Move over, Barbie. You, too, Ken. A new action figure is in town. She’s hip and oh-so quiet.

She is Nancy Pearl, a 1967 graduate of the School of Information (SI), who in reduced size and cast in life-like plastic is the first Librarian Action Figure—sort of a patron saint for circulation desks. Push the button on its back and the Nancy-like figure raises an arm to make a shushing motion.

Even rough and tough G.I. Joe can’t do that.

The life-sized Pearl is the first speaker in a series of lectures presented by SI. The author and head of the Center for the Book at the Seattle Public Library will speak at 3 p.m. Sept. 22 in Rackham Amphitheatre in an event cosponsored by the Ann Arbor District Library.

Pearl says the action figure is all in fun and that blowing away the staid librarian image has its rewards.

“The best thing that we can do to dispel that stereotype is to make a joke of it,” Pearl says. “I don’t think I’ve ever said ‘shush’ in a library since 1970.”

Pearl modeled out of love of her profession; she doesn’t get a cut of the action figure’s revenue. “If it turns into a video game, maybe I’ll make some money, but that’s a long shot,” she laughs.

The doll is available for orders at http://www.librarianactionfigure.com. An SI student group also will sell them at a reception following the lecture.

In addition to her modeling career, Pearl is the creator of the widely popular Community Reads program and is the author of “Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason.” The book includes 175 topical lists of good books to read, for children and adults.

“This is the book that I was born to write,” she says, noting that she has read all of the books on her lists. Thousands of recommendations are included. She also penned “Now Read This: A Guide to Mainstream Fiction, 1978-1989” and “Now Read This II: A Guide to Mainstream Fiction, 1990-2001.”

Pearl also is known for her “Rule of 50”: never feel you have to finish a book you’re not enjoying. “If you’re 50 years of age and younger, you should give every book 50 pages before you feel perfectly free to give up on it,” she says. “But if you’re over 50, you take your age and subtract it from 100, and the result is the number of pages you should give a book a chance before you give up on it. That way, you’re sort of rewarded for getting older.”

As if to apply a magic asterisk in the air to that statement and deflate the hopes of unmotivated students, Pearl amends her comment, noting that the rule doesn’t apply to class assignments.

Other lectures in the series:

• Carol Kuhlthau, professor and director of the Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries at Rutgers University, 3 p.m. Oct. 13 in the Rackham Amphitheatre;

• Deanna Marcum, associate librarian for library services of the Library of Congress, 3 p.m. Nov. 3 in the Ehrlicher Room, 411 West Hall;

• Nancy Gwinn, a 1969 SI alumna and director of the Smithsonian Institution libraries, and Elaine Cline, a 1973 SI alumna and director of the Ralph J. Bunche Library of the U.S. Department of State, 3 p.m. Jan. 26 in Rackham Amphitheatre, sponsored jointly with the Ann Arbor District Library;

• Frank Kurt Cylke, director of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress; Jean Moss, digital projects coordinator at the Library of Congress; and Margaret Wolfe, coordinator of the Washtenaw County Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled, 3 p.m. Feb. 16 in the Rackham Amphitheatre;

• Beth Fitzsimmons of Ann Arbor, chair of the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, 3 p.m. March 16 in Rackham Amphitheatre.

No RSVP is necessary to attend. Additional details about the series can be obtained by calling (734) 763-2285 or visiting http://www.si.umich.edu/words/.