PS–Don’t worry. The action figure is fine. And her push-buttons shushing action is as amazing as ever.

Tell that to your manager.

"The status of librarians as superheroes is indisputable,"

states the Kalamazoo Gazette at the beginning of an article about some of Kalamazoo’s local superheroes, er, librarians. The paper profiles a few of them in light of Nancy Pearl’s visit to the area. Pearl, as you probably know by now, is the model of a very popular librarian action figure and a champion of reading.

In this Kalamazoo Gazette piece about Nancy Pearl and the action figure modeled on her, Pearl discusses the art of making good book recommendations.

"’One of the tricks that I help librarians think about is that the reason you like an author is not because of the specific plots of the books,’ Pearl said. ‘You’re excited about an author because of the feeling that you get when you read that author’s writing. … It seems like it would be an “oh, yeah, duh” kind of thing, but it really takes a whole lot of training to help librarians do a wonderful job at recommending books to patrons.’"

With weather like those of us in the upper Midwest and Northeast are having, it’s a good time to think about staying indoors with a good book. Need more reading ideas? How about 25 good American novels or some banned books?

The Boston Herald reports Nancy Pearl and the action figure modeled after her made an appearance at the Public Libraries Association conference that just wrapped up in Boston.

So far I’ve received more comment spam this holiday season than I have librarian action figures …

But what I have received has been excellent. No gift is better than being able to spend quality time with loved ones.

I love the headline of this piece about the librarian action figure. It goes on to discuss a hypothetical action figure that deals with requests that are part of secret investigations in light of the, uh, possible situation at a library where government officials could investigate library users.

One of my closest friends suggests a moose action figure that comes with a laptop and knitting needs. When you press a button on its back, it contradances.

I flipped through my Archie McPhee catalog last night. I think I saw what I’m going to get you for the holidays there …

said Accoutrements owner Mark Pahlow, who brought us the librarian action figures, in this Los Angeles Times article about Nancy Pearl and the toys.

Pahlow continues:

"’Librarians tend to be overlooked and underpaid, but they’ve had a lot of influence on a lot of people’s lives, which is certainly the case for me … So I think this figure has touched a lot of people. You wouldn’t believe how many people say, “Oh, my mother was a librarian,” or “My sister’s a librarian.”‘”

The Deluxe Librarian Action Figure is available at Hidden Sweets in Harvard Square for the same price that Archie McPhee has. Usually, it’s cheaper if I order online. I love ordering from Archie McPhee. I can’t decide where to buy them.

Oh, the stupid, petty, idiotic, little crises that cloud my day.

It seems that the dinner party that spawned the idea for the librarian action figure happened on August 26, 2002.

This article has a terrific quote from Nancy Pearl, the librarian on whom the figure is modeled:

"’One new librarian came up to me and she said “I got nine action figures for graduation presents.” And I said “Oh good, now you can start a baseball team of librarian action figures …”‘"

Here are some great action figure photos I found via a post on eclectic librarian.

When my penpal and I were chatting about the doll, we both lamented that it doesn’t come with customizable accessories. You could buy one that comes with newspapers, microfilm, clipping files, and a computer for a news librarian. The law librarian version could come with stereotypical nice leather bound legal books. Funky librarians like me could get one with just a computer and no library. (My penpal thinks mine should also come with an anti-gravity beanie “so I can float around while the propeller spins.”) The librarian party girl could come with cigarettes and alcohol.

The link above goes to some rather amusing ideas for male action figure librarians.

If it’s modeled after one of my favorite male librarians, it’d be able to talk books at the speed of light and come with a stack of the perfect recommendations of both obscure and main line literature.