Thursday 29 August 2013

Shhhhhhhhhhh!



As we welcome the news that Europe's largest public library is about to open in Birmingham, our friend and fellow Polari-ite, author Helen Smith has drawn my attention recently to a new kind of "superhero", if one hardly likely to be portrayed by the likes of Famke Janssen in Lycra - a librarian who is so lauded she has her own action figure!

Miss Nancy Pearl is indeed some kind of "hero". In this world of trendy, ten-second-memory, instant commentary, instant self-publishing, she has taken on the challenge of championing the far more gratifying world of books - to an American audience ostensibly more obsessed with reality TV and making complaints about nipples on telly than reading.



Starting with her native Seattle, where she became something of a local celebrity on radio and in the papers for her campaigns, she really caught the attention of the wider public with her advisory guides to good reading, snappily-titled Book Lust. Such was the attention she garnered by her dogged championing of often out-of-print titles that none other than the world-conquering Amazon agreed to re-publish six novels from her lists every year, in print and electronic formats!

As a former librarian myself, I applaud the lady's efforts in support of the (printed) written word. Too many libraries have tried to turn themselves into "one-stop-shops" for web-based information sourcing and research (glorified "internet cafés"), while running down their actual physical book collections. Miss Pearl speaks out - loudly - about redressing the balance in favour of the book itself as something to enjoy.

"The role of a librarian is to make sense of the world of information. If that's not a qualification for superhero-dom, what is?" - Nancy Pearl

Here's a most appropriate number as a tribute to the plucky Miss Pearl - what else but Marian The Librarian from The Music Man?


Nancy Pearl official website

2 comments:

  1. Jon, I'm glad you were as taken with the idea of a librarian action figure as I am! What a lovely write-up... and with a song, too.

    You know I have hosted an event called The Literary Cabaret featuring a mix of readings (by Polari regular Karen McLeod among others), with songs from my lovely friend Kate Arneil. One song that goes down well at those events is "A trip to the Library" from She Loves Me (Kate was in the original London cast). Here's the link - it's not Kate singing, though: http://youtu.be/XlNbikzmOCU

    Anyway, I hope I will see you at Polari in a few weeks. I have missed the last few for one reason or another and they're so brilliant, I need my fix! I hope I'll get to the next one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I meant to come along to one of your events with Karen. Maybe next time...

      Thanks for the link to that fabulous song "A Trip To The Library". The show "She Loves Me" is one with which I am not familiar, although I think that song "Vanilla Ice Cream" (which was a Barbara Cook fave) is from it.

      See you at Polari! Jx

      Delete

Please leave a message - I value your comments!

[NB Bear with me if there is a delay - thanks to spammers I might need to approve comments]