Carol L Tilley, PhD

Carol Tilley (PhD, Information Science, 2007) teaches courses in comics reader’s advisory, media literacy, and youth services librarianship at the School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois. Part of her scholarship focuses on the intersection of young people, comics, and libraries, particularly in the United States during the mid-twentieth century. Her research has been published in journals including the Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology (JASIST), Information & Culture: A Journal of History, Journal of Lesbian Studies, and Children’s Literature in Education. Tilley has provided interviews and commentary on her comics research (especially that on Fredric Wertham) for The New York Times, Boing Boing, WNYC's Takeaway, Publishers Weekly, RetroReport, and other media outlets. In addition, she was the focus of a Big10 Network documentary short, "Carol Tilley: Comic Book Crusader." Tilley gives frequent talks at events including Comic Con International / San Diego Comic Con and New York Comic Con, as well as for organizations such as the National Archives. As of May 2018, she is President of the Comics Studies Society, an international scholarly organization.

Sub-specialties: Comics history, Comics readership, Comic book and graphic novels, Children and libraries, Teens and libraries, Comics censorship, Libraries and librarianship