Manga Magic

AFTER YOU ATTEND THIS COURSE, YOU'LL BE ABLE TO:

• Identify and differentiate key manga genres, formats, and stylistic conventions.
• Advocate for the value of manga in library collections.
• Build and manage a manga collection that is age-appropriate, diverse, and tailored to your readers.
• Plan manga-themed programs and events tailored to your community.
• Explore manga-based ideas to strengthen reading engagement, literacy development, and disciplinary learning.

This course is especially helpful for:

• School librarians in grades 3-12 who are expected to support literacy while also answering to teachers, principals, and families
• Public librarians serving children and teens who want to grow manga collections and better support what schools are doing
• Library staff responsible for collection development, especially when manga demand is high and confidence is lower than they want it to be
• Librarians handling readers’ advisory who want to speak more fluently about manga with students and patrons
• Educators and library workers who want to connect popular reading with real literacy outcomes in a way others will take seriously

If that sounds like your job, you will probably see yourself in this course.

If you are someone who:

• Feels the pressure to get kids reading and suspects manga could be part of the answer
• Has had to justify manga to adults, even while students are checking it out nonstop
• Wants a stronger collection but worries about age ratings, content concerns, and what belongs on the shelf
• Needs better ways to talk about manga as a literacy tool, not just a format kids happen to like
• Is looking for practical ideas you can use in collection development, programming, readers’ advisory, or classroom support right now

This course was built for that kind of real-world pressure.

THIS COURSE CONSISTS OF 4 ON-DEMAND MODULES:

Module 1: Manga 101

This foundational module provides you with essential knowledge to confidently integrate manga into your collections, programs, and literacy initiatives. You'll gain a comprehensive understanding of manga as a diverse and engaging genre, exploring its various formats, stylistic conventions, and key terminology. You’ll also learn how to effectively advocate for the inclusion and value of manga within your library collection, addressing common misconceptions and highlighting its significant role in fostering literacy and reading engagement among young readers.

Module 2: Manga Collections

Building any library collection involves the same steps—selecting, purchasing, labeling, shelving, and weeding—and manga is no different. In this module, you’ll learn about helpful resources that assist with selecting and purchasing manga that align with your readers’ interests. You’ll gather ideas for organizing and managing this unique collection type so your readers can discover stories that resonate with them. Whatever stage of collection development you are in—starting, expanding, or reviewing—you'll come away with new ideas for tailoring your manga collection to your community of young readers.

Module 3: Manga-Based Programs

Manga is a fantastic springboard for engaging library programs. This module will help you develop exciting manga-based events for children and teens in your school and community. You'll explore a wide range of program ideas and learn how to leverage this popular genre to foster a love of reading. Get ready to brainstorm ideas, consider classroom or community partnerships, and create programming plans that excite your diverse readers.

Module 4: Teaching with Manga

When thoughtfully included in collections, manga can enrich learning and foster literacy. This module equips you with the knowledge and tools to effectively integrate manga into diverse literacy development and educational contexts across multiple disciplines. You’ll explore tools for reader’s advisory and ideas for book talks, as well as lesson plans for classroom use. School librarians will learn how to partner with classroom teachers to design engaging lessons using manga as a relevant text, while public librarians will explore how manga is used in schools and how they can support it. By the end of this module, you'll be ready to champion manga as a powerful educational resource.

COURSE INSTRUCTORS

Sara Smith, District Librarian in California’s Central Valley

Sara is the District Librarian in California’s Central Valley. Previously, she was a high school teacher librarian and a high school English teacher. She has read and professionally reviewed over 1,000 manga and graphic novels for multiple sources, including her website, The Graphic Library, where she provides collection development content for libraries, as well as Booklist and School Library Journal. She has written articles for California English, Diamond Bookshelf, and Booklist and is a frequent podcast guest on School Librarians United. Sara regularly speaks at conferences, including the annual conferences of the American Library Association and the American Association of School Librarians.

Emily Ratica, High School English Teacher in California

Emily has been in education for over eighteen years as both a teacher and a school librarian. She holds a BA in English Teaching from BYU and an MLIS from San Jose State University. She currently teaches high school English in southern California, where she integrates comics, graphic novels, and manga into her curriculum. Emily is deeply passionate about literacy instruction and strongly believes that incorporating visual literacy through graphic literature is essential for student success.

This course starts with a very real library problem. Students love manga. They ask for it constantly, recommend it to each other, and often reach for it before anything else. Meanwhile, the adults around them are not always convinced. Librarians end up caught in the middle, trying to support reading engagement while also answering questions about value, appropriateness, and how manga fits into broader literacy goals.

Across four modules, you will learn how to handle that tension with more clarity and confidence. The course covers the basics of manga as a format, strategies for building and managing a strong collection, programming ideas that build on student interest, and practical ways to connect manga to readers’ advisory, literacy instruction, and classroom learning. It is built to help you do the job better, not just know more trivia about manga.

SESSIONS AND PRICING

Early bird pricing ends one month before the session deadline. Course materials become available on the registration deadline date.

GROUP OPTIONS

Training a team? Choose the setup that matches how you want to plan and pay:

Group course enrollment: Enroll 3+ staff in this course and save.

Bulk course credits: Prepay once, get the highest per-seat discount on every course, and assign seats later.

Unlimited annual licensing: System-wide access for a year with no per-course approvals.

Request Discounted Group Pricing

Questions? Email groupsales@libraryjournal.com.

COURSE FORMAT

This is a fully self-paced, asynchronous online course consisting of 4 modules. Each module includes video instruction, slides, readings, and reflective exercises designed to connect concepts directly to your daily work.

EXPECTED TIME COMMITMENT

Each module is designed to take approximately 4 hours to complete, for a total of 16 hours. You may move through the course at your own pace and on your own schedule.

COURSE ACCESS

You will have access to all course materials for six months from the material unlock date.

CREDIT & CERTIFICATE

Complete all modules to earn 16 professional development credit hours and a School Library Journal certificate of completion, which will be emailed to you.

ACCESSIBILITY

All video recordings feature auto-captioning. If you require accommodations, please email course-support@libraryjournal.com upon registration and we will make our best efforts to support your needs.

SUPPORT

For technical or course-related support, please contact course-support@libraryjournal.com.