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.

Dewey and the Librarians

I’m just not sure how much I trust Melvil Dewey.  I know he was a brilliant organizer and did more than spew decimals around the library, but I am a little skeptical of his motives for setting up the first school for librarians at Columbia College in 1888.  Sarah Prescott’s article in the SLJ, “If You Knew Dewey”, presented the history that left me wondering about Dewey’s inner moral compass. 

 Dewey was hired to be the head library of Columbia College in 1883 and wisely used his position to persuade the college to open a school for librarians called “The School of Library Economy” (where he could conveniently spread the gospel of his new decimal system).  At the time, women were not welcomed at Columbia - unless they attended the ‘special’ women’s school.  This small detail didn’t get in Dewey’s way, he proceeded to open admissions to both sexes and Columbia, shocked and furious, countered by refusing to let him use their classrooms.  Ever determined Dewey and his harem of 17 women and 3 men marched across the street and cleaned out a room above the college chapel to hold classes (he told the students that the college just hadn’t expecting such a big inaugural class).  

At first I applauded Dewey for striving towards equality and rising above conventional thinking of the time.  But the more I read, the more I began to question what was really going on in his file cabinet brain.  Was Dewey taking advantage of the limited career opportunities open to women to interest them in enrolling in his program?  Was he just looking for ways to spread the good word of his Dewey Decimal System?  Did he believe that his system was so easy that “even a woman” could learn it?  Was he trying to create disciples that would go on to implement the Dewey Decimal System at Carnegie libraries around the country?  And, far more creepy, why did Dewey’s library school application require data about the student’s height, weight, eye and hair color?  To make the selection process easier, Dewey even recommended the inclusion of a photograph. 

 Katharine Phenix argues that women were welcomed into the library at the time only because they were “cheap and available” and she quotes Justin Windson, “we set a high value on women’s work...and for the money they cost they are infinitely better than equivalent salaries will produce in the other sex.”  Dewey may have added ‘enjoyable to look at’ to the list of advantages.
Of course, I don’t know what Dewey’s motivations were but I know enough about his personality and prejudices to assume that he was not operating to enhance women’s independence nor was standing up for social injustice.  He was a pragmatist in every aspect of his life, passion had little, or nothing to do with his life choices.  And once he got an idea in his head - look out - not much could stop him!  

Dewey has been criticized for approaching the vocation of library science as a technical skill, not as the complex profession that it is.  He certainly didn’t regard his librarians as “managers of knowledge” - he taught them how label, categorize, file and find - thinking wasn’t a high priority.  The career of ‘librarian’ would become one of the few paths that were acceptable for women in the early 20th Century and it continues to be a female dominated profession (similar to elementary school teachers), in the year 2000, 85% of librarians were women.  

In my mind Dewey certainly isn’t a hero in the women’s movement but he isn’t a villian either - no matter what, he opened the door to women and allowed them into the library as authorities.  And once the cat was out of the bag there wasn’t much that could be done to stop women from becoming more than library technicians - they began creating libraries that spread knowledge, understanding and inspiration across our country, leaving Dewey in the dust.

Losing Libraries

It’s Friday afternoon and my students are racing around the library, pulling books out, looking at the cover for 2 seconds and then shoving them back in.  “Slow down,” I remind them, “read a few pages, see what you think.  Remember how we practiced looking for the ‘just right’ book?”  I breathe deeply and try to hang onto my patience while I watch them skip from shelf to shelf.  The truth is they only have 10 minutes to find a book and check it out, their adrenaline is flowing from the P.E. class they just finished and they are 10 yrs. old.  

Our school librarian retired last year and the district decided she would not be replaced.  ‘Library’ is not a mandated curriculum extension subject in  N.Y. so it was quickly swept out of the schedule and replaced with another P.E. class.  I love P.E., I wish my students could have it everyday BUT they also need time in the library, especially if we actual want them to love books and reading.  It’s like asking someone to become a chef and then giving them 10 minutes in the kitchen (a week) and letting them pick one ingredient.  

Teachers now have a weekly 10 minute time slot to allow their students to select a book.  10 minutes.  Are you kidding me?  I can’t even get past the magazine rack in 10 minutes.  Finding the right book takes time, it’s like finding the perfect pair of jeans, these things can’t be rushed.  But, alas, this is the reality in 2010, so the students race around, grab a book and check it out - 1 per week - only to bring it home and discover it’s not the right book.  The next day it is back in the return box and kids are pawing through my measly classroom library (that I have purchased and collected on my own)..

William Hite, the superintendent of Prince George’s County Public Schools, announced that he would like to fire 90 school librarians in 2012 in order to close the $85.7 budget shortfall in the district.  90 school librarians.  It would save the district $7.4 million but what would it cost the children?  Where are they going to learn about the library?  Who will read a book to them that sparks their imagination?  When will they sit in beanbags and listen to a book on CD?  What will happen to Prince George’s $250,000 collection of books and materials?

New York, my home state, is thinking about eliminating library and media information classes in middle school in order to ease their budget woes.  David Steiner, the commissioner of education in New York, says he understands the importance of the library and is “discussing a set of cost containment and mandate relief options. These proposals could increase local flexibility and reduce certain existing requirements—without adversely impacting the essential elements of education reform or student health and safety and, where possible, improve educational outcomes.”  

First of all, who talks like that?  And secondly, I  hope he bring his magic wand to the discussion.
Of course some kids are lucky, they have parents that already take them to the public library every week or they live close enough to a library to walk or ride their bike on their own.  But most of them are not lucky - the library will become a memory, something they used to do and they will soon forget about.  Students who begin pre-k and kindergarten next year will never have the chance to listen to a librarian read to them, learn how to find books they love or where to find information about their favorite author.  The irony is that while districts slash library funding with one hand, they pile on new literacy and technology standards with the other.  The solution, in their minds is that teachers, who are having such an easy time educating students as it is, can now increase their class size, reach ever higher common core standards and incorporate the library curriculum - all in 10 minutes a week.  No problem.