at Oakland Public have only three days to find the original before the feds "come to collect." The mild-mannered public library world has previously collided with the denizens of hard-boiled crime fiction (a fabulous Bogart and Bacall trailer springs to mind), but this time it's personal. Shiga portrays microfilm readers and book demagnetizers in such loving detail that it is obvious he developed a deep affection for the public libraries of his native East Bay through years of experience. This is bibliophilic storytelling show more of the nerds, by the nerds, for the nerds. Yet nothing is sacred in the hilarious fantasy of breaking the rules in order to enforce them. If you enjoy any combination of procedural dramas, tough cops in a 1970s Bay Area milieu, old technologies, and librariana, you will want to spend some quality time with this graphic novel. And if you have ever daydreamed of kicking ass in a library, you will not want to miss the action-packed finale.

Read it on shigabooks.com, if you must, but I highly recommend finding it at your local library, both for the book design humor and for the heady rush of self-referential play.

Inspires me to…
*explore Meanwhile, Shiga’s choose-your-own-adventure comic, recommended at some point by I can’t remember who
*read Rex Libris (public librarian, fighter of crime: "from loitering zombies to fleeing alien warlords who refuse to pay their late fees")
*watch Bullitt and Dirty Harry (and the other late ’60s/early ’70s action lingering in my Netflix queue) show less

Amazon recommended me this after I read [b:Meanwhile|7229730|Meanwhile|Jason Shiga|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327878248l/7229730._SX50_.jpg|8075007], also by Shiga. This is a detective story that relies heavily on knowledge of 1970s library systems and book-binding techniques, and it's wonderfully geeky. It takes itself seriously while also revelling in how ridiculous its premise is, and I liked that.

This graphic novel is a crime procedural set in an alternate universe of 1970s Oakland where the public libraries have a criminal investigation unit. Many of the procedures used to solve crimes are totally antithetical to librarian ethics, but otherwise it is an enjoyable adventure where the clichés of detective stories are mimicked in a library setting.

I am so tickled by this book. It caught my attention when I went poking around goodreads and stumbled onto a shelf called "books-with-white-covers." Thank you person who thought up this shelf!

It's like a mash-up of Criminal Minds and 24, but with hardcore library cops....and profilers from the ALA! Fun stuff. Anyone familiar with librarian jargon is likely to have a nerdgasm while reading.