Annual Thursday: Wait, Wait…

July 10, 2009

The action at Annual Conference is still ramping up, but the first event I attended–yesterday's taping of NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!, was a sell-out success. The Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends, and Foundations (ALTAFF) bought out the taping as a fundraiser, and drew a sell-out crowd of more than 500 librarians. Host Peter Sagal said it was the show's first buyout of any kind, and certainly its first time playing to such a biblioaudience. The show itself was a regular show, covering the news of the week, rather than anything audience-specific. But there were a few references to the profession. Christine, one of the phone-in contestants, declined to take an opinion on the proposed change of Rhode Island's official state name, saying "I'm not sure what the crowd is–those librarians can be pretty harsh!" At one point, while panelists Julia Sweeney and Paula Poundstone discussed the death of Michael Jackson, Sweeney observed that the funeral provided an opportunity to go through Jackson's old albums and memorabilia. Poundstone argued that there was no need to wait for a celebrity death, retorting "The good thing about the library… Whenever you feel that way, go pick it up!" Poundstone is ALTAFF spokesperson, and before the taping, she took some time to speak with AL Associate editor Sean Fitzpatrick and me. A video from that conversation is posted at AL Focus. We also spoke to journalist and Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me! judge and scorekeeper Carl Kasell, and a video featuring him will be coming shortly after Annual. As an early icebreaker, host Peter Sagal asked everyone wearing glasses to take them off and whip our hair around while he admired the view. And after the taping, the cast took questions from the audience, one of which inquired if the show would want to hire a librarian solely for the show. After Sagal pointed out that they do use NPR's library, he acknowledged the low level of his library humor. "We would be annoying to work for," he said. "We'd constantly be making librarian jokes and making you do the hair and glasses thing."

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ALTAFF Spokesperson Paula Poundstone at Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me!

AL Focus visited ALTAFF Spokesperson Paula Poundstone July 9 before a taping of National Public Radio's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me! attended by 500 librarians. The conversation covered Poundstone's role as ALTAFF spokesperson, her kids' reading habits, The Three Stooges, the dreaded acronym game, and the horrors of math. See more ALA videos at alfocus.ala.org.