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| 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.
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.
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