New York City's Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art announced plans to open its comic book library to the public in July with a larger selection of books, a redesigned space and expanded seating. MoCCA is also seeking donations from artists, fans and publishers to expand the library's holdings.

By July, the new and improved library will offer a kids' corner and comfortable seating to encourage visitors to stay and browse. It will be open to the public on Sundays, with extended hours from noon until 9pm and a "pay as you wish" policy in the evenings in lieu of the museum's five dollar entry fee. The catalog is already available online through the MoCCA website.

A staff member will be available during library hours to recommend books to visitors and make sure that young readers stick to age-appropriate titles. MoCCA Librarian Gina Gagliano said she also hopes to start a book club later this year to give established fans a chance to get together and talk comics.

The current library, tucked in a corner of MoCCA's SoHo exhibition space, consists of a few bookshelves of haphazardly but lovingly organized titles. The collection is limited but eclectic, with titles like Art Spiegelman's Maus, the Complete MAD Magazine, and Marvel's Man-Thing sitting comfortably on the same shelf. Open to MoCCA members during regular museum hours, and to researchers by appointment, the library includes over a thousand volumes of graphic novels, comic strip compilations, and non-fiction works about the medium.

"It's not something we've ever had funding for," said Gagliano. "It's just accumulated out of donations people have been generous enough to give over the past five years."

Gagliano, a member of the all-volunteer MoCCA staff and a marketing associate at First Second Books, is the mastermind behind the library's expansion. Her alma mater, Reed College in Oregon, maintains a comic book archive and reading room that she managed for several years.

"A lot of what got me into comics," said Gagliano, "was this extensive collection that you could sit down and read. It gave me the chance to immerse myself in comics and get a sense of what's out there."

Gagliano hopes that opening the MoCCA library to the public will give museum visitors the same opportunity. "Visitors often come here and ask what they should read," she said. "We'd like to make this place a resource for people to come in off the street and talk to a volunteer who can recommend titles they might like."

Gagliano also made the rounds during the New York Comic-con in February, soliciting publishers for book donations. "We're hoping to triple our collection with this drive," she said.

The library is looking for graphic novels of all types: fiction, nonfiction, superhero titles, manga, sci-fi and horror, and comics-related reference books. While Gagliano said that the library is currently only able to house books with spines, it will accept bound collections of periodicals and comic strips as well.

"Creators and publishers are being very generous," she added, giving a nod to comics publishers Top Shelf and Oni Press in particular. "Having publishers give us books will give more people the opportunity to read them." All donations to the MoCCA library are tax deductible. To make a donation, contact librarian Gina Gagliano by email at gina.gagliano@gmail.com.

"Giving people the chance to explore something new about the medium they love is part of what we're trying to do here," she said.