| A Figure in Action. Some Incident
with "Nancy Pearl"
The following interview was done with
the library action figure "Nancy Pearl". It is a work
of fiction and meant to be fun. We know there is a real person Nancy
Pearl, who wrote books on Book
Lust but this little piece is strictly focused on an action
figure accompanied by some books we came across this spring.
Any contingently resemblance to any real or fictional person is
not intentional. We just play around because that
is what action figures are made for.
Hello Nancy, it is such a pleasure to meet you, we just can't tell..!
I wished I could say the same...

Thank you Nancy. You're not too much
into interviews, aren't you?
Frankly: NO! This is just because
I spend the whole day abandoned in this dusty place with all the
stuff no one really cares about...
You mean "a drawer"?
No. I'm talking about "closed
stacks".
Alright, we see. So it must feel pretty
much like a release to end up finally under the wide open sky out
here in the Swedish countryside.

If you wouldn't have just grabbed
me, stuffed me head over heels in some bag, took me to this place
and ignored my free will, trampled my personal integrity it might
...at least my skirt did not slip...
Because you and you're skirt are the
same plastic casting...
No, it's not true..
Just skip it. You're
a librarian, right?
Shhhh!
Yes: You are! You're
shhhhhing like a waterfall running down a romantic valley deep in
Montana...
It's supposed to sound rattlesnaky!
Oh... so you're a librarian..
Currently I'm
working as a librarian-role-model. You can call me a meta-librarian.
Isn't it hard to work as a role-model?
You have to embody any single stereotype related to the librarian's
profession that ever was there, is there and will be there. What
a Herculean task!
Not for me. I do it offhand like
nothing. I'm just made to be like that.
Is this why some people call you "jolly
poppet"?
Holy Rocket!
"Folly socket?" ... I guess
I did not get this right...
I hope so.
Now what is the
first thing you notice in a person?
Whether the person is male or female.
That's correct!
Yes, I know.
Next question: "Everywhere you go
you always take the bookstacks with you" to misquote Crowded
House..
Librarians know
to handle crowded houses. But since there are all the Internet-Kids
out there they - thank god - do not have to anymore. Now they
can get back to their real passion: the lust for books.

...which you obviously enjoy alot! I
can see it literally written all over your face. But what's down
there at your belly..
I'm glad you're asking this question:
it's my very special SASH SASH!
But I read L I B R E A S. Isn't it this
world famous electronic journal on library and information science
which really boom, boom shakes the room?
No, you mean LIBRES! LIBREAS is
just an epigonic venture to LIBRES. However I enjoy wearing this
sash. It is so... well ... sashhhhhy...

I thought libreastic...
Shhhh... Don't you interrupt a mature
lady talking about sophisticated apparel, please!
I decided to represent this product because I'm convinced
of its qualities and I proudly consume it everyday and I
did not memorise this sentence for hours because I was forced
to.
Great. Now as it is already getting dark
we might take a last glimpse from the book eye, sorry I mean bird's
eye perspective..

Oh, again the lust for books... you seem
to be so devoted. How can you balance it?
Like we said back in LIS-School
in the 60s: A question of lust is a question of trust.
And trust is what you need when you lend books and other media.
Have you seen "The Girl with a Pearl's
earring?"
No, but if I do this impertinent
thieverish person will be in serious trouble.
But it's a movie! Anyway, you seem to
be an extraordinary well read person. Can you recommend some must-read-titles
to us?

This is a very good question you
ask because especially in a large book collection you easily get
blinded by the write. We have this saying "Never
book a judge by his cover!" But of course there are some
titles I just can't get off my head.

So which title would you put on top of all of them?
let's see:

Oh no - the Book Lust again... Is it the book
lust for power that drives you?
My dear book lusty friend
Martin Luther put it all in this book lustrous quotation: 'A book
is like a mirror -- if an ape looks in, no saint will look out!'
...
Means..?
If you're just
a book lush you'll never get through to the book lusciousness
of the book.
Pardon?
Oh I see I'm casting Pearl's pearls
of wisdom before the swine..
Excuse me, but this is not very sweet,
Bunny Watson.
So you're in
the mood for something sweet...

... I will give you something sweet,
darling...you binary midget...
Here you have a librarian-in-charge with the best performance
indicators..

At this point we had to break off and fled like it
was a day after tomorrow. We were in real danger. But somehow poor
Nancy did not watch her step and stumbled over Canetti's story...

The rest shall be forgotten resp. got actively discarded
from our memory.
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