Nancy Pearl
Encyclopedia
Nancy Pearl is an American
librarian
, best-selling author
, literary critic and was, until August 2004, the Executive Director of the Washington Center for the Book at Seattle Public Library
. Her prolific reading and her knowledge of books and literature first made her locally famous in Seattle, Washington
, where she regularly appears on public radio recommending books. She achieved broader fame with Book Lust
, her 2003 guide to good reading.
and, by her own account, spent much time of her childhood at the public library. Her decision to become a librarian started at the age of 10 with the inspiration of the children’s librarian at her local public library. She credits books and librarians with helping her through a difficult childhood: "It's not too much of an exaggeration—if it's one at all—to say that reading saved my life." She earned her master's
in library science
at the University of Michigan
(1967) and became a children's librarian in her hometown library system before moving on to other libraries. As a hobby, Pearl wrote poetry as a young woman and in 1980 published a story in Redbook
magazine called "The Ride to School."
Pearl moved with her husband, professor Joe Pearl, from Detroit to Oklahoma
, where she raised two daughters (Eily Raman and Katie) while earning another master's degree, this one in history. She worked in an independent bookstore
as well as the Tulsa City-County Library
System. Craig Buthod, who worked with Pearl in Tulsa before he became the deputy director of the Seattle Public Library
, recruited her to come to Seattle in 1993. She originally traveled to Seattle without her husband for four years, until he reached retirement age and joined her. Pearl said the decision to join the library was one of the few times in her life when she instinctively knew she was doing the right thing.
In Seattle, she became something of a local celebrity, founding the pioneering and much-imitated "If All Seattle Read The Same Book" project, appearing regularly on public radio recommending books, and eventually becoming executive director of the library system's Washington Center for the Book. She also taught a course at the University of Washington
Information School called "Book Lust 101." The course teaches future librarians how various literary genre
s work and what draws people into a book.
Pearl achieved broader fame with Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment and Reason
, (2003) her "Readers' Advisory" guide to good reading, and the sequel More Book Lust (summer 2005) with the same subtitle, which received much acclaim ("a sprightly follow-up"), and was chosen by the Today Show as one of their book-club selections. In March, 2007, she released a book of recommendations for children and teens called Book Crush.
Pearl's approach to enjoying reading is the 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." In her books, Pearl recommends 3,400 titles, grouped in chapters such as "Horror for Sissies" and "Good Reading from the Government (Really!)."
Pearl's program, "If All of Seattle Read the Same Book" was a concept to promote literacy and to encourage community. The program was hugely successful and discussed across the nation. Many other communities began to offer similar One City One Book
programs based on Ms. Pearl’s success. Her appearance on local public radio fueled her popularity as her listeners began to find books that they actually enjoyed reading. Ms. Pearl’s knowledge of books and ability to recommend the right book to the right reader, led her to gather her thoughts from her own reading, writing, and speaking into a collection of book reviews. She began publishing books about books.
Pearl says that the largest problem facing librarianship today is that "we have yet to balance the three important functions a library has in a community: information access, providing people with books and material for their recreational learning and reading, and offering quality programs for our patrons. The pendulum swung way over on the information access side and has yet to right itself. We graduate people from library schools (information schools) knowing how to build a website, but not knowing how to recommend a book to someone who comes in asking for something good to read."
poster and has received numerous awards. Her book reviews appear in The Seattle Times
, Booklist
, Library Journal
, and on the radio on KUOW-FM
Seattle, and KWGS
Tulsa, Oklahoma
.
In 2003 she received an unusual honor when the Seattle-based company Accoutrements created a librarian action figure
in her likeness to be sold in their Seattle store, Archie McPhee
. Featuring Pearl with a stack of books and a finger to her lips, the doll's "push to shush" action was popular with some librarians and dismaying to others who felt that the doll reinforced librarian stereotypes. Pearl herself said that the shushing aspect of the action figure would determine "which librarians have a sense of humor."
A tribute band called 'The Nancy Pearls' gave their debut bluegrass performance on the Mitchell Library rooftop (Sydney
, Australia
) on 17 December 2004.
Ontario Library Association Media and Communications Award (2004)
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
librarian
Librarian
A librarian is an information professional trained in library and information science, which is the organization and management of information services or materials for those with information needs...
, best-selling author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, literary critic and was, until August 2004, the Executive Director of the Washington Center for the Book at Seattle Public Library
Seattle Central Library
The Seattle Public Library's Central Library is the flagship library of The Seattle Public Library system. The 11-story glass and steel building in downtown Seattle, Washington was opened to the public on Sunday, May 23, 2004...
. Her prolific reading and her knowledge of books and literature first made her locally famous in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, where she regularly appears on public radio recommending books. She achieved broader fame with Book Lust
Book Lust
Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason was written by Nancy Pearl, former Executive Director of the Washington Center for the Book and inspiration for the Librarian action figure....
, her 2003 guide to good reading.
Life
Nancy Pearl was raised in Detroit, MichiganDetroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
and, by her own account, spent much time of her childhood at the public library. Her decision to become a librarian started at the age of 10 with the inspiration of the children’s librarian at her local public library. She credits books and librarians with helping her through a difficult childhood: "It's not too much of an exaggeration—if it's one at all—to say that reading saved my life." She earned her master's
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in library science
Library science
Library science is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and other areas to libraries; the collection, organization, preservation, and dissemination of information resources; and the...
at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
(1967) and became a children's librarian in her hometown library system before moving on to other libraries. As a hobby, Pearl wrote poetry as a young woman and in 1980 published a story in Redbook
Redbook
Redbook is an American women's magazine published by the Hearst Corporation. It is one of the "Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines.-History:...
magazine called "The Ride to School."
Pearl moved with her husband, professor Joe Pearl, from Detroit to Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, where she raised two daughters (Eily Raman and Katie) while earning another master's degree, this one in history. She worked in an independent bookstore
Independent bookstore
An independent bookstore is a retail bookstore which is independently owned.-Literary and countercultural history:Author events at independent bookstores sometimes take the role of literary salons. The bookstores themselves, "have historically supported and cultivated the work of independent...
as well as the Tulsa City-County Library
Tulsa City-County Library
The Tulsa City-County Library is the major public library system in Tulsa County, Oklahoma.-Overview:The library system serves those who live, work, go to school in, own land in, or pay property taxes on land in Tulsa County. There are 25 branches in the system: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,...
System. Craig Buthod, who worked with Pearl in Tulsa before he became the deputy director of the Seattle Public Library
Seattle Public Library
The Seattle Public Library is the public library system serving Seattle, Washington, USA. It was officially established by the city in 1890, though there had been efforts to start a Seattle library as early as 1868. There are 26 branches in the system, most of them named after the neighborhoods in...
, recruited her to come to Seattle in 1993. She originally traveled to Seattle without her husband for four years, until he reached retirement age and joined her. Pearl said the decision to join the library was one of the few times in her life when she instinctively knew she was doing the right thing.
In Seattle, she became something of a local celebrity, founding the pioneering and much-imitated "If All Seattle Read The Same Book" project, appearing regularly on public radio recommending books, and eventually becoming executive director of the library system's Washington Center for the Book. She also taught a course at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
Information School called "Book Lust 101." The course teaches future librarians how various literary genre
Literary genre
A literary genre is a category of literary composition. Genres may be determined by literary technique, tone, content, or even length. Genre should not be confused with age category, by which literature may be classified as either adult, young-adult, or children's. They also must not be confused...
s work and what draws people into a book.
Pearl achieved broader fame with Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment and Reason
Book Lust
Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason was written by Nancy Pearl, former Executive Director of the Washington Center for the Book and inspiration for the Librarian action figure....
, (2003) her "Readers' Advisory" guide to good reading, and the sequel More Book Lust (summer 2005) with the same subtitle, which received much acclaim ("a sprightly follow-up"), and was chosen by the Today Show as one of their book-club selections. In March, 2007, she released a book of recommendations for children and teens called Book Crush.
Pearl on reading and librarianship
Part of Pearl’s success with the public hinges on the idea of connecting with the reader without pretense. Pearl is not forgetting her academic background. However, she is finding material that engages the reader and gives the reader permission to enjoy the material of their choice even if it is not the standard reading that the academics say we should all know. Pearl states that readers become more demanding about the quality of material that they read as they read more material. For Pearl, it seems that the most important aspect of reading a book is to enjoy it. If a reader is not enjoying a book, then she has a rule for when to stop reading that book.Pearl's approach to enjoying reading is the 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." In her books, Pearl recommends 3,400 titles, grouped in chapters such as "Horror for Sissies" and "Good Reading from the Government (Really!)."
Pearl's program, "If All of Seattle Read the Same Book" was a concept to promote literacy and to encourage community. The program was hugely successful and discussed across the nation. Many other communities began to offer similar One City One Book
One City One Book
One City One Book is a generic name for a community reading program that attempts to get everyone in a city to read and discuss the same book. The name of the program is often reversed to One Book One City, or is customized to name the city where it occurs...
programs based on Ms. Pearl’s success. Her appearance on local public radio fueled her popularity as her listeners began to find books that they actually enjoyed reading. Ms. Pearl’s knowledge of books and ability to recommend the right book to the right reader, led her to gather her thoughts from her own reading, writing, and speaking into a collection of book reviews. She began publishing books about books.
Pearl says that the largest problem facing librarianship today is that "we have yet to balance the three important functions a library has in a community: information access, providing people with books and material for their recreational learning and reading, and offering quality programs for our patrons. The pendulum swung way over on the information access side and has yet to right itself. We graduate people from library schools (information schools) knowing how to build a website, but not knowing how to recommend a book to someone who comes in asking for something good to read."
Recognition and awards
Pearl has had her face on an American Library AssociationAmerican Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
poster and has received numerous awards. Her book reviews appear in The Seattle Times
The Seattle Times
The Seattle Times is a newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, US. It is the largest daily newspaper in the state of Washington. It has been, since the demise in 2009 of the printed version of the rival Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle's only major daily print newspaper.-History:The Seattle Times...
, Booklist
Booklist
Booklist is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. It is geared toward libraries and booksellers and is available in print or online...
, Library Journal
Library Journal
Library Journal is a trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey . It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional practice...
, and on the radio on KUOW-FM
KUOW-FM
KUOW-FM 94.9 is a National Public Radio affiliate radio station in Seattle, Washington. It is a top-ranked radio station in the Seattle/Tacoma media market...
Seattle, and KWGS
KWGS
KWGS 89.5 FM is a National Public Radio station in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The station was Oklahoma's first FM radio station and is one of two stations operated by the University of Tulsa. The station was established in 1947 through the initiative of TU speech professor Ben Graf Henneke, later president...
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...
.
In 2003 she received an unusual honor when the Seattle-based company Accoutrements created a librarian action figure
Action figure
An action figure is a posable character figurine, made of plastic or other materials, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, video game, or television program. These action figures are usually marketed towards boys and male collectors...
in her likeness to be sold in their Seattle store, Archie McPhee
Archie McPhee
Archie McPhee is a Seattle-based novelty dealer owned by Mark Pahlow. Begun in the 1970s in Los Angeles as the mail-order business Accoutrements, in 1983 it opened a retail outlet dubbed "Archie McPhee" after Pahlow's wife's great-uncle....
. Featuring Pearl with a stack of books and a finger to her lips, the doll's "push to shush" action was popular with some librarians and dismaying to others who felt that the doll reinforced librarian stereotypes. Pearl herself said that the shushing aspect of the action figure would determine "which librarians have a sense of humor."
A tribute band called 'The Nancy Pearls' gave their debut bluegrass performance on the Mitchell Library rooftop (Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
) on 17 December 2004.
Awards
- 1997 Open Book Award from the Pacific Northwest Writers Conference
- 1998 Totem Business and Professional Women's "Woman of Achievement Award"
- Library JournalLibrary JournalLibrary Journal is a trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey . It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional practice...
' s Fiction Reviewer of the Year (1998) - Allie Beth Martin Award from the American Library AssociationAmerican Library AssociationThe American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
(2001) - Washington (State) Humanities Award (2003)
- 2004 Brava Award from Women's University Club in Seattle, recognizing "women of exceptional ability in the greater Seattle area";
- Louis ShoresLouis ShoresLouis Shores was a noted librarian who worked for the promotion of the library as the center of all learning, in both public and academic institutions. Shores was recognized for his integration of audiovisual materials into library collections...
--Greenwood Publishing Group Award, 2004 for excellence in book reviewing - Annual award from the Women's National Book Association (2004-2005)
Ontario Library Association Media and Communications Award (2004)
- 2011 Library JournalLibrary JournalLibrary Journal is a trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey . It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional practice...
Librarian of the Year
External links
- Nancy Pearl's website
- Nancy Pearl's Book Lust Community
- Librarian Action Figure page from Archie McPhee
- Interview with Nancy Pearl in Library and Information Science News
- Interview on the site of Western Washington University
- Audio lecture by Pearl on the site of the University of Michigan School of Information