Nebraska's Book Maven, Nancy Rips

Warren Buffett may be the Oracle of Omaha, but Nancy Rips is Omaha's very own Book Maven. Over the past few decades, Rips has discovered and developed unique ways to bring books to people and people to books.

Rips sells books in the conventional ways -- currently she is on the staff of The Bookworm in Omaha -- but she also advocates passionately for libraries; reviews books regularly on radio and television; speaks extensively in schools, to various groups, and at fundraisers; and organizes an annual book-themed New York City tour for Nebraskans.

At this year's BookExpo America, Rips participated in a panel on Bookstore Tourism, where she explained how she partnered with a local travel agent to create memorable tours for book lovers. This fall will mark the third trip and will include bookstore browsing, a literary landmarks walking tour, a special tour of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue, tickets to a Broadway show, a dinner cruise around Manhattan, and an author brunch sponsored by The New York Times.

The tours are the most recent addition to the rich book culture fostered by Rips, since she began selling books about 30 years ago when her children were small. She was hired by B. Dalton, she told BTW, in the days when job applicants "had to take a three-page test, matching titles with authors." She passed with flying colors, worked there for 15 years, and then moved to Read All About It, an Omaha independent. When that store closed in May 2001, she joined the staff of The Bookworm, which is owned by Phil and Beth Black.

The Bookworm, Rips said, "is a great full-service bookstore. People on the staff are very experienced. We know books, and we service our customers."

Rips' handselling extends beyond the store's four walls. She regularly reviews books for a weekly book feature on KMTV, Omaha's CBS affiliate, and she has talked about books up and down the radio dial, including segments on Radio Disney and a monthly hour-long call-in book program on KKAR-AM. In addition, Rips teaches adult education classes at the local community college, appears often as a storyteller, and leads book discussions for many organizations.

Her involvement with the Omaha Library System is the stuff of legend: Long an active member of several library boards, in 2004 she spearheaded efforts to save the Swanson Library Branch, which was threatened with complete closure for budgetary reasons. Rips recruited volunteers and organized rallies and a public relations campaign that resulted in complete victory. The city reversed its decision, appropriated funds to keep Swanson open, and eventually restored reduced hours at all library branches.

When the Omaha library director fielded a call from an Omaha juvenile judge four years ago, she immediately put Rips in touch with him. Judge Douglas Johnson, Rips told BTW, believes that reading books will help children stay out of trouble. He requires that each child who appears before him in court sign up for a library card. Johnson wanted help from the public library to keep his courtroom filled with books. Thus Rips developed the book giveaway program for Omaha's Juvenile Court system. Like the judge, Rips believes that books are at the core of a successful life. "If children learn how to read, they can be anything they want to be," she told BTW.

While accomplishing all of the above, Rips is also working on a book of her own about the celebration of Passover, a major holiday for many Jewish families.

Rivkah Sass, executive director of the Omaha Public Library, told Omaha's weekly Jewish Press, "Nancy Rips is more than a woman who loves books and reading. She is a force of nature. If we could bottle Nancy's essence, the literacy rate in the country would be 110 percent." --Nomi Schwartz