Thursday, December 09, 2004

Meet Nancy Pearl Librarian Action Figure



I did say that i would get back on this.

Nancy Pearl, a retired librarian from Washington Centre for the Book has a Librarian Action Figure modeled after herself. Seems that people can't get enough of it and it's been flying off the shelves with over 2000 sold. Ms Pearl claims that the action hero was a tribute to librarians.. and most librarians has a sense of humour. Therefore, they take it that way.

Honestly... would you get the Nancy Pearl Librarian Action Figure? I wouldn't. I personally think that it is hideous and will get nightmares if i look at it. It's strange how one tries to fight the stereotype of the bespectacled spinster-looking librarian.. and best feature of the action figure... push a button on her back and she'd assumed the POSE... one finger at the lips, ready to shush anyone who dares disturb the readers' peace. i hate that image ... can't wait to get out of this pose.. at least we have security guard shutting people up in the libraries here!

sigh... why can't we have a collectible Librarian Barbie, dressed in hip and happening clothes from Zara with the cutest accessories and the latest best sellers and interesting books on fact and figures for all...

Why? WHY? WHY?????

2 comments:

noizy said...

why can't we have a collectible Librarian Barbie, dressed in hip and happening clothes from Zara with the cutest accessories and the latest best sellers and interesting books on fact and figures for all...I nominate you as the model! or me, perhaps. What it needs is one of those draw-strings at the back that triggers one of a hundred useful facts and figures, regularly updated by wireless internet.

olkgal said...

Been reading up a bit to see if other librarians share the same view as me. Seems that they do. In an acticle by CNN, http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/09/08/offbeat.librarian.ap/,

"The shushing thing just put me right over the edge," said Diane DuBois, library director of Caribou Public Library in Caribou, Maine. "We're so not like that anymore. It's so stereotypical I could scream."

"On Web sites and discussion groups, in phone calls and e-mails, librarians from as far as Australia have made it clear how annoyed they are with the doll and Nancy Pearl, the 58-year-old real-life librarian who posed for the action figure.

One unsigned e-mail accused Pearl of setting the profession back 30 years. "

Is anyone calling Mattel to make a Librarian Barbie yet??