Back in the 1970s, the Municipal Library of Lausanne began to compile the first collection of comic strip for adults on the initiative of a young librarian, Pierre-Yves Lador, who would go on to be the director of the library from 1979 to 2002. At the same time, in 1972, Robert Netz introduced a comic strip section in the newspaper 24 heures. This new collection met with keen interest from readers, an interest that would only increase as the years go by. By 2007, it accounted for 19% of all lending.

The idea of preservation subsequently took root: some albums were damaged and, being out of print, were literally irreplaceable. An entire editorial production process was disappearing without a trace, living on only in the memories of its readers. Popular literature – of which comic strip is a part – is not preserved anywhere that is easily accessible. Might it not be the role of a public library to preserve what constitutes a segment of popular literature?

The collection was thus born, and owed some of its growth to donations. Priority is still given to the collection of items for loan, which now accounts for 15 % of borrowings; this success justifies the increase in the part of the acquisition budget set aside for a booming sector.

An enriching move

In 1985, the library moved from Chauderon 9 to Chauderon 11, where there was sufficient space to stage exhibitions and invite authors. The collection was thus shown to the public in keeping with the themes of exhibitions. About ten years later, the library had stockrooms in the basements of numbers 16 and 18 Place Chauderon. Librarians and trainees set to work on the systematic classification of the collection.

In 1999 Cuno Affolter, a renowned comic strip specialist, was appointed curator, initially a 40%, then a 70% full-time post. He brought to the collection his knowledge and his professional expertise and donated his personal collection – about 40,000 documents – to the City of Lausanne, doubling the size of the library’s initial collection at a stroke.

The director nurtured the project for a national, or indeed international, centre for comic strip. The collection was enhanced by original panels by Swiss (Derib, Cosey…) and foreign (Lewis Trondheim, William Vance, André Juillard…) artists, and by the personal papers of Cuno Affolter. From now on, it was possible to find comic strips, books, early 20th-century magazines in German and in English, and new periodicals.

The collection now enjoys considerable recognition among fans of comic strip, thus providing added interest for a large number of professionals and amateurs, particularly in German-speaking Switzerland, which in turn raises its national profile. The Municipal Library, through the good offices of Cuno Affolter, has thus come to serve as a centre of excellence for Swiss comic strip for Swissinfodesk, the virtual reference desk for Switzerland proposed by the National Library.
Between 2003 and 2005, Cuno Affolter collaborated in the “La Suisse, pays BD” virtual exhibition project organised by Pro Helvetia, which was shown in 65 venues in 30 countries (40 panels stored on a CD Rom, printed and set up in situ).

BD-FIL

In 2005, the Fondation lausannoise pour le rayonnement de la bande dessinée (Lausanne Foundation for the Promotion of Comic Strip) was created; it organised the first and subsequent stagings of BD-Fil, an international comic strip festival, with financial backing most notably from the City, the Association des commerçants lausannois (Association of Lausanne Traders) and the Fonds pour l'équipement touristique de la région lausannoise (a fund to promote provision for tourists in the Lausanne region),

A centre for comic strip in Prélaz