Aaron Kelter, now a sophomore at Northern Illinois University, back in his Uni days. Gargoyle photos by Danny Ge (click to enlarge)

Junior Lisa Sproat catalogs more of Kelter's collection. (click to enlarge)

"Ruroni Kenshin," a complete series that Kelter donated, is now available for checkout. (click to enlarge)

THE UNI LIBRARY has a new addition — 241 of them, in fact.

On Aug. 18, former Uni student and self-proclaimed “Manga Lord” Aaron Kelter ('08) donated his entire manga collection to the library, which amounted to 241 books that each originally cost $8 to $11, according to librarian Frances Harris.

“It's the collection of a connoisseur,” she says. “The series are complete, and the selection is broad enough that it will appeal to a wide variety of manga readers.”

The term "manga" refers to a style of Japanese comic developed in the late 20th century.

Kelter’s collection was cataloged and shelved in the fiction section during the first several weeks of the school year, and the process is now complete, according to Harris.

Now a sophomore at Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, Kelter cites two reasons behind his unexpected donation.

“The practical reason is that they had been just sitting on my shelf for the past year,” he says, “and I knew I wasn't going to read them that much ever again just because of my schedule and new interests, social life, and the like."

The other reason is Manga Club. The student group was started by Kelter in 2006, his sophomore year at Uni, and has continued ever since, though its leadership has changed.

“Since I wasn't going to read them that much anymore but a lot of people at Uni still would, it would make a lot more sense for them to go to Uni,” he says. “Books are meant to be read.”

Manga Club, now headed by freshman Jack Gilette and junior Jack Feser, is certainly grateful for the opportunity to read through Kelter’s prodigious stock, which features some complete series such as "Ruroni Kenshin," as well as a few that are partially complete.

“I think it’s great [that he gave his collection],” says Feser. “He basically kept the club going. Neither of us had very much manga, so we’ll basically spend the club reading his collection.”

Kelter had previously donated a smaller portion of his amassment to Uni. He had been interested in manga since he was a subfreshman but has since moved on to other interests.

“I don't really have the time or urge to read it that much anymore,” he says.

“As I came to NIU, I actually made the transition to anime, and I'm now very much involved with that. The NIU Anime Club is a lot of fun. Nothing against manga; it's just a mixture of me liking anime more right now and not being able to afford manga like I used to be able to.”

And for that reason, parting with his comics did not stir much sadness in Kelter — rather the opposite.

"Although it may be from all of the reality TV shows that I've been watching lately such as 'Clean House,' I actually felt a nice sense of closure, as well as being pretty happy,” he says.

“I almost felt bad about keeping it there after a while, since I never did anything with it. I feel much better having given it to Uni, where I know a lot more people will have at it.”

More photos of Aaron Kelter's donation

Jack Feser stamps one of the volumes that Aaron Kelter donated to Uni. Gargoyle photos by Danny Ge (click any photo to enlarge and to create your own slideshow)

Some of Kelter's books before they were cataloged.

More manga volumes.