April 4, 2025 • 61 mins
The GT Library Guidebook Part VII
Guest: Jody Thompson, Assistant Dean for Archives, Records Management, and Digital Curation
First broadcast April 4 2025. Transcript at https://hdl.handle.net/1853/77515
Playlist here
"I don't think you mean 'breaking into places' like I'm thinking."
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
(SINGING) Little boxes
(00:01):
[MUSIC PLAYING]
In the archive
Little boxes made by Hollinger
Little boxes in the archives
Little boxes, all the same
There's a gray one
And a gray one
And a gray one
And a gray one
And they're all madeout of cardboard
And they all are acid free
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(00:23):
CHARLIE BENNETT (00:42):
You are listening to WREK Atlanta,
and this is Lost in theStacks, the research library
rock and roll radio show.
I'm Charlie Bennett in thestudio with Cody, Alex,
and Fred.
Not quite the whole crew.
Each week on Lost in theStacks, we pick a theme
and then use it to create amix of music and library talk.
Whichever you tune infor, we hope you dig it.
ALEX MCGEE (01:02):
Our show today is called The Archives Reading
Room.
This is part 7 in our series,the Georgia Tech Library
Guidebook.
CHARLIE BENNETT (01:09):
On the first Friday of each month,
we visit a site inthe guidebook and talk
about a space or service inthe Georgia Tech Library.
FRED RASCOE (01:15):
We're using The Archives Reading Room
as our site for thismonth's guidebook episode
about the archives, recordsmanagement, and digital curation
department at theGeorgia Tech Library.
CHARLIE BENNETT (01:26):
We've gone backwards through the title
of that department.
We started with digitalcuration archivist
on an introduce yourselfshow, and then we
visited the libraryrecords center
to talk about recordsmanagement and destroying stuff.
ALEX MCGEE (01:39):
Classic.
And we've had a few retrotech themed episodes,
which also falls underthe archives banner.
FRED RASCOE (01:46):
But today is just archives.
Straight shot, no chaser.
CHARLIE BENNETT (01:50):
You got it.
ALEX MCGEE (01:51):
Let's bring it on.
[LAUGHTER]
CHARLIE BENNETT: Not in the studio. (01:53):
undefined
FRED RASCOE (01:54):
Not in the studio.
ALEX MCGEE (01:55):
Our guest today is my boss,
Jody Thompson, Head ofArchives, Records Management
and Digital Curation.
Charlie interviewedJody in front
of an audience inthe retro tech space,
recording it with amobile podcasting kit.
Oh, I see, OK.
This is the apology for whythe live recording sounds
the way it does.
CHARLIE BENNETT (02:13):
No.
No, we're honoring theimperfections of the moment,
and apologizing for theaudio quality, yeah.
FRED RASCOE (02:19):
I'm sure it's fine.
Our songs today areabout collections,
how our history isreflected back to us,
and safeguardingimportant artifacts.
Today's guidebookis all about how
we can use thereading room access
and use that importantarchive material.
So let's start withArchive Material
by the Silverbacks righthere on Lost in the Stacks.
(02:41):
[SILVERBACKS, "ARCHIVEMATERIAL"]
CHARLIE BENNETT (02:49):
That was Archive Material
by the Silverbacks, who arenow my new favorite band ever.
FRED RASCOE (02:53):
That was pretty good, wasn't it?
CHARLIE BENNETT: It was really good. (02:55):
undefined
Our show today is calledThe Archives Reading Room.
It's the seventh in our GeorgiaTech Library Guidebook series.
ALEX MCGEE (03:02):
On the first Friday of each month,
we visit a site fromthe guidebook featuring
a space or service inthe Georgia Tech Library.
And our guide todayis Jody Thompson,
Department Head forArchives, Records Management
and Digital Curation.
Here are the excerpts froman interview recorded live
in the retro tech lab atthe Georgia Tech Library.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Is there a center (03:21):
undefined
for the archivesdepartment in the library?
Is there a place that you thinkof as, this is where it happens
and the other places support it?
JODY THOMPSON (03:32):
Definitely the reading room.
That's where allof our users go.
Now, granted, we dohave online users,
but at least when they needto look at our collections,
they go to the reading room.
But they can also interact withsomeone at the reference desk
to get assistance.
But I feel like even whenwe're sitting in there,
we're answering emails orworking on reference questions.
(03:55):
But then also the instruction,we do have a basement classroom,
but the students getan introduction there.
But they also have tocome to the reading room
to look at thecollections as well.
And even folks who are say,for instance, doing research
on their historichouse, they have
to come to the reading room.
So I see that asdefinitely as our center,
(04:16):
like our main focus point, andthen just our interactions there
with them.
And it can expand out toexhibits that we're doing.
And then just likethe outreach as well.
CHARLIE BENNETT (04:26):
What was that about a historic house?
JODY THOMPSON (04:28):
So we have a lot of the collections in the design
collections,architecture collections.
We have a lot of firms whenthey close, or a lot of them
are just transferring someof their records to us.
So they do have residentresidential drawings in there.
And so, for instance,we had someone,
one of the historichouses on Ponce,
she came in and was justlooking at the floor plans
(04:51):
because they wanted torestore the house back
to its original floor plans.
CHARLIE BENNETT (04:54):
Describe the reading room.
If you're in it,what do you see?
JODY THOMPSON (04:59):
Well, hopefully, it's full.
[LAUGHTER]
Tables that you cando your research on.
You always have someoneat the reference desk
who can assist you, cananswer your questions
about the collection.
We'll also make sure you'reproperly using the collections.
One thing is, and thisscares people at times,
(05:22):
but we ask them nofood or drink in there
because we want to make surethat they're not spilling any
of the food or drinkson the collections,
because these areunique collections.
And really, justhopefully they're
enjoying themselvesdoing research.
I know that a lotof students have
to go in because oftheir coursework,
that they'rerequired to use some
(05:43):
of the archival collections.
But hopefully when they leave,they've enjoyed themselves
and learned a little bit abouteither Georgia Tech history
or some organization on campus.
CHARLIE BENNETT (05:52):
It's awesome that the whistle went off right
when you were gettingto Georgia Tech history.
I'm going to talk overit just a little bit.
There we go.
Is there still no pensin the reading room?
JODY THOMPSON (06:03):
Correct.
It's all pencil.
If you accidentallydrop a pen, marker, it
has permanentlystained the item,
and so that we askeveryone to use pencil.
CHARLIE BENNETT (06:14):
How much damage happens
to collections in the courseof a regular school year?
JODY THOMPSON (06:19):
A lot.
Just by just the use alone, evenif you're being careful turning
a 200-year-old book orjust using a document,
it's going to getwear and tear on it.
But we definitelywant people to use it.
A lot of people will ask,why don't you digitize
all of your collections?
Well, if we had endlessnumber of people
(06:39):
and then endless numberof hours, because
it would be thousands ofhours to digitize that.
CHARLIE BENNETT (06:44):
We've done several shows on how you cannot
digitize everything.
JODY THOMPSON (06:49):
I get asked that a lot when I meet with donors,
but just have to politelytell them that we can only
digitize so many things.
CHARLIE BENNETT (06:56):
Yeah.
The reading roomis only the size
of like a good-sized classroom?
JODY THOMPSON (07:02):
Correct.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Your collections (07:02):
undefined
are not all in there?
JODY THOMPSON (07:04):
Correct.
So we do have ourcollections are
in three different locations.
One is downstairs inCrossland basement.
Those are ourheavily-used collections.
And then we have twooffsite facilities.
One is the libraryservice center.
Those are all of ourprocess collections.
And then we also have anotheroffsite facility, the library
records center, that we sharewith the records management
(07:25):
program.
And those are allthe collections
that we have not processed yet.
CHARLIE BENNETT (07:29):
And we had Nick on for another guide
book show aboutrecords management.
And he talked a little bit aboutthe joy of destroying things.
JODY THOMPSON (07:36):
Yes.
Yeah, he does enjoydestroying the records.
[LAUGHTER]
CHARLIE BENNETT (07:41):
So there's process collections
in the basement, processcollections and library service
center, unprocessed collectionsin the library records center.
JODY THOMPSON (07:51):
Mm-hmm.
CHARLIE BENNETT (07:52):
I can't get all these straight.
The reading room, whichalways has boxes in it.
JODY THOMPSON (07:57):
Those boxes or collections
that researchers haveused, and sometimes they
need to come back.
And so it makes more sense justto keep them in the reading room
so that they caneasily get to them.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Sometimes you see (08:08):
undefined
a stable of carts filledwith a particular journal.
JODY THOMPSON (08:14):
Yes.
Yes.
And then we also getpickups, too, from the LSC.
So it is kind of likea multitask room.
CHARLIE BENNETT (08:21):
OK.
But it's also all open.
It's a public room.
JODY THOMPSON (08:25):
Yes.
Yes.
CHARLIE BENNETT (08:27):
Where does the processing happen?
JODY THOMPSON (08:30):
In multiple locations.
One, we do have a processingroom in the basement.
It is not very big,but we've made do.
So some of the archivistswill process in their offices.
And then over at thelibrary record center,
we'll do processingover there because we
have so much space over there.
So a lot of thearchitectural collections
get processed over there.
CHARLIE BENNETT (08:51):
What do you mean when you
say processing a collection?
If you can imagine a box thatcame out of someone's office,
what do you do to, quoteunquote, process it?
JODY THOMPSON (09:00):
An archivist will arrange the collection,
and it's basically makingorder to the collection
so that it makes senseto the researcher,
and then also speedsup their work.
And then they describe it.
And so a lot of people willrefer to it as cataloging.
We typically don't referto it as cataloging.
It's called describinga collection.
And then the end resultis the finding aid.
(09:21):
It's available online, andit's a detailed inventory
of the items.
Sometimes it may be down to thefolder or the collection level,
just depending on howlarge the collection.
But the way I like todescribe a finding aid
is, so you have the collection,that's kind of like a book.
The finding aid is the tableof contents and the index.
If you're lookingfor a specific item,
you can go to the table ofcontents or an index in a book.
(09:44):
The finding aid does that.
So if a collectionis 200 linear feet,
you may be lookingfor one specific thing
in that collectionyou don't have.
So that allows younot to have to look
at 200 feet of collection.
CHARLIE BENNETT: So the processing (09:55):
undefined
is like making a mapof the collection.
JODY THOMPSON (09:59):
Yes, exactly.
CHARLIE BENNETT (09:59):
Do you throw stuff away?
JODY THOMPSON (10:01):
We do.
We typically keepthree copies of items.
Then we will offer it back up tothe donor, if they want it back.
Or we can discard it.
CODY TURNER (10:11):
This is Lost in the Stacks.
We will be right back with morefrom Jody Thompson, Assistant
Dean for Archives, RecordManagement and Digital Curation
after a music set.
ALEX MCGEE (10:21):
File this set under CD 950.M55.
[THE MINUS 5, "MY COLLECTION"]
[TAMARYN, "COLLECTION"]
(10:41):
That was Collection by Tamaryn.
And before that, MyCollection by The Minus 5.
Songs about, you guessedit, interesting collections.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CHARLIE BENNETT (10:56):
This is Lost in the Stacks.
And today's show is calledThe Archives Reading Room.
It's another episode forour GT Library Guidebook.
ALEX MCGEE (11:04):
You're listening to an interview recorded live
in the library withJody Thompson, Assistant
Dean of Archives, RecordsManagement, and Digital
Curation.
CHARLIE BENNETT (11:13):
I like that spin you put on her title there.
We'll talk aboutthat in a minute.
In the last segment,Jody and I started
talking about collectionsand donors, which
led to this next question.
Are people just coming to youand saying, here's my stuff,
here are my papers?
Or are you going out andtaking them from people?
JODY THOMPSON (11:31):
We're doing both.
Well, we do havepeople coming to us.
We're trying to do more outreachso that we can reach people
where they are, andthen just explain
to them what we're doing.
A lot of people willcome to us, but we
have to also make sure thatit's fitting in our collection
development areas.
We don't want tocollect something
that doesn't make sense tocollect it here at Georgia Tech.
(11:51):
There have been times, likewomen's studies collections.
If it's appropriate,we will keep it here.
But if a woman who's donesome research in another area,
maybe it makes more senseto go to Georgia State's
special collections.
And so a lot of archivistswill work together.
The main thing is that we wantto make sure the collections are
preserved and made available.
CHARLIE BENNETT (12:09):
I always think of you, archivists,
as a secret society.
JODY THOMPSON (12:13):
[LAUGHS]
CHARLIE BENNETT (12:14):
You got handshakes and each other
and you're passingmaterial back and forth.
I hear you laughing, but Ithink you do that a little bit.
JODY THOMPSON (12:20):
We do.
It is a close-knit profession.
We want to make sure everyone,if you need assistance,
we're always tryingto help one another.
CHARLIE BENNETT (12:27):
So you say if it's appropriate.
I think some people would think,oh, this is totally appropriate.
These are my papers.
But you have adifferent definition.
how do you assesswhether something's
going in the archives?
JODY THOMPSON (12:38):
If it's an Georgia Tech alum's papers, more
than likely we do want it.
But say for instance,they've done research
that would be more appropriateat Emory University,
we may refer them over there.
But if it's dealing with GeorgiaTech or the special collections
areas that we currentlyhave, we certainly want it.
But we're always open tohaving other collecting areas.
(13:02):
Just again, needsto be appropriate.
CHARLIE BENNETT (13:04):
So do you have people who are here at Tech
doing researchthat's rare for tech
fighting for theirdocuments to stay here
instead of going over to Emory?
[LAUGHTER]
JODY THOMPSON (13:14):
I wish.
That's still a workin progress for us.
It's more of the liberalarts know about the archives,
but especially likein engineering,
it's difficult toget them to see
the relevance of the archives.
CHARLIE BENNETT (13:28):
So just like you can't digitize everything,
you can't save everything.
JODY THOMPSON (13:32):
Correct.
CHARLIE BENNETT (13:32):
Do you kind of want to?
Not as the managerof archives, but as
an archivist witha drive, do you
wish that you couldcollect all the papers
of every professor who's here?
JODY THOMPSON (13:42):
I wish we could.
But then also, as anarchivist, the reality
hits that we don'thave the space.
We don't have thenumber of people.
And so we definitely haveto think of our priorities
and what we can actually do.
CHARLIE BENNETT (13:55):
So talking to Alex McGee, who's
part of the show and theUniversity archivist,
we've gotten thislanguage of the archivist
is setting theframework for the story
of the place or the community.
I feel like there must be abunch of different frameworks
(14:17):
that you could lay onTech that make sense.
So how do you think of the storyof Tech in terms of the work
you do in the archives?
JODY THOMPSON (14:25):
We definitely want
to make sure that we'recapturing the real history
of Georgia Tech.
Making sure thatwe're collecting
the histories of studentorganizations, staff, too.
Because a lot of thecollections that we
have are on the upper levelof the administration,
like the president'srecords and his cabinet.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Because they have rules (14:45):
undefined
for keeping that stuff, right?
JODY THOMPSON (14:48):
Yes.
And so when we do typicallyget their collections,
we have to restrictthem for 10 years.
Being a stateinstitution, we certainly
want to adhere by that.
But we do want to makesure all of our collections
are open to the public.
CHARLIE BENNETT (15:00):
So are you going to the student
organizations and tellingthem, OK, first off,
throw away the canceledchecks, but keep
the minutes of the meetings?
JODY THOMPSON (15:08):
Definitely.
And that's one ofthe responsibilities
that Alex McGee, ourUniversity archivist,
is trying to reach morestudent organizations.
And she's only one person.
So it is difficult. But gettingthe word out and just meeting
with groups of studentorganizations, just saying, hey,
we're here.
And if you're notready for us, but just
(15:29):
know that you need to also bepreserving your collections as
well.
And there areseveral organizations
that do have historians,and we've worked with them.
Dramatech is oneof them, and they
do deposit their collectionswith us every few years.
It's probably when they'rerunning out of space, but we do.
At least we'vereached that group
and can use them as a model.
CHARLIE BENNETT (15:48):
Are you ever going to run out of space?
JODY THOMPSON (15:51):
Hopefully not while I'm here.
The library service center--
CHARLIE BENNETT (15:54):
OK, hold on a second.
[LAUGHTER]|
That sounds a lotlike Social Security.
Oh, it'll stay solventas long as I'm president.
So how will yourun out of space?
Like, literally runout of physical space?
JODY THOMPSON (16:06):
It will be quite some time.
With the library servicecenter we have, right now,
ample amount of space.
And we do have the opportunityto create a second module there.
That's something that can beconsidered for the future.
CHARLIE BENNETT (16:20):
This is a full-on warehouse?
JODY THOMPSON (16:21):
It is.
With cherry pickers sothey can pull collections.
And so that is one issuethat we do not have.
CHARLIE BENNETT (16:29):
I want to go into the library records
center, which I do on occasion.
There's the bigoffice space, and I
have a collection ofbooks I'm trying to handle
that are just scattered around.
Don't tell Nick.
But if I go in the back, itlooks like Indiana Jones.
Like the end of Raidersof the Lost Ark.
JODY THOMPSON (16:44):
It does.
You need to know whereyour collections are,
and you need to make sure thatyou have a location for them
because you caneasily lose them.
CHARLIE BENNETT (16:52):
So archives has a real process-oriented,
sort of constantlyseeking kind of mission.
And it sounds to mealmost like you could just
do that and use all your time.
JODY THOMPSON (17:08):
Mm-hmm.
CHARLIE BENNETT (17:09):
What are the other things?
What else are you working on?
What are you trying to invent?
What other problems areyou trying to solve?
JODY THOMPSON (17:18):
Definitely doing more outreach.
And Alex definitely has agood handle on the University
archives side.
But trying to increase thenumber of special collections
that we have because wehave, as I mentioned,
architectural drawings, butwe also have textile mills.
A lot of textile mills, ofcourse, closed 50, 60 years ago.
So that's probably anarea that we've reached--
(17:40):
probably won't gain anymore collections there.
Some more rare books.
Retro tech is an area that we'retrying to increase usage here
with our heritage video gamesand the technologies here.
And then also fundraising,trying to reach more donors
(18:02):
and trying to bring morefunds into the archives.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Always the donors. (18:04):
undefined
Yeah.
Mentioning the textilemills, it reminds me,
when's the last timeyou put on a hard hat?
JODY THOMPSON (18:11):
Actually, back in October for a conference
I was at on historicpreservation.
We were in one of thebuildings in downtown Atlanta
that they were renovating.
CHARLIE BENNETT (18:20):
I love that part of your job.
And I've talked to you aboutthis on the air before,
but there was a picture ofyou, hard hat, dusty and dirty,
I think breaking into somethingin a mill or some other--
JODY THOMPSON (18:33):
It was a mill here in Atlanta.
CHARLIE BENNETT (18:35):
Yeah.
JODY THOMPSON: Probably all should (18:35):
undefined
have gotten tetanus shots.
[LAUGHTER]
CHARLIE BENNETT (18:39):
I'm glad you're still here.
It's been long enough,we know it's OK.
ALEX MCGEE (18:43):
You are listening to Lost in the Stacks,
and we'll hear more aboutthe archives at Georgia Tech
library on the leftside of the hour.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
WOMAN (18:58):
This is Eira Tansey trouble making archivist.
You're listening to Lost inthe Stacks on WREK Atlanta.
I think I'm good.
WENDY HAGENMAIER (19:10):
Classic.
[LAUGHTER]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CHARLIE BENNETT (19:22):
Today's show is called The Archives Reading
Room.
Our guest is Jody Thompson,Assistant Head for Archives,
Records Management, and DigitalCuration at the Georgia Tech
Library.
Which I found out--
ALEX MCGEE (19:32):
Assistant Dean.
CHARLIE BENNETT (19:33):
Assistant Dean.
Excuse me.
Which is a new title thatI can't even keep straight
because it happened--
ALEX MCGEE (19:38):
It's hot off the press.
CHARLIE BENNETT (19:40):
Yeah.
ALEX MCGEE (19:40):
Yeah.
CHARLIE BENNETT (19:41):
So I guess, congratulations, Jody.
ALEX MCGEE (19:43):
Yes, congrats, Jody.
CHARLIE BENNETT (19:45):
Assistant Dean for Archives,
Records Management,and Digital Curation.
ALEX MCGEE (19:49):
There you go.
CHARLIE BENNETT (19:50):
All right.
You're listening to excerptsI had of a conversation
I had with Jody in front of alive audience in the library,
back before she hadher fancy new title.
We talked for longer thanone episode can handle,
so of course, we had to cutsome stuff out, as per usual.
One moment I wanted toshare, though a little bit
out of context, is this questionabout the material oomph.
(20:12):
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Do you feel a certain lossfrom the digital at this point?
It has become so ubiquitousin all our positions,
you have a team designed toattack and handle digital stuff.
Has paper faded for you?
JODY THOMPSON (20:31):
No, definitely not.
I see both of themjust as important.
They just have differentformats in my eyes.
And I think that goes for a lotof the folks in my department.
Because of course, theformats are different
and the sizes are different,but they're just as important.
And we'll still be getting alot of paper materials for quite
some time.
You think about people retiringhere on campus, or just
(20:53):
collections in general,and some people
won't be retiring in five years,or it be like another 30 years.
But we're also dealingwith emails right now
and just thinkingabout all the photos
that you take on your phone.
So really movingfrom paper to digital
is just the numbershave increased,
but we definitely want totreat them just the same.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Do you kind of wish (21:13):
undefined
that people would deletemore of their photos
before you get them?
JODY THOMPSON (21:18):
Yes.
I also have that problem, too.
Looking at my phone,there are a lot
of photos that I need to delete.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Yeah, I feel like 90% (21:24):
undefined
of the snaps we take on phonesnow are like canceled checks.
You don't need that.
That just renders what happenedaround an important thing.
JODY THOMPSON (21:39):
That's a good way to look at it.
CHARLIE BENNETT (21:41):
OK.
[LAUGHTER]
File this next setusing the finding
aid for collection identifierMS001, not a dot in sight.
[TASHA, "HISTORY"]
(22:06):
[THE BYRDS, "ONE HUNDRED YEARSFROM NOW"]
That's One Hundred YearsFrom Now by The Byrds.
And before that, weheard History by Tasha.
Songs about interactingwith our history
(22:27):
and preserving itfor the future.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ALEX MCGEE (22:33):
This is Lost in the Stacks.
And today, our show is partof the Georgia Tech Library
Guidebook.
Today's episode is all aboutthe archives at Georgia Tech
library.
CHARLIE BENNETT: We're playing excerpts (22:42):
undefined
from an interview recordedlive in the retro tech
space at the library withJody Thompson, Assistant
Dean for Archives, RecordsManagement, and Digital
Curation.
ALEX MCGEE (22:52):
The last segment ended
on the subject of going intoold buildings to find records
and maybe needinga tetanus shot.
CHARLIE BENNETT (23:00):
Is that an outdated way of collecting
going into wrecked, ruined,abandoned things and finding
records?
JODY THOMPSON (23:07):
I probably wouldn't say it's outdated.
It's not somethingthat we do often.
Maybe some archivist30, 40, 50 years ago
may have been doing that,but it seems more of us
are going now into homesand meeting with the donors
and looking attheir collections.
So most of the time, it's anormal and clean environment
that you don't have to worryabout needing a tetanus shot.
CHARLIE BENNETT (23:30):
OK.
All right.
I want it to be regular thatyou're breaking into places.
JODY THOMPSON (23:35):
I used to do that quite a bit
when I first startedhere at Tech.
But it's like I said, it's moreof going into people's homes.
CHARLIE BENNETT (23:42):
OK.
JODY THOMPSON (23:42):
Yeah.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Let's go in the past. (23:42):
undefined
Tell me more.
I said, breaking into places.
And you said youused to do that.
I don't think you were doing itthe way I was joking, though.
JODY THOMPSON (23:50):
It wasn't breaking in, it
was trying to crawl throughdifferent areas in this mill,
being on old elevators.
If you've ever watchedDriving Miss Daisy,
there's a scene when someone--that is what one of the mills
look like that we were in.
And luckily, I don'thave to do that anymore.
[LAUGHTER]
CHARLIE BENNETT (24:10):
So this is where we now get into,
I have a very romantic viewof-- a capital R romantic view
of archives becauseI don't work in them.
And so just like someonewho can come to me and say,
oh, I love libraries.
Library of Alexandriais so cool.
It's like yeah, OK, back off.
I do that to archivesa lot of times
because I'm overwhelmed bythe idea of people having
(24:38):
a little bit of control over thehistorical record in a really
subtle way.
And I'd like to hearyour thoughts on that,
as a practitioner, asa person who's actually
doing it as opposed tosomeone on the outside
making up what it is.
JODY THOMPSON (24:52):
So just talk about the minor control or--
CHARLIE BENNETT (24:55):
Whatever that brings up in your mind.
JODY THOMPSON (24:59):
I guess some people could perceive it
as maybe that--
we see it as minor control,definitely, because we
want people to use it.
But we also want to makesure that they're not
throwing the materialsinto their backpack
so it will be available100 years from now.
CHARLIE BENNETT (25:15):
So you're thinking about minor control
over the access?
JODY THOMPSON (25:18):
Yes.
CHARLIE BENNETT (25:19):
I'm saying the actual choices of what goes in
and what doesn't goin is almost like a--
you're making theearly decisions
of what the history will be.
JODY THOMPSON (25:30):
So like, you were joking
around about cancel checks.
I mean, so we have alist of what we typically
will want in a collection.
And so most peopledon't want tax records.
But sharing that with thedonors and letting them know,
here is what we typically want.
But then they may ask us like,oh, I have such and such.
And so for the most part, wedo want to take in as much
(25:52):
as possible because we cannotpredict what people are going
to do research on.
CHARLIE BENNETT (25:56):
When you say most people don't
want tax records, you'resaying researchers aren't often
looking for tax records?
JODY THOMPSON (26:02):
They might be, but it's not something
that we certainly wantto make available.
And then, of course,personal information
like Social Security numbers.
If we get professorspapers, we certainly
don't want grades in them.
So just trying to protect thepeople who actually created.
CHARLIE BENNETT (26:17):
And you're not allowed to just mark something
out with a black marker?
JODY THOMPSON (26:20):
No.
No, we definitely donot want to do that.
[LAUGHTER]
CHARLIE BENNETT (26:25):
Can you think of times
when you've made a decisionabout a collection, whatever
it might be, and you thoughtto yourself, oh, this
has far reaching consequences.
This will matter later.
JODY THOMPSON (26:41):
We've done a pretty good job
of making sure that thecollections that we bring in
are being used.
Now, there are some of the signsfiction collections that we've
brought in, we thought thatthey would have been used more.
So that gives us an opportunityto do more outreach.
CHARLIE BENNETT (26:57):
Yeah.
Well, and we opened thecirculating collection
and immediately closedit because of COVID.
JODY THOMPSON (27:03):
Yes.
[LAUGHTER]
And then we had the chilledwater outage this summer.
But having thatcirculating collection
gives people theopportunity to actually look
at the collections.
Because we have gotten pushbackfrom, especially students,
for the archive sciencefiction collection
because they can't check it out.
And some of them understandwhy we have to do that.
(27:24):
But the majority ofthem wish that we
could have a circulatingcollection in the archives,
but just can't do that.
CHARLIE BENNETT (27:29):
So I know there's a policy,
but just as you, asa person, I mean,
do you feel like,come on, stop asking,
when people want to get intothe archives and take it away?
Do you feel like,yeah, I wish so too.
That position of being agatekeeper in a way, especially
kind of framing how people caninteract with the material,
(27:53):
how do you feel about that?
What does that make you think?
JODY THOMPSON (27:57):
Definitely sounds like a negative aspect of--
CHARLIE BENNETT (28:00):
The reason I'm asking
is because someoneonce told me, oh, yeah.
I think of librarians asthe people who keep me
from getting the books I want.
Which totally spunmy head around
because that had obviouslynever been how I thought of it,
not how I think of myself.
But rules for accessand preservation
sometimes turn into thisconfounding of information
(28:24):
once, or usage once.
JODY THOMPSON (28:26):
I think just if you
can educate those who have anegative idea of what archives
are, even libraries,and just explain to them
and hopefully they--
I'm probably beingnaive about saying this,
but hopefully theyunderstand the reason
why we're limiting somewhatof the access of it.
(28:48):
We want to make sure if a600-year-old rare book that we
have, that it will be available.
And so we see it moreof a preservation wise.
And certainlypeople could see it
as restricting the access to it.
CHARLIE BENNETT (29:00):
Yeah.
Does it bug you when archivesare presented in movies
as places that arefilled with dusty books,
and there's noarchivists anywhere?
JODY THOMPSON (29:08):
Yes.
Yes.
[LAUGHTER]
And just like the typicallibrarian, too, that you see
trying to quiet the students.
Hopefully, people, ifthey get an opportunity
to go to an archives and maybeget a behind the scenes tour
when we offer that, usually inthe summer before classes start,
I think and I hopeit gives people
(29:29):
an appreciation and abetter understanding
of going into archives.
Because we keep a lot ofour extremely rare books
in a vault in the basement.
And so when we take the studentsor even faculty and staff,
show them, they arejust blown away that--
I mean, it is truly arestaurant type freezer
that we store the rare books in.
(29:51):
But we're able tomonitor and keep
the temperature andhumidity at a point
that it needs to helppreserve the collections.
CHARLIE BENNETT (29:59):
Do you hang them up on hooks to keep them--
JODY THOMPSON (30:01):
Never thought about that,
nor have I beenasked that before.
CHARLIE BENNETT (30:04):
Jody, thanks so much for being
on the show today.
JODY THOMPSON (30:07):
It's been an absolute pleasure.
CHARLIE BENNETT (30:09):
This is Lost in the Stacks.
And today, wevisited the archives
for the GT Library Guidebook.
FRED RASCOE (30:16):
Our guest today was Jody Thompson, the Assistant
Dean of Archives, RecordsManagement, and Digital Curation
at the Georgia Tech Library.
ALEX MCGEE (30:23):
File this set under library.gatech.edu/archives.
CHARLIE BENNETT (30:28):
That's not a call number.
[EMPIRE, "SAFETY"]
[THE SOFTIES, "FRAGILE, DON'TCRUSH"]
ALEX MCGEE (30:45):
That was Fragile Don't Crush by The Softies.
And before that,Safety by Empire.
Songs about keepingdelicate items safe.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CHARLIE BENNETT (31:03):
Today's episode of the GT Library Guidebook
was called TheArchives Reading Room.
Our guest, Jody Thompsontalked about donor collections,
and it made me wantto ask the show team,
what's a key componentof your papers?
What will the archivists keepfor sure when your box of stuff
makes it to the archive?
Fred?
FRED RASCOE (31:22):
All right, my papers or stuff are never
going to make it to an archive.
ALEX MCGEE (31:26):
Never say never.
Never say never.
FRED RASCOE (31:28):
OK, OK.
All right.
CHARLIE BENNETT (31:30):
Accept the reality of the question.
FRED RASCOE (31:32):
All right, I will put myself
in the moment of the question.
OK, so I still have abunch of old set lists
from a band that Iwas in for a while.
ALEX MCGEE (31:44):
What was the band's name?
CODY (31:46):
The Pink Sexies?
JODY THOMPSON (31:47):
OK.
FRED RASCOE (31:48):
Probably don't Google that.
ALEX MCGEE (31:50):
OK, so that's the series title, The Pink Sexies.
CHARLIE BENNETT: You can Google it (31:53):
undefined
if you add theirhit, Action Man.
FRED RASCOE (31:57):
That was-- yeah, I think
three people bought that CD.
Anyway, so I haveall these set lists
and they're kind of aninteresting snapshot because we
always named our songs after--
we often named oursongs after bands who we
thought that song sounded like.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Oh, I like that. (32:15):
undefined
FRED RASCOE (32:16):
So, yeah, sometimes it actually made it
into the real song.
We had a song that we thoughtsounded like the band Crime,
and we actually named it Crime.
But sometimes I would see onthe set list these band names
and I would have toremember like, oh,
that's that songbecause we thought
it sounded like that band.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Cody, how about you? (32:33):
undefined
CODY TURNER (32:35):
Well, I think my life
is composed in my photo libraryand my Reddit comment history.
So I'd say it'd be oneof those two things.
CHARLIE BENNETT (32:42):
OK.
ALEX MCGEE (32:42):
Interesting.
CHARLIE BENNETT (32:43):
I like that.
How about you, Alex?
ALEX MCGEE (32:45):
So I think it would actually be playlists
that I've made over the years.
I have a lot of very specificplaylists from my wedding.
My husband and I didall the playlists
for our rehearsal dinner, whichwe did a theme of only people
we had seen together as acouple was the entire playlist.
CHARLIE BENNETT (33:06):
I love the constraint.
ALEX MCGEE (33:08):
Yeah, we did our dinner, our dancing,
our cocktails playlist.
And then when we welcomedour son last year,
we had a Teddy's First Playlistthat we played in the hospital,
and then when we drove himhome from the hospital.
So yeah.
CHARLIE BENNETT: That's terrific. (33:23):
undefined
Mine, if I had totrack it, I think
it would be a set of fivenotebooks from back when I was
a pretend artist that I filledwith collage work and sketches
and notes and all that.
Those are the notebooksthat would look the most
like they should be preserved.
ALEX MCGEE (33:42):
In an archive.
CHARLIE BENNETT (33:43):
But they are terrible.
FRED RASCOE (33:45):
Let's digitize them.
Get them up there, Alex.
ALEX MCGEE (33:47):
Yeah.
CHARLIE BENNETT (33:47):
You can't digitize everything, Fred.
Why don't you roll the credits.
And do you havesomething that Jody likes
that we could use for credits?
FRED RASCOE (33:54):
I think I certainly do.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Jody likes her someJesus and Mary Chain.
CHARLIE BENNETT (34:03):
OK, I'm down.
Lost in the Stacksis a collaboration
between wreck Atlanta andthe Georgia Tech Library.
Written and produced byAlex McGee, Charlie Bennett,
Fred Rascoe, and Marlee Givens.
ALEX MCGEE (34:14):
Legal counsel and a very cool hard hat
were provided by the BurroughsIntellectual Property Law Group
in Atlanta, Georgia.
CHARLIE BENNETT (34:20):
Special thanks to Jody for being on the show,
to everybody who showed upat the interview recording
to witness our laughing fits.
And thanks, as always, toeach and every one of you
for listening.
FRED RASCOE (34:30):
Our web page is library.gatech.e
du/lostinthestacks, where you'llfind our most recent episode,
a link to our podcastfeed, and a web form
if you want to getin touch with us.
ALEX MCGEE (34:40):
Next week's show is a rerun.
It's spring breakfor K through 12.
CHARLIE BENNETT (34:44):
For some of us, yeah.
ALEX MCGEE (34:46):
Yeah.
[LAUGHTER]
So we will be backthe week after that.
FRED RASCOE (34:50):
It's time for our last song today.
Archives are aboutpreserving cultural memory,
and our own GeorgiaTech archive is
a space that is held dear bymany of its users and its staff.
So let's close with a songabout preserving fond memories
of things and places we love.
This is "I Think About Heaven"by Christopher Owens right here
(35:11):
on Lost in the Stacks.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
CHARLIE BENNETT (35:14):
Hey, Alex, your song got in.
ALEX MCGEE (35:16):
Yay, finally.
Months of trying.
[CHRISTOPHER OWENS, "I THINKABOUT HEAVEN"]
(SINGING) Little boxes
(00:01):
[MUSIC PLAYING]
In the archive
Little boxes made by Hollinger
Little boxes in the archives
Little boxes, all the same
There's a gray one
And a gray one
And a gray one
And a gray one
And they're all madeout of cardboard
And they all are acid free
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(00:23):
CHARLIE BENNETT (00:42):
You are listening to WREK Atlanta,
and this is Lost in theStacks, the research library
rock and roll radio show.
I'm Charlie Bennett in thestudio with Cody, Alex,
and Fred.
Not quite the whole crew.
Each week on Lost in theStacks, we pick a theme
and then use it to create amix of music and library talk.
Whichever you tune infor, we hope you dig it.
ALEX MCGEE (01:02):
Our show today is called The Archives Reading
Room.
This is part 7 in our series,the Georgia Tech Library
Guidebook.
CHARLIE BENNETT (01:09):
On the first Friday of each month,
we visit a site inthe guidebook and talk
about a space or service inthe Georgia Tech Library.
FRED RASCOE (01:15):
We're using The Archives Reading Room
as our site for thismonth's guidebook episode
about the archives, recordsmanagement, and digital curation
department at theGeorgia Tech Library.
CHARLIE BENNETT (01:26):
We've gone backwards through the title
of that department.
We started with digitalcuration archivist
on an introduce yourselfshow, and then we
visited the libraryrecords center
to talk about recordsmanagement and destroying stuff.
ALEX MCGEE (01:39):
Classic.
And we've had a few retrotech themed episodes,
which also falls underthe archives banner.
FRED RASCOE (01:46):
But today is just archives.
Straight shot, no chaser.
CHARLIE BENNETT (01:50):
You got it.
ALEX MCGEE (01:51):
Let's bring it on.
[LAUGHTER]
CHARLIE BENNETT: Not in the studio. (01:53):
undefined
FRED RASCOE (01:54):
Not in the studio.
ALEX MCGEE (01:55):
Our guest today is my boss,
Jody Thompson, Head ofArchives, Records Management
and Digital Curation.
Charlie interviewedJody in front
of an audience inthe retro tech space,
recording it with amobile podcasting kit.
Oh, I see, OK.
This is the apology for whythe live recording sounds
the way it does.
CHARLIE BENNETT (02:13):
No.
No, we're honoring theimperfections of the moment,
and apologizing for theaudio quality, yeah.
FRED RASCOE (02:19):
I'm sure it's fine.
Our songs today areabout collections,
how our history isreflected back to us,
and safeguardingimportant artifacts.
Today's guidebookis all about how
we can use thereading room access
and use that importantarchive material.
So let's start withArchive Material
by the Silverbacks righthere on Lost in the Stacks.
(02:41):
[SILVERBACKS, "ARCHIVEMATERIAL"]
CHARLIE BENNETT (02:49):
That was Archive Material
by the Silverbacks, who arenow my new favorite band ever.
FRED RASCOE (02:53):
That was pretty good, wasn't it?
CHARLIE BENNETT: It was really good. (02:55):
undefined
Our show today is calledThe Archives Reading Room.
It's the seventh in our GeorgiaTech Library Guidebook series.
ALEX MCGEE (03:02):
On the first Friday of each month,
we visit a site fromthe guidebook featuring
a space or service inthe Georgia Tech Library.
And our guide todayis Jody Thompson,
Department Head forArchives, Records Management
and Digital Curation.
Here are the excerpts froman interview recorded live
in the retro tech lab atthe Georgia Tech Library.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Is there a center (03:21):
undefined
for the archivesdepartment in the library?
Is there a place that you thinkof as, this is where it happens
and the other places support it?
JODY THOMPSON (03:32):
Definitely the reading room.
That's where allof our users go.
Now, granted, we dohave online users,
but at least when they needto look at our collections,
they go to the reading room.
But they can also interact withsomeone at the reference desk
to get assistance.
But I feel like even whenwe're sitting in there,
we're answering emails orworking on reference questions.
(03:55):
But then also the instruction,we do have a basement classroom,
but the students getan introduction there.
But they also have tocome to the reading room
to look at thecollections as well.
And even folks who are say,for instance, doing research
on their historichouse, they have
to come to the reading room.
So I see that asdefinitely as our center,
(04:16):
like our main focus point, andthen just our interactions there
with them.
And it can expand out toexhibits that we're doing.
And then just likethe outreach as well.
CHARLIE BENNETT (04:26):
What was that about a historic house?
JODY THOMPSON (04:28):
So we have a lot of the collections in the design
collections,architecture collections.
We have a lot of firms whenthey close, or a lot of them
are just transferring someof their records to us.
So they do have residentresidential drawings in there.
And so, for instance,we had someone,
one of the historichouses on Ponce,
she came in and was justlooking at the floor plans
(04:51):
because they wanted torestore the house back
to its original floor plans.
CHARLIE BENNETT (04:54):
Describe the reading room.
If you're in it,what do you see?
JODY THOMPSON (04:59):
Well, hopefully, it's full.
[LAUGHTER]
Tables that you cando your research on.
You always have someoneat the reference desk
who can assist you, cananswer your questions
about the collection.
We'll also make sure you'reproperly using the collections.
One thing is, and thisscares people at times,
(05:22):
but we ask them nofood or drink in there
because we want to make surethat they're not spilling any
of the food or drinkson the collections,
because these areunique collections.
And really, justhopefully they're
enjoying themselvesdoing research.
I know that a lotof students have
to go in because oftheir coursework,
that they'rerequired to use some
(05:43):
of the archival collections.
But hopefully when they leave,they've enjoyed themselves
and learned a little bit abouteither Georgia Tech history
or some organization on campus.
CHARLIE BENNETT (05:52):
It's awesome that the whistle went off right
when you were gettingto Georgia Tech history.
I'm going to talk overit just a little bit.
There we go.
Is there still no pensin the reading room?
JODY THOMPSON (06:03):
Correct.
It's all pencil.
If you accidentallydrop a pen, marker, it
has permanentlystained the item,
and so that we askeveryone to use pencil.
CHARLIE BENNETT (06:14):
How much damage happens
to collections in the courseof a regular school year?
JODY THOMPSON (06:19):
A lot.
Just by just the use alone, evenif you're being careful turning
a 200-year-old book orjust using a document,
it's going to getwear and tear on it.
But we definitelywant people to use it.
A lot of people will ask,why don't you digitize
all of your collections?
Well, if we had endlessnumber of people
(06:39):
and then endless numberof hours, because
it would be thousands ofhours to digitize that.
CHARLIE BENNETT (06:44):
We've done several shows on how you cannot
digitize everything.
JODY THOMPSON (06:49):
I get asked that a lot when I meet with donors,
but just have to politelytell them that we can only
digitize so many things.
CHARLIE BENNETT (06:56):
Yeah.
The reading roomis only the size
of like a good-sized classroom?
JODY THOMPSON (07:02):
Correct.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Your collections (07:02):
undefined
are not all in there?
JODY THOMPSON (07:04):
Correct.
So we do have ourcollections are
in three different locations.
One is downstairs inCrossland basement.
Those are ourheavily-used collections.
And then we have twooffsite facilities.
One is the libraryservice center.
Those are all of ourprocess collections.
And then we also have anotheroffsite facility, the library
records center, that we sharewith the records management
(07:25):
program.
And those are allthe collections
that we have not processed yet.
CHARLIE BENNETT (07:29):
And we had Nick on for another guide
book show aboutrecords management.
And he talked a little bit aboutthe joy of destroying things.
JODY THOMPSON (07:36):
Yes.
Yeah, he does enjoydestroying the records.
[LAUGHTER]
CHARLIE BENNETT (07:41):
So there's process collections
in the basement, processcollections and library service
center, unprocessed collectionsin the library records center.
JODY THOMPSON (07:51):
Mm-hmm.
CHARLIE BENNETT (07:52):
I can't get all these straight.
The reading room, whichalways has boxes in it.
JODY THOMPSON (07:57):
Those boxes or collections
that researchers haveused, and sometimes they
need to come back.
And so it makes more sense justto keep them in the reading room
so that they caneasily get to them.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Sometimes you see (08:08):
undefined
a stable of carts filledwith a particular journal.
JODY THOMPSON (08:14):
Yes.
Yes.
And then we also getpickups, too, from the LSC.
So it is kind of likea multitask room.
CHARLIE BENNETT (08:21):
OK.
But it's also all open.
It's a public room.
JODY THOMPSON (08:25):
Yes.
Yes.
CHARLIE BENNETT (08:27):
Where does the processing happen?
JODY THOMPSON (08:30):
In multiple locations.
One, we do have a processingroom in the basement.
It is not very big,but we've made do.
So some of the archivistswill process in their offices.
And then over at thelibrary record center,
we'll do processingover there because we
have so much space over there.
So a lot of thearchitectural collections
get processed over there.
CHARLIE BENNETT (08:51):
What do you mean when you
say processing a collection?
If you can imagine a box thatcame out of someone's office,
what do you do to, quoteunquote, process it?
JODY THOMPSON (09:00):
An archivist will arrange the collection,
and it's basically makingorder to the collection
so that it makes senseto the researcher,
and then also speedsup their work.
And then they describe it.
And so a lot of people willrefer to it as cataloging.
We typically don't referto it as cataloging.
It's called describinga collection.
And then the end resultis the finding aid.
(09:21):
It's available online, andit's a detailed inventory
of the items.
Sometimes it may be down to thefolder or the collection level,
just depending on howlarge the collection.
But the way I like todescribe a finding aid
is, so you have the collection,that's kind of like a book.
The finding aid is the tableof contents and the index.
If you're lookingfor a specific item,
you can go to the table ofcontents or an index in a book.
(09:44):
The finding aid does that.
So if a collectionis 200 linear feet,
you may be lookingfor one specific thing
in that collectionyou don't have.
So that allows younot to have to look
at 200 feet of collection.
CHARLIE BENNETT: So the processing (09:55):
undefined
is like making a mapof the collection.
JODY THOMPSON (09:59):
Yes, exactly.
CHARLIE BENNETT (09:59):
Do you throw stuff away?
JODY THOMPSON (10:01):
We do.
We typically keepthree copies of items.
Then we will offer it back up tothe donor, if they want it back.
Or we can discard it.
CODY TURNER (10:11):
This is Lost in the Stacks.
We will be right back with morefrom Jody Thompson, Assistant
Dean for Archives, RecordManagement and Digital Curation
after a music set.
ALEX MCGEE (10:21):
File this set under CD 950.M55.
[THE MINUS 5, "MY COLLECTION"]
[TAMARYN, "COLLECTION"]
(10:41):
That was Collection by Tamaryn.
And before that, MyCollection by The Minus 5.
Songs about, you guessedit, interesting collections.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CHARLIE BENNETT (10:56):
This is Lost in the Stacks.
And today's show is calledThe Archives Reading Room.
It's another episode forour GT Library Guidebook.
ALEX MCGEE (11:04):
You're listening to an interview recorded live
in the library withJody Thompson, Assistant
Dean of Archives, RecordsManagement, and Digital
Curation.
CHARLIE BENNETT (11:13):
I like that spin you put on her title there.
We'll talk aboutthat in a minute.
In the last segment,Jody and I started
talking about collectionsand donors, which
led to this next question.
Are people just coming to youand saying, here's my stuff,
here are my papers?
Or are you going out andtaking them from people?
JODY THOMPSON (11:31):
We're doing both.
Well, we do havepeople coming to us.
We're trying to do more outreachso that we can reach people
where they are, andthen just explain
to them what we're doing.
A lot of people willcome to us, but we
have to also make sure thatit's fitting in our collection
development areas.
We don't want tocollect something
that doesn't make sense tocollect it here at Georgia Tech.
(11:51):
There have been times, likewomen's studies collections.
If it's appropriate,we will keep it here.
But if a woman who's donesome research in another area,
maybe it makes more senseto go to Georgia State's
special collections.
And so a lot of archivistswill work together.
The main thing is that we wantto make sure the collections are
preserved and made available.
CHARLIE BENNETT (12:09):
I always think of you, archivists,
as a secret society.
JODY THOMPSON (12:13):
[LAUGHS]
CHARLIE BENNETT (12:14):
You got handshakes and each other
and you're passingmaterial back and forth.
I hear you laughing, but Ithink you do that a little bit.
JODY THOMPSON (12:20):
We do.
It is a close-knit profession.
We want to make sure everyone,if you need assistance,
we're always tryingto help one another.
CHARLIE BENNETT (12:27):
So you say if it's appropriate.
I think some people would think,oh, this is totally appropriate.
These are my papers.
But you have adifferent definition.
how do you assesswhether something's
going in the archives?
JODY THOMPSON (12:38):
If it's an Georgia Tech alum's papers, more
than likely we do want it.
But say for instance,they've done research
that would be more appropriateat Emory University,
we may refer them over there.
But if it's dealing with GeorgiaTech or the special collections
areas that we currentlyhave, we certainly want it.
But we're always open tohaving other collecting areas.
(13:02):
Just again, needsto be appropriate.
CHARLIE BENNETT (13:04):
So do you have people who are here at Tech
doing researchthat's rare for tech
fighting for theirdocuments to stay here
instead of going over to Emory?
[LAUGHTER]
JODY THOMPSON (13:14):
I wish.
That's still a workin progress for us.
It's more of the liberalarts know about the archives,
but especially likein engineering,
it's difficult toget them to see
the relevance of the archives.
CHARLIE BENNETT (13:28):
So just like you can't digitize everything,
you can't save everything.
JODY THOMPSON (13:32):
Correct.
CHARLIE BENNETT (13:32):
Do you kind of want to?
Not as the managerof archives, but as
an archivist witha drive, do you
wish that you couldcollect all the papers
of every professor who's here?
JODY THOMPSON (13:42):
I wish we could.
But then also, as anarchivist, the reality
hits that we don'thave the space.
We don't have thenumber of people.
And so we definitely haveto think of our priorities
and what we can actually do.
CHARLIE BENNETT (13:55):
So talking to Alex McGee, who's
part of the show and theUniversity archivist,
we've gotten thislanguage of the archivist
is setting theframework for the story
of the place or the community.
I feel like there must be abunch of different frameworks
(14:17):
that you could lay onTech that make sense.
So how do you think of the storyof Tech in terms of the work
you do in the archives?
JODY THOMPSON (14:25):
We definitely want
to make sure that we'recapturing the real history
of Georgia Tech.
Making sure thatwe're collecting
the histories of studentorganizations, staff, too.
Because a lot of thecollections that we
have are on the upper levelof the administration,
like the president'srecords and his cabinet.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Because they have rules (14:45):
undefined
for keeping that stuff, right?
JODY THOMPSON (14:48):
Yes.
And so when we do typicallyget their collections,
we have to restrictthem for 10 years.
Being a stateinstitution, we certainly
want to adhere by that.
But we do want to makesure all of our collections
are open to the public.
CHARLIE BENNETT (15:00):
So are you going to the student
organizations and tellingthem, OK, first off,
throw away the canceledchecks, but keep
the minutes of the meetings?
JODY THOMPSON (15:08):
Definitely.
And that's one ofthe responsibilities
that Alex McGee, ourUniversity archivist,
is trying to reach morestudent organizations.
And she's only one person.
So it is difficult. But gettingthe word out and just meeting
with groups of studentorganizations, just saying, hey,
we're here.
And if you're notready for us, but just
(15:29):
know that you need to also bepreserving your collections as
well.
And there areseveral organizations
that do have historians,and we've worked with them.
Dramatech is oneof them, and they
do deposit their collectionswith us every few years.
It's probably when they'rerunning out of space, but we do.
At least we'vereached that group
and can use them as a model.
CHARLIE BENNETT (15:48):
Are you ever going to run out of space?
JODY THOMPSON (15:51):
Hopefully not while I'm here.
The library service center--
CHARLIE BENNETT (15:54):
OK, hold on a second.
[LAUGHTER]|
That sounds a lotlike Social Security.
Oh, it'll stay solventas long as I'm president.
So how will yourun out of space?
Like, literally runout of physical space?
JODY THOMPSON (16:06):
It will be quite some time.
With the library servicecenter we have, right now,
ample amount of space.
And we do have the opportunityto create a second module there.
That's something that can beconsidered for the future.
CHARLIE BENNETT (16:20):
This is a full-on warehouse?
JODY THOMPSON (16:21):
It is.
With cherry pickers sothey can pull collections.
And so that is one issuethat we do not have.
CHARLIE BENNETT (16:29):
I want to go into the library records
center, which I do on occasion.
There's the bigoffice space, and I
have a collection ofbooks I'm trying to handle
that are just scattered around.
Don't tell Nick.
But if I go in the back, itlooks like Indiana Jones.
Like the end of Raidersof the Lost Ark.
JODY THOMPSON (16:44):
It does.
You need to know whereyour collections are,
and you need to make sure thatyou have a location for them
because you caneasily lose them.
CHARLIE BENNETT (16:52):
So archives has a real process-oriented,
sort of constantlyseeking kind of mission.
And it sounds to mealmost like you could just
do that and use all your time.
JODY THOMPSON (17:08):
Mm-hmm.
CHARLIE BENNETT (17:09):
What are the other things?
What else are you working on?
What are you trying to invent?
What other problems areyou trying to solve?
JODY THOMPSON (17:18):
Definitely doing more outreach.
And Alex definitely has agood handle on the University
archives side.
But trying to increase thenumber of special collections
that we have because wehave, as I mentioned,
architectural drawings, butwe also have textile mills.
A lot of textile mills, ofcourse, closed 50, 60 years ago.
So that's probably anarea that we've reached--
(17:40):
probably won't gain anymore collections there.
Some more rare books.
Retro tech is an area that we'retrying to increase usage here
with our heritage video gamesand the technologies here.
And then also fundraising,trying to reach more donors
(18:02):
and trying to bring morefunds into the archives.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Always the donors. (18:04):
undefined
Yeah.
Mentioning the textilemills, it reminds me,
when's the last timeyou put on a hard hat?
JODY THOMPSON (18:11):
Actually, back in October for a conference
I was at on historicpreservation.
We were in one of thebuildings in downtown Atlanta
that they were renovating.
CHARLIE BENNETT (18:20):
I love that part of your job.
And I've talked to you aboutthis on the air before,
but there was a picture ofyou, hard hat, dusty and dirty,
I think breaking into somethingin a mill or some other--
JODY THOMPSON (18:33):
It was a mill here in Atlanta.
CHARLIE BENNETT (18:35):
Yeah.
JODY THOMPSON: Probably all should (18:35):
undefined
have gotten tetanus shots.
[LAUGHTER]
CHARLIE BENNETT (18:39):
I'm glad you're still here.
It's been long enough,we know it's OK.
ALEX MCGEE (18:43):
You are listening to Lost in the Stacks,
and we'll hear more aboutthe archives at Georgia Tech
library on the leftside of the hour.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
WOMAN (18:58):
This is Eira Tansey trouble making archivist.
You're listening to Lost inthe Stacks on WREK Atlanta.
I think I'm good.
WENDY HAGENMAIER (19:10):
Classic.
[LAUGHTER]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CHARLIE BENNETT (19:22):
Today's show is called The Archives Reading
Room.
Our guest is Jody Thompson,Assistant Head for Archives,
Records Management, and DigitalCuration at the Georgia Tech
Library.
Which I found out--
ALEX MCGEE (19:32):
Assistant Dean.
CHARLIE BENNETT (19:33):
Assistant Dean.
Excuse me.
Which is a new title thatI can't even keep straight
because it happened--
ALEX MCGEE (19:38):
It's hot off the press.
CHARLIE BENNETT (19:40):
Yeah.
ALEX MCGEE (19:40):
Yeah.
CHARLIE BENNETT (19:41):
So I guess, congratulations, Jody.
ALEX MCGEE (19:43):
Yes, congrats, Jody.
CHARLIE BENNETT (19:45):
Assistant Dean for Archives,
Records Management,and Digital Curation.
ALEX MCGEE (19:49):
There you go.
CHARLIE BENNETT (19:50):
All right.
You're listening to excerptsI had of a conversation
I had with Jody in front of alive audience in the library,
back before she hadher fancy new title.
We talked for longer thanone episode can handle,
so of course, we had to cutsome stuff out, as per usual.
One moment I wanted toshare, though a little bit
out of context, is this questionabout the material oomph.
(20:12):
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Do you feel a certain lossfrom the digital at this point?
It has become so ubiquitousin all our positions,
you have a team designed toattack and handle digital stuff.
Has paper faded for you?
JODY THOMPSON (20:31):
No, definitely not.
I see both of themjust as important.
They just have differentformats in my eyes.
And I think that goes for a lotof the folks in my department.
Because of course, theformats are different
and the sizes are different,but they're just as important.
And we'll still be getting alot of paper materials for quite
some time.
You think about people retiringhere on campus, or just
(20:53):
collections in general,and some people
won't be retiring in five years,or it be like another 30 years.
But we're also dealingwith emails right now
and just thinkingabout all the photos
that you take on your phone.
So really movingfrom paper to digital
is just the numbershave increased,
but we definitely want totreat them just the same.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Do you kind of wish (21:13):
undefined
that people would deletemore of their photos
before you get them?
JODY THOMPSON (21:18):
Yes.
I also have that problem, too.
Looking at my phone,there are a lot
of photos that I need to delete.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Yeah, I feel like 90% (21:24):
undefined
of the snaps we take on phonesnow are like canceled checks.
You don't need that.
That just renders what happenedaround an important thing.
JODY THOMPSON (21:39):
That's a good way to look at it.
CHARLIE BENNETT (21:41):
OK.
[LAUGHTER]
File this next setusing the finding
aid for collection identifierMS001, not a dot in sight.
[TASHA, "HISTORY"]
(22:06):
[THE BYRDS, "ONE HUNDRED YEARSFROM NOW"]
That's One Hundred YearsFrom Now by The Byrds.
And before that, weheard History by Tasha.
Songs about interactingwith our history
(22:27):
and preserving itfor the future.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
ALEX MCGEE (22:33):
This is Lost in the Stacks.
And today, our show is partof the Georgia Tech Library
Guidebook.
Today's episode is all aboutthe archives at Georgia Tech
library.
CHARLIE BENNETT: We're playing excerpts (22:42):
undefined
from an interview recordedlive in the retro tech
space at the library withJody Thompson, Assistant
Dean for Archives, RecordsManagement, and Digital
Curation.
ALEX MCGEE (22:52):
The last segment ended
on the subject of going intoold buildings to find records
and maybe needinga tetanus shot.
CHARLIE BENNETT (23:00):
Is that an outdated way of collecting
going into wrecked, ruined,abandoned things and finding
records?
JODY THOMPSON (23:07):
I probably wouldn't say it's outdated.
It's not somethingthat we do often.
Maybe some archivist30, 40, 50 years ago
may have been doing that,but it seems more of us
are going now into homesand meeting with the donors
and looking attheir collections.
So most of the time, it's anormal and clean environment
that you don't have to worryabout needing a tetanus shot.
CHARLIE BENNETT (23:30):
OK.
All right.
I want it to be regular thatyou're breaking into places.
JODY THOMPSON (23:35):
I used to do that quite a bit
when I first startedhere at Tech.
But it's like I said, it's moreof going into people's homes.
CHARLIE BENNETT (23:42):
OK.
JODY THOMPSON (23:42):
Yeah.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Let's go in the past. (23:42):
undefined
Tell me more.
I said, breaking into places.
And you said youused to do that.
I don't think you were doing itthe way I was joking, though.
JODY THOMPSON (23:50):
It wasn't breaking in, it
was trying to crawl throughdifferent areas in this mill,
being on old elevators.
If you've ever watchedDriving Miss Daisy,
there's a scene when someone--that is what one of the mills
look like that we were in.
And luckily, I don'thave to do that anymore.
[LAUGHTER]
CHARLIE BENNETT (24:10):
So this is where we now get into,
I have a very romantic viewof-- a capital R romantic view
of archives becauseI don't work in them.
And so just like someonewho can come to me and say,
oh, I love libraries.
Library of Alexandriais so cool.
It's like yeah, OK, back off.
I do that to archivesa lot of times
because I'm overwhelmed bythe idea of people having
(24:38):
a little bit of control over thehistorical record in a really
subtle way.
And I'd like to hearyour thoughts on that,
as a practitioner, asa person who's actually
doing it as opposed tosomeone on the outside
making up what it is.
JODY THOMPSON (24:52):
So just talk about the minor control or--
CHARLIE BENNETT (24:55):
Whatever that brings up in your mind.
JODY THOMPSON (24:59):
I guess some people could perceive it
as maybe that--
we see it as minor control,definitely, because we
want people to use it.
But we also want to makesure that they're not
throwing the materialsinto their backpack
so it will be available100 years from now.
CHARLIE BENNETT (25:15):
So you're thinking about minor control
over the access?
JODY THOMPSON (25:18):
Yes.
CHARLIE BENNETT (25:19):
I'm saying the actual choices of what goes in
and what doesn't goin is almost like a--
you're making theearly decisions
of what the history will be.
JODY THOMPSON (25:30):
So like, you were joking
around about cancel checks.
I mean, so we have alist of what we typically
will want in a collection.
And so most peopledon't want tax records.
But sharing that with thedonors and letting them know,
here is what we typically want.
But then they may ask us like,oh, I have such and such.
And so for the most part, wedo want to take in as much
(25:52):
as possible because we cannotpredict what people are going
to do research on.
CHARLIE BENNETT (25:56):
When you say most people don't
want tax records, you'resaying researchers aren't often
looking for tax records?
JODY THOMPSON (26:02):
They might be, but it's not something
that we certainly wantto make available.
And then, of course,personal information
like Social Security numbers.
If we get professorspapers, we certainly
don't want grades in them.
So just trying to protect thepeople who actually created.
CHARLIE BENNETT (26:17):
And you're not allowed to just mark something
out with a black marker?
JODY THOMPSON (26:20):
No.
No, we definitely donot want to do that.
[LAUGHTER]
CHARLIE BENNETT (26:25):
Can you think of times
when you've made a decisionabout a collection, whatever
it might be, and you thoughtto yourself, oh, this
has far reaching consequences.
This will matter later.
JODY THOMPSON (26:41):
We've done a pretty good job
of making sure that thecollections that we bring in
are being used.
Now, there are some of the signsfiction collections that we've
brought in, we thought thatthey would have been used more.
So that gives us an opportunityto do more outreach.
CHARLIE BENNETT (26:57):
Yeah.
Well, and we opened thecirculating collection
and immediately closedit because of COVID.
JODY THOMPSON (27:03):
Yes.
[LAUGHTER]
And then we had the chilledwater outage this summer.
But having thatcirculating collection
gives people theopportunity to actually look
at the collections.
Because we have gotten pushbackfrom, especially students,
for the archive sciencefiction collection
because they can't check it out.
And some of them understandwhy we have to do that.
(27:24):
But the majority ofthem wish that we
could have a circulatingcollection in the archives,
but just can't do that.
CHARLIE BENNETT (27:29):
So I know there's a policy,
but just as you, asa person, I mean,
do you feel like,come on, stop asking,
when people want to get intothe archives and take it away?
Do you feel like,yeah, I wish so too.
That position of being agatekeeper in a way, especially
kind of framing how people caninteract with the material,
(27:53):
how do you feel about that?
What does that make you think?
JODY THOMPSON (27:57):
Definitely sounds like a negative aspect of--
CHARLIE BENNETT (28:00):
The reason I'm asking
is because someoneonce told me, oh, yeah.
I think of librarians asthe people who keep me
from getting the books I want.
Which totally spunmy head around
because that had obviouslynever been how I thought of it,
not how I think of myself.
But rules for accessand preservation
sometimes turn into thisconfounding of information
(28:24):
once, or usage once.
JODY THOMPSON (28:26):
I think just if you
can educate those who have anegative idea of what archives
are, even libraries,and just explain to them
and hopefully they--
I'm probably beingnaive about saying this,
but hopefully theyunderstand the reason
why we're limiting somewhatof the access of it.
(28:48):
We want to make sure if a600-year-old rare book that we
have, that it will be available.
And so we see it moreof a preservation wise.
And certainlypeople could see it
as restricting the access to it.
CHARLIE BENNETT (29:00):
Yeah.
Does it bug you when archivesare presented in movies
as places that arefilled with dusty books,
and there's noarchivists anywhere?
JODY THOMPSON (29:08):
Yes.
Yes.
[LAUGHTER]
And just like the typicallibrarian, too, that you see
trying to quiet the students.
Hopefully, people, ifthey get an opportunity
to go to an archives and maybeget a behind the scenes tour
when we offer that, usually inthe summer before classes start,
I think and I hopeit gives people
(29:29):
an appreciation and abetter understanding
of going into archives.
Because we keep a lot ofour extremely rare books
in a vault in the basement.
And so when we take the studentsor even faculty and staff,
show them, they arejust blown away that--
I mean, it is truly arestaurant type freezer
that we store the rare books in.
(29:51):
But we're able tomonitor and keep
the temperature andhumidity at a point
that it needs to helppreserve the collections.
CHARLIE BENNETT (29:59):
Do you hang them up on hooks to keep them--
JODY THOMPSON (30:01):
Never thought about that,
nor have I beenasked that before.
CHARLIE BENNETT (30:04):
Jody, thanks so much for being
on the show today.
JODY THOMPSON (30:07):
It's been an absolute pleasure.
CHARLIE BENNETT (30:09):
This is Lost in the Stacks.
And today, wevisited the archives
for the GT Library Guidebook.
FRED RASCOE (30:16):
Our guest today was Jody Thompson, the Assistant
Dean of Archives, RecordsManagement, and Digital Curation
at the Georgia Tech Library.
ALEX MCGEE (30:23):
File this set under library.gatech.edu/archives.
CHARLIE BENNETT (30:28):
That's not a call number.
[EMPIRE, "SAFETY"]
[THE SOFTIES, "FRAGILE, DON'TCRUSH"]
ALEX MCGEE (30:45):
That was Fragile Don't Crush by The Softies.
And before that,Safety by Empire.
Songs about keepingdelicate items safe.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CHARLIE BENNETT (31:03):
Today's episode of the GT Library Guidebook
was called TheArchives Reading Room.
Our guest, Jody Thompsontalked about donor collections,
and it made me wantto ask the show team,
what's a key componentof your papers?
What will the archivists keepfor sure when your box of stuff
makes it to the archive?
Fred?
FRED RASCOE (31:22):
All right, my papers or stuff are never
going to make it to an archive.
ALEX MCGEE (31:26):
Never say never.
Never say never.
FRED RASCOE (31:28):
OK, OK.
All right.
CHARLIE BENNETT (31:30):
Accept the reality of the question.
FRED RASCOE (31:32):
All right, I will put myself
in the moment of the question.
OK, so I still have abunch of old set lists
from a band that Iwas in for a while.
ALEX MCGEE (31:44):
What was the band's name?
CODY (31:46):
The Pink Sexies?
JODY THOMPSON (31:47):
OK.
FRED RASCOE (31:48):
Probably don't Google that.
ALEX MCGEE (31:50):
OK, so that's the series title, The Pink Sexies.
CHARLIE BENNETT: You can Google it (31:53):
undefined
if you add theirhit, Action Man.
FRED RASCOE (31:57):
That was-- yeah, I think
three people bought that CD.
Anyway, so I haveall these set lists
and they're kind of aninteresting snapshot because we
always named our songs after--
we often named oursongs after bands who we
thought that song sounded like.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Oh, I like that. (32:15):
undefined
FRED RASCOE (32:16):
So, yeah, sometimes it actually made it
into the real song.
We had a song that we thoughtsounded like the band Crime,
and we actually named it Crime.
But sometimes I would see onthe set list these band names
and I would have toremember like, oh,
that's that songbecause we thought
it sounded like that band.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Cody, how about you? (32:33):
undefined
CODY TURNER (32:35):
Well, I think my life
is composed in my photo libraryand my Reddit comment history.
So I'd say it'd be oneof those two things.
CHARLIE BENNETT (32:42):
OK.
ALEX MCGEE (32:42):
Interesting.
CHARLIE BENNETT (32:43):
I like that.
How about you, Alex?
ALEX MCGEE (32:45):
So I think it would actually be playlists
that I've made over the years.
I have a lot of very specificplaylists from my wedding.
My husband and I didall the playlists
for our rehearsal dinner, whichwe did a theme of only people
we had seen together as acouple was the entire playlist.
CHARLIE BENNETT (33:06):
I love the constraint.
ALEX MCGEE (33:08):
Yeah, we did our dinner, our dancing,
our cocktails playlist.
And then when we welcomedour son last year,
we had a Teddy's First Playlistthat we played in the hospital,
and then when we drove himhome from the hospital.
So yeah.
CHARLIE BENNETT: That's terrific. (33:23):
undefined
Mine, if I had totrack it, I think
it would be a set of fivenotebooks from back when I was
a pretend artist that I filledwith collage work and sketches
and notes and all that.
Those are the notebooksthat would look the most
like they should be preserved.
ALEX MCGEE (33:42):
In an archive.
CHARLIE BENNETT (33:43):
But they are terrible.
FRED RASCOE (33:45):
Let's digitize them.
Get them up there, Alex.
ALEX MCGEE (33:47):
Yeah.
CHARLIE BENNETT (33:47):
You can't digitize everything, Fred.
Why don't you roll the credits.
And do you havesomething that Jody likes
that we could use for credits?
FRED RASCOE (33:54):
I think I certainly do.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Jody likes her someJesus and Mary Chain.
CHARLIE BENNETT (34:03):
OK, I'm down.
Lost in the Stacksis a collaboration
between wreck Atlanta andthe Georgia Tech Library.
Written and produced byAlex McGee, Charlie Bennett,
Fred Rascoe, and Marlee Givens.
ALEX MCGEE (34:14):
Legal counsel and a very cool hard hat
were provided by the BurroughsIntellectual Property Law Group
in Atlanta, Georgia.
CHARLIE BENNETT (34:20):
Special thanks to Jody for being on the show,
to everybody who showed upat the interview recording
to witness our laughing fits.
And thanks, as always, toeach and every one of you
for listening.
FRED RASCOE (34:30):
Our web page is library.gatech.e
du/lostinthestacks, where you'llfind our most recent episode,
a link to our podcastfeed, and a web form
if you want to getin touch with us.
ALEX MCGEE (34:40):
Next week's show is a rerun.
It's spring breakfor K through 12.
CHARLIE BENNETT (34:44):
For some of us, yeah.
ALEX MCGEE (34:46):
Yeah.
[LAUGHTER]
So we will be backthe week after that.
FRED RASCOE (34:50):
It's time for our last song today.
Archives are aboutpreserving cultural memory,
and our own GeorgiaTech archive is
a space that is held dear bymany of its users and its staff.
So let's close with a songabout preserving fond memories
of things and places we love.
This is "I Think About Heaven"by Christopher Owens right here
(35:11):
on Lost in the Stacks.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
CHARLIE BENNETT (35:14):
Hey, Alex, your song got in.
ALEX MCGEE (35:16):
Yay, finally.
Months of trying.
[CHRISTOPHER OWENS, "I THINKABOUT HEAVEN"]
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