We are very excited to announce the return of TCAF Libraries & Education Day (LED) June 6, 2025!
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TCAF LED is a FREE to attend, all day slate of programming open to library workers, students, educators, comic scholars, creators and anyone who wants to talk and learn more about comics, graphic novels, and education.
A mainstay of TCAF for many years, Libraries & Education Day 2025 will bring together broad public and academic audiences - creating a K-16 meets GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums) comics conference. A key focus of LED this year will be graphic medicine, and comics as cultural heritage alongside panels focusing on graphic novel collection development, curation, readers advisory, and advocacy. Comics are such an interdisciplinary format that we are excited for the potential conversations across disciplines and professional circles uniting higher ed, K-12, public libraries, and GLAM communities.​
Time/Date
June 6, 2025 from 8:30am-5pm ET
Location
Toronto Metropolitan University Special Collections & Archives, LIB 404, 350 Victoria Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON
Who can attend LED?
Anyone interested in learning more about comics and graphic novels in schools, libraries, K-12, Universities, higher ed, archives, special collections, and other educational environments. Whether you are just starting out or have been working with comics in educational environments for 10+ years, LED is open to all current and future comics library workers, teachers, scholars, graduate students, and other educational professionals.
If LED is free, why do I need to register?
LED is free and open to all but spots are limited so please register in advance so that we know how many people to expect - and what programs you want to see more of! Registration is now full, but the wait-list will remain open until May 30th.
Panels/Workshops
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OPENING KEYNOTE PANEL: Spotlight on Graphic Medicine
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Comics for Young Readers: Celebrating the Then and Embracing the Now
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Teaching, Learning, and Doing Research at Comic Cons and Festivals
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Comics and History: Revivals, Challenges, and What Comes Next
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Bringing Naysayers into the Fold: A Hands-on Workshop on Advocating for Comics and Graphic Novels
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Manga 101
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Comics as Primary Sources for Research: A Look at TMU's WWII Canadian Comics Collection
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Ask a Comics Librarian
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Lightning Talks: Quick Pitches for Comics Education
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Comics for the K-12 and University Classroom: New and Notable Titles
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Where Are Your Comics? Classifying Comics and Graphic Novels in Libraries, Special Collections, and Archives
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CLOSING KEYNOTE: Cory Silverberg and Fiona Smyth: Sex Is A Funny - and Complicated - Word
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. . . plus plenty of time and opportunity for networking!
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Giveaway Bags for Attendees!
Did you know that it is the 20 year anniversary of Scholastic Graphix?! Thanks to our super friends at Scholastic and TCAF key sponsor and partner, The Beguiling Library Services, we are pleased to offer a FREE giveaway bag to the first 100+ attendees who arrive for Libraries & Education Day (LED) on June 6, 2025.
NOTE: giveaway bags are first come, first served and not guaranteed.
LED Patron Packs for Sale via the Beguiling Library Services
Wanting to add to your graphic novel collections at your school, library, or university but unsure where to start? Let us help you! Back by popular demand are our LED Patron packs - collections of curated and selected titles by The Beguiling Library Services team for the following topics:
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Banned & Challenged Pack
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"Can-Con" Canadian Creators Pack
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Graphic Medicine Pack
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Kindergarten to Grade 8 Neurodiversity & Mental Health Pack
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LGBTQIA+ Manga Pack
THANK YOU
to our Institutional Sponsor for TCAF 2025 Libraries & Education Day:
+ Our Programming Partners for TCAF 2025 Libraries & Education Day:
Additional partners, sponsors, and signal boosters to come!
Want to support TCAF and LED another way?
Did you know that TCAF’s professional development programming which includes Libraries & Education Day (LED) and Word Balloon Academy (WBA) is the only FREE large scale public professional development programming around comics and graphic novels in Canada? And that our free professional programming is one of the only such initiatives in the world?
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SUPPORT TCAF with a small one-time or regular donation.