Comic Arts Librarian Pam Jackson’s Superpower is Being a Change Agent
Library Journal honored San Diego State University Comic Arts Librarian Pamela Jackson as one of their 2025 “Movers and Shakers.” These annual awards profile notable individuals around the world who are innovative, creative, and helping improve their workplace. Library Journal celebrates librarians who are making a difference.
"Library Journal's 2025 Movers and Shakers represent the best of the creative, inspiring, visionary, and committed individuals who are advancing the library field,” said Hallie Rich, Library Journal’s Editor-in-Chief. “We're grateful to our sponsor, Hoopla, for helping Library Journal to highlight the Movers' important work supporting students, families, and individuals to lean into learning, connect with community, and engage with reading."
Jackson was honored in the category of “Change Agent”, along with 10 other librarians from around the country.
She was nominated by Amy Brownlee, a K-12 Library Media Specialist in Sterling, Kansas. In the application, Brownlee wrote, “Beyond appreciating comics as a reflection of popular culture and a medium worthy of scholarly study, Jackson has furthered her influence through her leadership in the National Endowment for the Humanities summer institute for K-12 teachers on Using Comics to Teach Social Justice. Through her expert curation of a collection of comics for use by institute participants, Jackson gave the 25 teacher participants the resources they needed to apply the concepts they were learning during the institute to create lessons.”
“I nominated Pam because she was instrumental to the success of the NEH K-12 summer institute on teaching with comics,” Brownlee said. “She has an impressive depth of knowledge about comics, and her leadership and expertise in the field impacts others and furthers the scholarship of comics. I would describe Pam as a comics evangelist. She wants everyone to know about the power of comics to inform and instruct as well as to entertain.”
At SDSU, in addition to serving as the Comic Arts librarian, Jackson co-founded the Center for Comics Studies with College of Arts and Letters professor Elizabeth Pollard.
Beyond SDSU, she has served as an archivist for San Diego Comic Fest. She has written numerous articles about comics and pop culture for academic publications and has presented at Comic-Con International, San Diego Comic Fest, and the Popular Culture Association. Jackson was honored to serve as a judge for the 2021 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards.
She has an MA in English with an emphasis on Creative Writing from Sonoma State University, an MA in Library and Information Studies from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and a Professional Certificate in Rare Books and Manuscripts from the California Rare Book School at UCLA.
In her interview with LJ, Jackson reflected that she was an avid reader as a child and librarians played a central role in her life. She was inspired to work with comics by her sense of justice. She says, “Comics have always been examinations in justice, holding up a mirror to what it means to be human, to be flawed, and to be empathetic.”
Jackson is particularly proud of her work with the K-12 Summer Institute. “These teachers were looking for age-appropriate comics that, at their core, could be used to teach about inclusion and understanding differences. Many mentioned a desire to lower rates of bullying. We were also able to consider comics that address misinformation and disinformation, and those critical thinking skills are key to developing civically-engaged, truth-seeking and compassionate students.”
Visit the Library Journal's Movers & Shakers page to see the full interview.
“For more than a decade, Pam has shepherded the growth, development, and use of SDSU’s extraordinary collection of comics and graphic art while also building critical connections with campus and community partners that place this collection at the center of innovation in teaching, impact in student employment, and engagement with the wider San Diego comics community,” said Scott Walter, San Diego State University Library Dean. “I can think of few better examples of a library’s collections and services being at the ‘heart’ of teaching, learning, and scholarship at a research university, and I am grateful to Library Journal for recognizing Pam’s work and the work of her colleagues across San Diego State University.”
Congratulations, Pamela Jackson on your well-deserved award!
