Super Librarian

Photo from the Seattle Times

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no, it’s Super Librarian...Nancy Pearl.  I knew Nancy Pearl’s name from her Book Lust series and her free podcast (a pretty racy title for a librarian, don’t you think?)  But I had no idea that she had rock star status in the library world.  Don’t believe me?  How many librarians do you know that have their own action figure?  As I listened to her interview on Rick Steves travel show, I started to put together the pieces of her story.  
 
Nancy Pearl started off just like the rest of us, seeking refuge in her childhood library in Detroit, Michigan.  She claims that “reading saved her life” and opened her eyes to a world beyond her unhappy home.  At 10 yrs. old she was inspired to become a librarian by Miss Long and Miss Whitehead, librarians who helped her discover the joy of reading, realize her own potential and escape the reality of her childhood.  After completing degrees in Library Science and History and raising a family, Nancy made a daring leap to Seattle,  where she accepted a position at the famous Seattle Public Library and started getting noticed.

During an USINFO webcast Pearl talked about the three roles of the modern librarian, finding information, reaching out and connecting people and books.  She explained, “I think that learning Information skills is vitally important, but we must not forget the two other strands of librarianship - doing programs and outreach, and, most important to me, putting people together with good books to read, which we call Reader's Advisory. Information access for all is important, but so is reading for pleasure”

Pearl admits that she started reading to escape from Detroit, and she went on to reveal that she still reads to escape to places; to a different place in time, a different country, or to learn about something new.  The thing that sets Pearl apart from other book critics and librarians is how down to earth she is - she says she’s just doing what she’s always done, reading and talking about great books, but her determination to be herself has led to enormous success in her life.  She became the Executive Director of the Seattle Library, taught at the University of Washington, wrote several successful editions of Book Lust (guide books for readers) and  is sought after for her on-air and in-print book reviews.  You might think that she would start to get a little high and mighty.  She doesn’t.  She consistently focuses on the fun of reading.  She is well know for her Rule of 50, which states, “If you still don't like a book after slogging through the first 50 pages, set it aside. If you're more than 50 years old, subtract your age from 100 and only grant it that many pages." And she doesn’t have the typical librarian/teacher attitude about book “quality” - her feeling is that as readers grow they will seek out better quality texts.  

Her ideas are simple but powerful.  Her voice is clear and refreshing.  And she knows how to keeps the library real for everyone.

A Better Ballard

OK, I’ll admit it, I thought the story of the library in America would be set on the East Coast.  I mean, wasn’t the rest of the country struggling for survival, making log cabins and panning for gold when the first reading room at the Boston Public Library opened?  Not really, they were building Carnegie Libraries just like everyone else.  The West Coast might have gotten a late start but they learned fast - Seattle is an absolute library mecca.  Central library is a phenomenon of its own but then there are the 26 branch libraries.  Six current branches are on the National Register of Historic Places, several have been declared landmarks by the Landmark Preservation Board and the new Ballard Branch is LEED Certified.  

I wasn’t surprised to find Andrew Carnegie’s name in the history of libraries in Seattle, his name has turned up as patron saint of libraries across the entire country.  Carnegie’s first library grant in Seattle came four days after most of the library’s collection went up in smoke in the Yesler Mansion.  The mansion belonged to Henry Yesler, a saw mill owner and Seattle’s first millionaire and was donated to the library at his death in 1892 as a permanent home for the transient library, then it burned to the ground in 1901 and the library was homeless and bookless.  Carnegie made a deal with city officials; he would donate a whopping  $200,000 to build a ‘fireproof’  library if they would buy the site and guarantee $50,000/year for maintenance.  When Carnegie sent off his hefty check he noted, “I like your pluck.”

At the turn of the century, Ballard, WA was a small fishing town outside of Seattle.  They built their own Carnegie Library in 1901 with the help of the Dewey Women’s Christian Temperance Union (the group was doing their best to encourage activities that did not include alcohol).  The classic revival building included a men’s smoking room,  ladies conversation room and a large auditorium.  When they opened, with very few books, residents were encouraged to visit and “bring a book to start the collection.”  There is an entertaining and detailed history of the branch at HistoryLink.org.

In 1907 Ballard was annexed by Seattle and the library became its first branch.  It certain has grown up since then...as part of the “Libraries For All” bond, the Ballard Branch, now located at 5614 22nd Ave. N.W., was rebuilt in 2005 as a library and neighborhood center for $10.6 million.  The design, by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson is breathtaking (check out their photos).  The swooping recycled pine beams are perched atop a delicate glass and metal base and, although it is ultra-modern, it feels warm and welcoming.  The branch vibe is young, ambitious and vibrant and, coolest of all, it has a sod roof planted with 18,000 low-water-use plants.  Wait, I lied, it gets cooler...there is a PERISCOPE in the library so you can check out the roof and the mountain views.  Hold on, cooler still... the artwork in the library is a LED display that interprets data from weather instruments on the roof and triggers patterns of motion.   Even Andrew Carnegie couldn't make up this incredible, imaginative stuff, it took the artists Donald Fels, Andrew Schloss and Dale Stammen to do that along with the vision of the Seattle Public Library.

Modern vs. Mission

After spending the day soaked in the inspiring story of Seattle’s Central Library I thought I was a convert.  I was so behind Joshua Prince-Ramus’s ideas for ‘compartmentalism’ and modern library design - I could feel the beauty of the ideas behind the design.  Feeling a little smug, I headed out to Seattle’s Fremont Branch, located at 731 N. 35th Street in Seattle.  At the first flickr click I felt the warmth of the massive wood beams ooze out of my laptop ...the polished wooden shelves, arched windows, book-lined walls...I could even smell the coziness, or maybe that was mustiness. So much for my architectural conviction and modern sensibility, I was right back where I started from, in love with an ancient gray haired library.  I know modern libraries are more authentic, have more design integrity and meet the needs of the community (and the books) but there is such character and sense of place in an old library, I can’t help it, they make me feel good!  
I mulled it over all day and decided I might just have to love them both - just like the little black dress and the jeans, sushi and oatmeal, mountains and oceans or chocolate and peanut butter.  Impossible to choose.  
Fremont is a Carnegie Library, you knew that was coming, right? Built in 1917 with a $35,000 grant from Carnegie, it was renovated to its original beauty with money from the “Libraries For All” bond in 2005.  Mission Revival architecture is not that kind of thing we see in W.N.Y or New England and I was curious.
The original missions were built by Spanish missionaries in the Southwest in the late 1700s to the early 1800s in order to convert Native Americans to Christianity and establish a taxpaying base for New Spain.  Now this sounds like familiar New England ground, know-it-all Europeans with a plan to help, educate and convert the Native Americans (and use them for their greater good).  While the Spanish introduced fruits, vegetables, horses, livestock and ranching to the southwest, they weren’t exactly a big help to the Native Americans.  Their plan for converting and civilize the tribes was remarkably uncivilized.  They quickly baptized the men (and then required that they remain in at the mission to work and worship) and assigned the women to a nunnery for their ‘protection’, until they died out from disease and unsanitary conditions.  In 1830 the Mexican government ordered that the missions be closed and the building were cleared out and abandoned.
The missions shared certain architectural details mainly because building materials and construction skills were limited but their style certainly has a charm and warmth that appealed to fans of Mission Revival Architecture at the turn of the century. Massive stucco walls, heavy beams, clay tile roofs, limited windows and unadorned surfaces are all characteristics of the Mission Revival style.
The overall effect of the design at the Freemont Branch is intimate and accessible.  Tucked under the Aurora Bridge it calls out like a bowl of hot soup on a cold winter day - just what the doctor ordered.  The dark timber trusses in the reading room shelter the readers from the moder outside world and remind us of our checkered history.