I knew that some of my favorite comics were eligible for Eisner Awards, but I didn’t realize I had the power to cast a vote.  Well, I just discovered through the GNLIB-L listserv that I wasn’t the only librarian puzzling over the designations on the Eisner Awards website:

The following working comics industry professionals are eligible to vote in the Eisner Awards:

  • Comic book/graphic novel/webcomic creators (writers, artists, cartoonists, pencillers, inkers, letterers, colorists)
  • All nominees in any category
  • Comic book/graphic novel publishers and editors
  • Comics historians and educators
  • Graphic novel librarians
  • Owners and managers of comic book specialty retail stores

So after several of my listserv colleagues made inquiries about exactly what a “graphic novel librarian” meant, the Eisner people clarified that “As long as you are handling graphic novels, you are qualified.”  So if one of the many tasks you perform at your library is ordering/handling graphic novels, you can vote!  Go to the Eisner voting site, click on “register,” under job designation choose “other” and then write in something like “librarian (comics selector)”.  You can use your work email or personal email, and then use your work address.  You don’t have to vote in every category (which is good, because I didn’t know enough about some of the categories), and you have the option to change your votes later.  You can choose between the nominees for each category or add a write-in vote if you’d like.

The voting deadline is June 13th.

Let your voice be heard!!!