Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum, the two very awesome guys behind the comic Unshelved, took a break from their booth duties on the ALA exhibits floor to do an interview with me. I used my Blackberry and placed a phone call to a service called Utterz (think Twitter but multimedia, with the ability to post pictures, video, and audio from your phone and your computer) to record the interview and post it directly to the internet. I’m *finally* cross-posting it here.

Press the play button below to listen to the interview:

I’d love to hear them speak at a PLA event someday.

This was, hands down, the most interesting, humorous, and problem-laden interview I’ve done thus far, party funny ha-ha, part funny uh-oh. At first, it seemed that technology was conspiring against us. The battery in the digital voice recorder, that was fine earlier, was now dead. The microphone, that worked when tested, wouldn’t budge. Can’t do an interview without recording, right? But that’s OK, we can totally figure it out alright!

And then even further hilarity ensued, resulting in David’s funny jab at the interview as the “podcast from hell,” even though fun was had by all. ;D

Not to be thwarted by cranky technology, we tried recording directly through my laptop, but I think I’m still missing a few drivers (I’m rebuilding my computer from factory defaults, long, *painful* story), and the mic was still unhappy, so that didn’t work well.

David, one of the most patient and cooperative interviewees ever, offers up his Mac, which can run both Windows Vista Ultimate and Mac OS X (separately, not at the same time), for our recording needs. He tried Windows Vista, but the mic wouldn’t work, so he tried his mic, and that wouldn’t work either. Then he tried the Mac OS, and neither mic would work, so we ended up talking directly into the built-in mic just above the screen. Talk about cooperative, creative problem solving!

Near the beginning and middle of the interview, you will notice a very strange sound in the background. This was the world taking a turn at trying to thwart us with the sound of baloons being inflated with helium, making it sound like David has some sort of breathing problems.

At around 3pm, ended the interview with just in time for David to get to the Hilton for his presentation, and for me to post the podcast before hitting his session about 4pm. However, when I went to upload the file and post, it appeared that the site was down (we know now it wasn’t, and are trying to resolve the issue). My many apologies to Sara and David for the delay in posting, and for missing the 4pm session, I was so looking forward to it!

However, in the end, we triumphed over adversity. Enjoy this podcast, chock-full of information about the positive and negative aspects of Windows Vista, a small bit on the new iPhone, and so much more. Thank you again to Kathleen Hughes and Sara Peyton, as well as to the wonderul and funny David Pogue for such a good time!

Have you ever had such a large turnout for a Book Buzz session as you did here at PLA on Wednesday?
Nancy: I think it was the largest, although my PLA presentation (which was just me talking about Book Lust) in Seattle had about the same number. It’s quite a thrill speaking to an audience that large.

How did the “Where is Nancy Pearl?” Flickr photo set (a group of photos of the Librarian Action Figure in different locations that was featured on her web site) come to be? How did you find out about it?
N: I got an email from Dr. Mary Anne Bell about her plan to take the LAF around with her, but someone else wrote me about the Flickr photo set. I love it.

Are there any exciting projects coming down the pipe for you?
N: I have a new book coming out next year that I am just about finished writing – the working title is Book Crush; it’s recommended books for kids and adults. It was fun to go back and immerse myself in these books, since I began my library career as a children’s librarian.

What is your most recent favorite read?
N: My current favorites include Kevin Brockmeier’s The Brief History of the Dead, The Truth by Terry Pratchett, and Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

What’s your favorite book of all time?
N: An impossible question to answer! My favorite 3000 books (up until the beginning of 2005) are in Book Lust and More Book Lust.

In your opinion, what is the best movie adaptation of a book?
N: Shane.

Why Shane?
N: The movie, in my memory at least, captures the spareness of the book’s style, and it retains the mysteriousness of the main character instead of changing it. Lots of stuff for discussion.

You’re schedule is very busy. Where are you off to post-PLA?
N: Youngstown, Ohio, to be part of their annual English Festival; Cuyahoga County Library; Get Lit!, a literary festival in Spokane, WA; New Jersey Library Association (and that’s just April). All the other information should be on my website – www.nancypearl.com – along with reviews.

Many thanks to Nancy for taking the time to share.

If you’d like to read more about the Book Buzz session at ALA, check out these blog posts from other librarians:

• Freedom Library News and Views
• YALSA: Young Adult Library Services Association
• Multitype Librarian
• LibraryTechtonics

If I missed your post about Nancy’s Book Buzz session, please add a comment here with the URL of your blog post.