stronger than a silent "E"

Elaine Zelmanov

Photo By Dwight Eschliman

September/October 2003 Issue

Sure, they can't fly, scale tall buildings, or run particularly fast, but librarians were among the handful of civil servants to stand up to the Patriot Act, shredding citizens' library records lest they fall into the hands of the dastardly Ashcroft. That fact speaks to the heart of why novelty company Archie McPhee has just released an action figure based on Seattle librarian Nancy Pearl. "The role of a librarian is to make sense of the world of information," Pearl said. "And if that's not a qualification for superhero-dom, what is?"

Well, for a start, the quiet heroism of a woman who founded a literacy program. And it was Pearl who launched that "everyone in the same city read the same book -- discuss" trend. She's written a tome (her third) titled Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason. A tiny copy comes with the doll, which also shushes you at the touch of a button. And isn't that the allure of the librarian, that she runs the gamut from hush to hubba-hubba? Remember Batgirl? Also a librarian.