May 9, 2025 • 59 mins
First broadcast May 9 2025.
Playlist here. Transcript at https://hdl.handle.net/1853/77573
"Libraries have always felt a little like they need to grow and change the services they offer."
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(00:03):
ANNOUNCER (00:06):
Have you a real love of books and learning?
Are they your friends?
Do you like people,and do people like you?
Do you like all kinds of peoplebecause when you have these two
important qualifications, lovefor books and love for people
(00:26):
you may well consider thevocation of a librarian.
[TELEVISION, "FRICTION"]
(00:50):
(SINGING) I knew it musthave been some big set-up
CHARLIE BENNETT (00:54):
You are listening to WREK Atlanta,
and this is some big setup.
No, this is Lost in the Stacks--
The Research LibraryRock and Roll Radio Show.
I'm Charlie Bennett in thestudio with Marlee, Cody, Fred,
Cyrenity, and myself.
Each week on Lost in theStacks, we pick a theme
and then use it to create amix of music and library talk.
(01:15):
Whichever you're herefor, we hope you dig it.
MARLEE GIVENS (01:18):
And our show today is called "Re-make,
Re-model."
It's a panel show, soinstead of inviting
a guess for aninterview, we're going
to talk to each otherabout a particular subject.
CHARLIE BENNETT (01:28):
I'm so glad you're excited about that.
MARLEE GIVENS (01:30):
Yeah.
CHARLIE BENNETT (01:30):
And not feeling bummed out.
It's a panel show.
MARLEE GIVENS (01:33):
Oh, yeah.
CHARLIE BENNETT (01:33):
Not, oh, it's a panel show.
MARLEE GIVENS (01:35):
Well, I hear that our listeners like those, too.
CHARLIE BENNETT: We've been told. (01:38):
undefined
It's true.
MARLEE GIVENS (01:39):
So I'm excited.
And today that subject isliaison work at the Georgia Tech
Library.
CHARLIE BENNETT (01:46):
And why would we call an episode about liaison
work "Re-make, Re-model?"
FRED RASCOE (01:51):
Well, 1970s music fans,
you might recognize we tookthat name from Roxy Music,
their first album, thefirst track because it fits
what's happening to theliaison model at our library.
We're remaking the modeland remodeling the service.
CHARLIE BENNETT (02:09):
Exactly right.
Our one librarian for eachschool method of liaison work
is changing.
We're moving towardsa teams model,
and I am not talking aboutthe Microsoft product.
FRED RASCOE (02:21):
Thank goodness.
MARLEE GIVENS (02:22):
Liaison teams taking on whole colleges.
And we'll get into itafter the first song.
FRED RASCOE (02:27):
So our songs today are
about working withothers, mutual support,
and providing assistance.
The liaison system isundergoing a little remake,
remodel at theGeorgia Tech Library,
so let's start with theclassic "Remake, Remodel."
CHARLIE BENNETT: It had to happen. (02:41):
undefined
FRED RASCOE (02:42):
But not the Roxy Music version.
CHARLIE BENNETT (02:44):
Why is that happening?
FRED RASCOE (02:46):
Bryan Ferry remade and remodeled
his own song in a solo recordingin 1976, just four years
after the Roxy Music original.
Did doing it on his own improvethe version done with the team?
CHARLIE BENNETT: I plead the fifth. (02:58):
undefined
FRED RASCOE (02:59):
I guess you can decide
because we're going to hear it.
This is "Remake,Remodel" by Bryan Ferry,
solo right here onLost in the Stacks.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CHARLIE BENNETT (03:15):
That was "Remake Remodel"
by Bryan Ferry redoing hisband Roxy Music's original,
and we had a discussionin the studio about that.
FRED RASCOE (03:27):
Yeah.
CHARLIE BENNETT (03:28):
But we're going to save that for later.
FRED RASCOE (03:29):
OK, let's save it for later.
CHARLIE BENNETT (03:31):
Our show today is called "Remake, Remodel"
because we're going to do thatto the liaison work that we do
at the Georgia Tech Library.
And I just like thesong "Remake, Remodel."
I like that idea.
And then I realized, oh, we'regoing to remake the model,
and so I just dove in.
But I feel like we nowhave to let everybody
(03:52):
in on what is a liaison model.
Why would that besomething that we'd have
to think of at the library?
FRED RASCOE (03:58):
What is the existing
model that we have to remake?
CHARLIE BENNETT (04:01):
Well, I think you should
answer your own question, Fred.
FRED RASCOE (04:04):
Oh, OK.
Well, I'll justlay it out there.
CHARLIE BENNETT (04:07):
Dive in, man.
FRED RASCOE (04:08):
The academic library often
has a dedicated librarianfor a specific discipline,
a specific department.
Where the librarian will workwith that specific discipline
or department to answerthat particular faculties'
(04:29):
and students' referencequestions to field questions
about whether we can acquiresome sort of material
in the library forthem to use, some sort
of access to a databasefor them to use,
and so it's been aone-to-many relationship.
There's many peoplein the faculty.
They have one librarianpoint of contact,
(04:50):
the theory being that itmakes it easier to reach out--
limited libraryresources to reach out
to a much larger,campus wide faculty.
CHARLIE BENNETT (05:00):
And to gain some institutional knowledge,
know more about theliaison department
to learn what theywant, what they need,
and maybe inform collectiondevelopment a bit
or even services.
That sound right to you, Marlee?
MARLEE GIVENS (05:17):
It does.
CHARLIE BENNETT (05:17):
Did we leave anything out.
MARLEE GIVENS (05:21):
No.
FRED RASCOE (05:22):
It's been used for a while
in lots of academic libraries.
There have been a-- historicallyin research universities,
there have been advantagesto this approach,
and I think fair to saydisadvantages as well.
MARLEE GIVENS (05:37):
Oh, yeah.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
It's interesting becausethe word liaison I think
is not always usedfor this kind of work.
My first library job, whichwas in the early '90s, we had
departments, and we had what youwould call a liaison librarian.
But their job title wasbibliographer, and they spent--
CHARLIE BENNETT (05:58):
Say what?
MARLEE GIVENS (05:59):
Yeah.
They spent most of theirtime developing the collect--
curating itemsfor the collection
in the discipline that theywere subject specialists in.
CHARLIE BENNETT (06:11):
I feel like at the Georgia Tech Library,
we've always nodded our headtoward the idea of being
a bibliographer of thecollection or of the subject.
Certainly the liaisonshave had influence.
They make requests forfaculty or pay attention
to what the new thingsare in the subject.
(06:32):
But I feel likecollection development
has been set aside, set far awayfrom the liaison librarians now.
MARLEE GIVENS (06:39):
Right-- in our library.
CHARLIE BENNETT (06:41):
Yeah, in ours.
MARLEE GIVENS (06:42):
Absolutely.
CHARLIE BENNETT (06:42):
Yeah.
MARLEE GIVENS (06:42):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I did attend a symposium on newideas for the liaison model.
There's a bunch ofacademic librarians
from around the Southeastwho looked at new ways of,
for example, focusing onfunctional specialization
(07:06):
like research data managementor data visualization,
that kind of work.
CHARLIE BENNETT (07:12):
A function of the library, a service
of the library kind of thing.
MARLEE GIVENS (07:16):
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
And this was when I think--
and-- libraries have always felta little like they need to grow
and change the servicesthat they offer--
CHARLIE BENNETT (07:32):
Sure.
MARLEE GIVENS (07:33):
To stay relevant--
CHARLIE BENNETT (07:34):
It's such a nice way of saying--
MARLEE GIVENS (07:36):
To stay relevant because--
to put it another way, we'realways trying to draw people in.
And so if we bring in somesubject specialization
or functionalspecialization that
is not being offeredanywhere else on campus.
And that can be a newway of bringing folks in.
So one of the things that they--
(08:00):
the leaders of thatsymposium introduced
was the idea thatliaisons could stop
doing collectiondevelopment, and there
was a lot of controversyover making that suggestion.
There were peopleat the symposium
who were like, oh no, there'sno way I'm giving that up.
CHARLIE BENNETT (08:16):
Yeah, that's--
I always think of thecollection development
as part of alibrarian's job being
about status and self-assessmentmuch more than practicality.
MARLEE GIVENS (08:27):
Right.
Right.
FRED RASCOE (08:29):
Is it a territorial thing
because that's in my experiencein academic libraries
in the more traditionalliaison model
that we're talking aboutthat we'll remodel,
but the old version,there's a territoriality
that rears its headand makes cooperation
(08:53):
a little more difficult.
CHARLIE BENNETT (08:54):
Yeah, you know what the group noun
is-- the collective noun for abunch of academic librarians is.
A bristle.
FRED RASCOE (09:01):
Yeah.
There are folks that I'veworked with no longer
at the Georgia Tech Librarythat would tell me, oh, you're
going to talk to that faculty.
Actually, you needto go through me
to talk to that faculty,walls and barriers
between our own librarians here.
MARLEE GIVENS (09:20):
Yeah.
I also just kind ofwanted to point out
that we don't really usethe term liaison here
except among ourselves.
But if you look atthe website, we're
known as subjectexperts or we're known
as the librarian for X, Y, Z.
CHARLIE BENNETT (09:36):
And I think it's because liaison
implies a two-way street.
And we've begun tounderstand that it's really
just us trying to getpeople to interact with us.
MARLEE GIVENS (09:47):
Yeah.
FRED RASCOE (09:47):
That's one of the reasons
we need to remake it is becausewe've got the system-- there's
the idea we'll build itand people will come,
and that's not necessarily true.
We've got this service.
Hey, we can be your liaison.
And faculty say that's great.
CHARLIE BENNETT (10:03):
So, Fred, when you're off the board,
you can put buttons atthe end of segments.
It's awesome.
I'm so glad you'reno longer distracted.
Thank you, Cody.
This is Lost in the Stacks.
We'll be back with moreabout our liaison model
remake after a music set.
MARLEE GIVENS (10:18):
And you can file this set under TH4816.R443.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
FRED RASCOE: (SINGING) Blue moon-- (10:34):
undefined
CHARLIE BENNETT (10:36):
That was good.
FRED RASCOE (10:37):
By The Marcels.
And before that "Ina Band" by Pain.
Those are songs about realizingthat being with others
works better thanbeing on your own.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MARLEE GIVENS (10:53):
This is Lost in the Stacks,
and today's show is called"Re-make, Re-model."
We're discussing our liaisonmodel at the Georgia Tech
Library and how it is changing.
In fact, let's get into thatchange in detail right now.
CHARLIE BENNETT (11:09):
So what we want to do
is we want to gofrom one librarian
being the liaison toone school and have
it be a team of librarians asthe liaison team to one college.
And just in case anyone istired of higher education,
I will just explain briefly.
The university or instituteis made up of colleges.
(11:32):
The colleges are made up ofschools unless they're not.
At Georgia Tech, wehave, say, the College
of Sciences, which has init the School of Biology,
but it's not calledthat because it's
called somethingelse, biosciences
or something like that.
And in the Collegeof Engineering
is the School of MechanicalEngineering, and in the Ivan
Allen College of Liberal Arts isthe School of Literature, Media,
and Communication, whichwas once literature, culture
(11:56):
and communication.
But those days are over.
MARLEE GIVENS (12:00):
And so are the days of the liaison model.
CHARLIE BENNETT (12:03):
Yeah, I think it's toast.
Fred, Marlee, doeither of you feel
like, oh no, what are we doing.
We can't leave this behind.
MARLEE GIVENS (12:12):
No.
No.
FRED RASCOE (12:15):
There's got to be ways to connect with the faculty
that we're serving.
But as far as one librarian toa specific school or department
or whatever, that'sjust not efficient.
In my experience, it hasn'tnecessarily6 been a two-way
(12:37):
relationship, and it's be--
I don't want to say it'sfor lack of trying because--
and I think all of us in thelibrary have had that experience
of really trying to go--trying to get on to department
meetings, trying to havean engaged relationship--
CHARLIE BENNETT: Trying to be embedded. (12:53):
undefined
FRED RASCOE (12:54):
Right.
And that's just not whata lot of faculty need now.
So we're responding toI think realizing that.
MARLEE GIVENS (13:04):
I think so.
Yeah.
CHARLIE BENNETT (13:06):
It's a long-standing fantasy
that the library is alwaysa need at all times,
that we should bethere just in case
or because you ought to realizethat you need us at all times.
But we're not.
We are a dip in,dip out service.
(13:26):
We are a resource thatsometimes is self-service.
MARLEE GIVENS (13:29):
Yeah.
That's true.
And althoughpolitically I think--
CHARLIE BENNETT (13:35):
Yeah, this is all off the record, Marlee.
MARLEE GIVENS (13:37):
Yeah, it's a different thing.
I think people do liketo-- the idea that, oh,
I have a librarian who'sdedicated to me who--
yeah.
But whether they actuallycall on that librarian is--
FRED RASCOE (13:51):
So, Charlie, you're at the forefront of our team
trying to create a new model.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Hold on a second. (13:58):
undefined
Liz is the captain.
FRED RASCOE (14:01):
OK.
You're the co-captain.
MARLEE GIVENS (14:05):
You're the-- you're the-- yeah,
you're the COO I think.
CHARLIE BENNETT (14:09):
Actually, I'm going to push back
just a little bit more.
No, I'm just the jerk who saidsomething in the first meeting
about liaison models.
And so then Liz was like maybeyou want to work on this,
and I said, yeah, maybe I do.
Got a promotion coming up.
I got to work on this.
Yeah.
FRED RASCOE (14:25):
But this is what we're working on.
You're the one currentlyscheduling the meetings
and helping lead the meetings.
CHARLIE BENNETT (14:33):
And I wrote the narrative of what this
might actually end up being.
FRED RASCOE (14:37):
And we haven't finalized
what we're goingto do yet, but what
are we workingtoward-- what's it seem
like we're working towards?
CHARLIE BENNETT: Well, we've moved (14:43):
undefined
past is this how we can do it.
And just to say itagain, it's a team
of librarians whoare collaborators
in providing services to aparticular college, which
is made up of multiple schools.
So spread the knowledge around,spread the effort around,
keep it from beinga kind of boutique,
(15:06):
single faculty sort ofservice, which can be very cool
but does not scaleand does not help
all the people who arenot being served in a very
boutique personal way.
So that's a plan that everyonehas accepted, all the way up
to the dean.
We've gotten approvalon you can do this.
(15:29):
So how are we going todo it, and that's what--
those are the weedsthat we're in right now.
How do you contact a team?
How does the team distributethe questions that come in
or the requests that come inor just the huh that comes in?
How do you maintainaccountability?
How do you process and record?
(15:49):
How do you createmetrics that are useful,
et cetera, et cetera?
And so from insidethe process, I'm
feeling a little overwhelmedbecause I'm an idea person.
I'm a overview kind of person.
What I'm saying is thatI'm very superficial.
And I just thinkof the big picture,
and then I back off and letother people handle the details
(16:12):
and scrape the gum off thesidewalks and things like that.
MARLEE GIVENS (16:15):
Well, thinking big picture,
what feels differentabout the new model?
CHARLIE BENNETT (16:21):
The thing that feels different
about it is that it is sortof a all for one and one
for all model forthe librarians.
I don't know that it's going tochange so much for the colleges.
Maybe one professor who willremain nameless in public policy
(16:43):
will be like whycan't Charlie be
my bibliographic certificationperson like he was last time.
And I would bedelighted to do that,
but trying to find a propercitation for a Eugene Debs
speech was time that maybecould have been better suited
to building information literacyfor the whole department.
(17:06):
And if it's not anindividual and their face,
this is your librarian,then it becomes
more like the libraryis providing service,
and you've got a team.
And also if someone goeson vacation or is sick,
there's still serviceto be provided.
Yeah.
MARLEE GIVENS (17:24):
Right.
FRED RASCOE (17:25):
I think a lot of the advantages
are in what you justsaid, the logistics of it.
Someone listeningto this might think
so there was a liaison model.
It was one librarian.
Now it's going to be afew librarians responding
to a particular college.
Great, you figured it out.
But that's-- it's such afundamental change because I
(17:46):
mentioned it in the firstsegment that territoriality
of the subject liaison soingrained at the-- it used to be
very ingrained here at thislibrary, not so much anymore,
but I think across theprofession as well.
And so being able to havea team that's like, hey,
if I'm not here and someonewants to ask a reference
(18:10):
question or requestaccess to a database
or that we subscribe to adatabase or something like that,
more than one person cananswer that question.
MARLEE GIVENS (18:18):
It's true.
FRED RASCOE (18:19):
And it's--
it sounds maybe obviousto the outsider,
but it's a veryfundamental change
for more traditionalthinking librarians.
CHARLIE BENNETT (18:29):
And the--
there's a stealthreason to do this too,
which is to breakdown the idea that
only a librarian as certifiedby a masters of library
and information sciencecan possibly do the work.
FRED RASCOE (18:43):
Yeah.
My gosh, that's--
CHARLIE BENNETT (18:45):
Another show.
We've done that showplenty of times.
But the team can be librariansand it can be associates
and it can be allkinds of folks.
And I think that's better.
FRED RASCOE (18:57):
Exactly.
Exactly.
CHARLIE BENNETT (18:58):
You were listening to Lost in the Stacks,
and we'll talk more about ourremake of the liaison model
on the left side of the hour.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JOHN LINDEMANN (19:15):
Hi, I'm John Lindemann from the Watson
Library at theMetropolitan Museum of Art
and the Museum ofObsolete Library Science.
And you're listening to Lostin the Stacks on WREK Atlanta.
More wattage in the cottage.
Tune it in andtear the knob off.
CHARLIE BENNETT (19:38):
If you go back and listen to our library land
inspiration episode,the cold open
is me explaining to WendyJohn Lindemann's basic affect
when it came to librarianship.
And I re-listenedto it recently,
and I was surprised at howdelighted I was at his affect.
Anyway I'll just toss that out.
(19:58):
Today's episode of Lost inthe Stacks is called "Re-make,
Re-model."
It's a panel show about theliaison model at the Georgia
Tech Library.
Now Fred found an articleabout liaison work in academic
libraries publishedin the late '70s.
Have you got it in front of you?
FRED RASCOE (20:12):
Yeah.
Got a copy right here.
CHARLIE BENNETT (20:14):
What's the title and the author?
FRED RASCOE (20:15):
Liaison work--
"Liaison Work in the AcademicLibrary" by Lawrence Miller.
It's from a journal calledRQ in spring of 1977.
CHARLIE BENNETT (20:23):
I'm going to read from it.
As the academic libraryenters the late '70s, it faces
a challenge from a coalition ofboth new and old problems that
collectively threaten itsstatus as the primary campus
information agency.
MARLEE GIVENS (20:38):
Yeah, let's do the time warp again.
CHARLIE BENNETT (20:40):
I know.
Among the new factors areinformation technologies
that can strengthentraditional reference services
but can also be used byacademic departments independent
of the library andbudget problems
new in the degree to which theyblunt library effectiveness.
FRED RASCOE (20:56):
Is AI an information technology?
CHARLIE BENNETT: An old adversary-- (20:58):
undefined
that's actually in thearticle-- an old adversary
is the isolation andpassiveness of library services
on many campuses anda slowness to adopt
non-print andcomputerized information
formats, a slowness that doesnot amount to a rejection
but can hardly becharacterized as an embrace.
MARLEE GIVENS (21:18):
Did AI write this about you and itself, Charlie?
CHARLIE BENNETT (21:23):
It could have.
And it could have createdthis idea of, what's his name,
Lawrence and just put it like ahallucination out in the world.
FRED RASCOE (21:30):
We're living in a simulation.
CHARLIE BENNETT (21:32):
Oh my God.
OK.
File this set under BF637.L4S35and short out your simulation.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CYRENITY AUGUSTIN (21:51):
You just listened to "Step Close Now"
by Dolly Mixture.
Before that was "Messageof Love" by the Pretenders.
And before that was "ComeTogether" by Aerosmith.
All three songs are songs aboutpeople working closely together
to support each other.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CHARLIE BENNETT (22:09):
This is Lost in the Stacks,
and our show is called"Remake, Remodel."
So we've talked about it.
We've laid it out.
I think we're all enthusiasticabout the remake of the liaison
model.
But there's a question, and thatquestion is is it going to work.
Marlee, I thinkwe practiced this.
MARLEE GIVENS (22:29):
You don't want to hear it.
You don't want to hearthe answer, the answer.
CHARLIE BENNETT (22:32):
I think it's a great answer.
What's your answer to,hey, is this going to work.
MARLEE GIVENS (22:35):
It doesn't matter.
[LAUGHTER]
CHARLIE BENNETT (22:39):
Libraries have always been in crisis,
and that crisis is acrisis of confidence
and a crisis of usefulness andjust a crisis in their own head.
MARLEE GIVENS (22:49):
Yeah.
And we've always been waymore excited about what
we do than the people we serve.
CHARLIE BENNETT (22:54):
Right.
MARLEE GIVENS (22:55):
Yeah.
CHARLIE BENNETT (22:56):
I don't know why today I feel
totally comfortable with that.
MARLEE GIVENS (22:59):
Yeah?
CHARLIE BENNETT (23:00):
It's like, yeah, there's--
everybody thinks their business,whatever that might be,
is really important,and most people
don't care about otherpeople's business.
MARLEE GIVENS: Well, because you've (23:10):
undefined
been listening to people'sreference questions
coming to you aboutall the things
that they care so deeply about.
And you're like let's gofind a journal for you.
CHARLIE BENNETT (23:21):
So the way you said it doesn't matter made
me think, well, come on.
It's got to matter some way,and it matters internally.
This is good for us I think.
It's going to mix up--
it's going to mix up somepeople's not interests
but what they're intenselyenthusiastic about.
(23:43):
Not everybody can now find theirindividual school and go at it.
You have to work as a team.
You have to connect with others.
If we pull fromother departments,
I think technical services isgoing to get a boost out of this
by joining--
MARLEE GIVENS (23:58):
I hope so.
Yeah, I hope they are joiningus because as you previously
said most of thequestions we get
are things that don't require aparticular expertise to answer.
But there is an expertisein handling the--
(24:20):
handling the question andgetting the information
that we need in orderto provide an answer.
And that's a skill that I thinkmore people in the library
need to buildsimilarly to the way
that I have always said that weall need to learn a little bit
more about cataloging, forexample, because it helps.
CHARLIE BENNETT (24:37):
Marlee, please I don't want to.
MARLEE GIVENS (24:39):
It helps us.
It helps us providea better service.
And I think bringing--
CHARLIE BENNETT (24:44):
I'm with you.
MARLEE GIVENS (24:45):
Yeah, I think bringing
people who are traditionallybehind the scenes
out to the forefront.
They have a chance to apply theskills that they've acquired,
but it also helps us bringnew people in and paves
the way for us to leave and passthings on to our successors.
FRED RASCOE (25:06):
Yeah, it reminds--
this discussion ofhaving a liaison team,
and it doesn't necessarilyhave to be librarians.
it's very reminiscentto me of the way
that academic librariansviewed reference desk services
several years ago andhow those have changed.
(25:28):
And it turns out that youdon't have to necessarily
have an academicallycredentialed librarian
on the reference desk.
The staff folks do an excellentjob, and probably better
than us sometimes.
Yeah, yeah.
MARLEE GIVENS (25:44):
Yeah.
CHARLIE BENNETT (25:45):
Sorry to stomp on your line there, but, yeah,
we all think it.
There's some stuff thatnot only does it not
require someonewho is a librarian,
but also it probably needssomeone who's not a librarian.
I also think maybewhat's going to be
great is that we work moreclosely with different people
(26:08):
and our institutional knowledge,not of the organization
but of the institute willbegin to grow and become
much more sustainable andexpansive because then
that will inform the library'sservices and the library's
ability to respond to requestseven if no one other than us
(26:30):
notices the difference,which is usually what happens
[INAUDIBLE] at the library.
FRED RASCOE (26:36):
Because it just doesn't matter.
CHARLIE BENNETT (26:38):
It's just--
what mat-- nothing matters.
Nothing matters.
Eventually the sunwill consume the Earth.
FRED RASCOE (26:45):
But librarians will still
be worried about what itmeans to be a librarian, how
to get people to use the.
CHARLIE BENNETT (26:50):
I don't know if the sun coming towards us
means that I have tochange how I do my work,
but I hope that it does not.
MARLEE GIVENS (26:57):
This is Lost in the Stacks,
and today we've beendiscussing the model
for liaison work at theGeorgia Tech Library
and what we'regoing to do to it.
CHARLIE BENNETT (27:07):
File this set under Z675--
it sounded likea threat, Marlee.
That's why I liked it so much--
Z675 .U5L4145.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(27:37):
That was "Questions and Answers"by the Apples in Stereo--
hello, Athens-- and beforethat "Liaison" by the Yorks,
songs about the people whoprovide valuable assistance.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(27:58):
Today's show was called"Re-make, Re-model"
about the changes coming forour liaison model at the Georgia
Tech Library.
So I want to throwit out to the show.
Do you have any other modelyou're looking to remake?
For instance, I wouldlike to make some changes
to how we're managing theUnited States Postal Service.
Maybe just less activedismantling would be good.
MARLEE GIVENS (28:21):
Yeah.
CHARLIE BENNETT: How about you, Fred? (28:21):
undefined
FRED RASCOE (28:22):
Yeah, let's have less dismantling
of a lot of governmentagencies to be honest.
CHARLIE BENNETT (28:26):
Let's not get political, Fred.
FRED RASCOE (28:28):
We need the IMLS, for example,
just to throw one out there.
But on a strictlypersonal level,
I would like to remake andremodel my kitchen because I've
currently got a leak fromthe upstairs plumbing coming
through the ceiling,damaging my cabinets.
So that's where I'm at.
MARLEE GIVENS (28:45):
Wow.
FRED RASCOE (28:46):
Marlee.
MARLEE GIVENS (28:47):
So all of us who live in Atlanta
would probably agreethat the belt line has
remade a lot of Atlanta.
CHARLIE BENNETT (28:55):
Absolutely.
MARLEE GIVENS (28:57):
Yeah.
And I think we havethis opportunity
to do the same thing withour downtown connector,
divert the Chattahoochee,flood the connector,
and build a belt line runningthrough the middle of the city.
CHARLIE BENNETT: I love this idea. (29:11):
undefined
MARLEE GIVENS (29:14):
Cody.
CODY TURNER (29:16):
Yeah, that-- you're hitting
on my number one soapbox,the Atlanta beltline there.
I go to a lot of those meetingsthat have public comment
section, and I thinkthe one thing that I'd
like to change about thepublic comment section
is you have to answer justa one question survey.
What is this meetingabout before you
can get up and do whatever youwant with your two minutes.
MARLEE GIVENS (29:37):
That's genius.
Cyrenity.
CYRENITY AUGUSTIN (29:40):
Probably going to go small fry again,
falling back to what Fred said.
Probably my bedroom.
I just got a newbed frame, and it
means I need torestructure everything
to make it livable again.
So that's probably whatI'd remodel, remake.
CHARLIE BENNETT (29:54):
Yeah, I think we should all
take a little inspirationfrom Fred and Cyrenity.
Remake and remodel something athome maybe if you feel like it.
I'm not calling you to act.
Just roll the credits.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Lost in the Stacksis a collaboration
between WREK Atlanta andthe Georgia Tech Library.
(30:16):
Written and produced byAlex McGee, Charlie Bennett,
Fred Rascoe, and Marlee Givens.
FRED RASCOE (30:20):
Legal counsel and, what else, oh, who cares.
It just doesn't matter.
It never matters provided by theBurrus Intellectual Property Law
Group in Atlanta, Georgia.
You matter, Philip.
You matter.
MARLEE GIVENS (30:31):
That's right.
That's right.
Special thanks to LizHoldsworth for being the team
captain on this liaisonremake and remodel.
And thanks as always to each andevery one of you for listening.
CHARLIE BENNETT (30:40):
Our webpage 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.
MARLEE GIVENS (30:51):
Next week, you'll never believe it,
but we are talking aboutartificial intelligence again.
CHARLIE BENNETT (30:57):
I surrender.
I know we have to talk aboutit because it's probably
talking about us right now.
FRED RASCOE (31:03):
It's definitely listening.
Time for our last song today.
As we've discussed,doing things with a team
often produces better resultsthan when you just go it alone.
We open the show withBryan Ferry's solo version
of "Re-make, Re-model,"which was good enough.
CHARLIE BENNETT (31:18):
How dare you?
FRED RASCOE (31:19):
It's Bryan Ferry.
It's a good song.
But, oh, when he worked with hiswhole team, the band Roxy Music,
well, that song wasjust a masterpiece.
CHARLIE BENNETT (31:28):
So I guess we're not
going to hide thisdisagreement at all.
FRED RASCOE (31:32):
Yeah, Bryan Ferry working with Phil Manzanera,
Brian Eno, oh, man.
It's wonderful.
So let's bookend the showwith the Roxy Music version
of "Re-make, Re-model" righthere on Lost in the Stacks.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
CHARLIE BENNETT (31:47):
You know Manzera's on the other version,
too, man.
Come on.
[CHATTER]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(00:03):
ANNOUNCER (00:06):
Have you a real love of books and learning?
Are they your friends?
Do you like people,and do people like you?
Do you like all kinds of peoplebecause when you have these two
important qualifications, lovefor books and love for people
(00:26):
you may well consider thevocation of a librarian.
[TELEVISION, "FRICTION"]
(00:50):
(SINGING) I knew it musthave been some big set-up
CHARLIE BENNETT (00:54):
You are listening to WREK Atlanta,
and this is some big setup.
No, this is Lost in the Stacks--
The Research LibraryRock and Roll Radio Show.
I'm Charlie Bennett in thestudio with Marlee, Cody, Fred,
Cyrenity, and myself.
Each week on Lost in theStacks, we pick a theme
and then use it to create amix of music and library talk.
(01:15):
Whichever you're herefor, we hope you dig it.
MARLEE GIVENS (01:18):
And our show today is called "Re-make,
Re-model."
It's a panel show, soinstead of inviting
a guess for aninterview, we're going
to talk to each otherabout a particular subject.
CHARLIE BENNETT (01:28):
I'm so glad you're excited about that.
MARLEE GIVENS (01:30):
Yeah.
CHARLIE BENNETT (01:30):
And not feeling bummed out.
It's a panel show.
MARLEE GIVENS (01:33):
Oh, yeah.
CHARLIE BENNETT (01:33):
Not, oh, it's a panel show.
MARLEE GIVENS (01:35):
Well, I hear that our listeners like those, too.
CHARLIE BENNETT: We've been told. (01:38):
undefined
It's true.
MARLEE GIVENS (01:39):
So I'm excited.
And today that subject isliaison work at the Georgia Tech
Library.
CHARLIE BENNETT (01:46):
And why would we call an episode about liaison
work "Re-make, Re-model?"
FRED RASCOE (01:51):
Well, 1970s music fans,
you might recognize we tookthat name from Roxy Music,
their first album, thefirst track because it fits
what's happening to theliaison model at our library.
We're remaking the modeland remodeling the service.
CHARLIE BENNETT (02:09):
Exactly right.
Our one librarian for eachschool method of liaison work
is changing.
We're moving towardsa teams model,
and I am not talking aboutthe Microsoft product.
FRED RASCOE (02:21):
Thank goodness.
MARLEE GIVENS (02:22):
Liaison teams taking on whole colleges.
And we'll get into itafter the first song.
FRED RASCOE (02:27):
So our songs today are
about working withothers, mutual support,
and providing assistance.
The liaison system isundergoing a little remake,
remodel at theGeorgia Tech Library,
so let's start with theclassic "Remake, Remodel."
CHARLIE BENNETT: It had to happen. (02:41):
undefined
FRED RASCOE (02:42):
But not the Roxy Music version.
CHARLIE BENNETT (02:44):
Why is that happening?
FRED RASCOE (02:46):
Bryan Ferry remade and remodeled
his own song in a solo recordingin 1976, just four years
after the Roxy Music original.
Did doing it on his own improvethe version done with the team?
CHARLIE BENNETT: I plead the fifth. (02:58):
undefined
FRED RASCOE (02:59):
I guess you can decide
because we're going to hear it.
This is "Remake,Remodel" by Bryan Ferry,
solo right here onLost in the Stacks.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CHARLIE BENNETT (03:15):
That was "Remake Remodel"
by Bryan Ferry redoing hisband Roxy Music's original,
and we had a discussionin the studio about that.
FRED RASCOE (03:27):
Yeah.
CHARLIE BENNETT (03:28):
But we're going to save that for later.
FRED RASCOE (03:29):
OK, let's save it for later.
CHARLIE BENNETT (03:31):
Our show today is called "Remake, Remodel"
because we're going to do thatto the liaison work that we do
at the Georgia Tech Library.
And I just like thesong "Remake, Remodel."
I like that idea.
And then I realized, oh, we'regoing to remake the model,
and so I just dove in.
But I feel like we nowhave to let everybody
(03:52):
in on what is a liaison model.
Why would that besomething that we'd have
to think of at the library?
FRED RASCOE (03:58):
What is the existing
model that we have to remake?
CHARLIE BENNETT (04:01):
Well, I think you should
answer your own question, Fred.
FRED RASCOE (04:04):
Oh, OK.
Well, I'll justlay it out there.
CHARLIE BENNETT (04:07):
Dive in, man.
FRED RASCOE (04:08):
The academic library often
has a dedicated librarianfor a specific discipline,
a specific department.
Where the librarian will workwith that specific discipline
or department to answerthat particular faculties'
(04:29):
and students' referencequestions to field questions
about whether we can acquiresome sort of material
in the library forthem to use, some sort
of access to a databasefor them to use,
and so it's been aone-to-many relationship.
There's many peoplein the faculty.
They have one librarianpoint of contact,
(04:50):
the theory being that itmakes it easier to reach out--
limited libraryresources to reach out
to a much larger,campus wide faculty.
CHARLIE BENNETT (05:00):
And to gain some institutional knowledge,
know more about theliaison department
to learn what theywant, what they need,
and maybe inform collectiondevelopment a bit
or even services.
That sound right to you, Marlee?
MARLEE GIVENS (05:17):
It does.
CHARLIE BENNETT (05:17):
Did we leave anything out.
MARLEE GIVENS (05:21):
No.
FRED RASCOE (05:22):
It's been used for a while
in lots of academic libraries.
There have been a-- historicallyin research universities,
there have been advantagesto this approach,
and I think fair to saydisadvantages as well.
MARLEE GIVENS (05:37):
Oh, yeah.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
It's interesting becausethe word liaison I think
is not always usedfor this kind of work.
My first library job, whichwas in the early '90s, we had
departments, and we had what youwould call a liaison librarian.
But their job title wasbibliographer, and they spent--
CHARLIE BENNETT (05:58):
Say what?
MARLEE GIVENS (05:59):
Yeah.
They spent most of theirtime developing the collect--
curating itemsfor the collection
in the discipline that theywere subject specialists in.
CHARLIE BENNETT (06:11):
I feel like at the Georgia Tech Library,
we've always nodded our headtoward the idea of being
a bibliographer of thecollection or of the subject.
Certainly the liaisonshave had influence.
They make requests forfaculty or pay attention
to what the new thingsare in the subject.
(06:32):
But I feel likecollection development
has been set aside, set far awayfrom the liaison librarians now.
MARLEE GIVENS (06:39):
Right-- in our library.
CHARLIE BENNETT (06:41):
Yeah, in ours.
MARLEE GIVENS (06:42):
Absolutely.
CHARLIE BENNETT (06:42):
Yeah.
MARLEE GIVENS (06:42):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I did attend a symposium on newideas for the liaison model.
There's a bunch ofacademic librarians
from around the Southeastwho looked at new ways of,
for example, focusing onfunctional specialization
(07:06):
like research data managementor data visualization,
that kind of work.
CHARLIE BENNETT (07:12):
A function of the library, a service
of the library kind of thing.
MARLEE GIVENS (07:16):
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
And this was when I think--
and-- libraries have always felta little like they need to grow
and change the servicesthat they offer--
CHARLIE BENNETT (07:32):
Sure.
MARLEE GIVENS (07:33):
To stay relevant--
CHARLIE BENNETT (07:34):
It's such a nice way of saying--
MARLEE GIVENS (07:36):
To stay relevant because--
to put it another way, we'realways trying to draw people in.
And so if we bring in somesubject specialization
or functionalspecialization that
is not being offeredanywhere else on campus.
And that can be a newway of bringing folks in.
So one of the things that they--
(08:00):
the leaders of thatsymposium introduced
was the idea thatliaisons could stop
doing collectiondevelopment, and there
was a lot of controversyover making that suggestion.
There were peopleat the symposium
who were like, oh no, there'sno way I'm giving that up.
CHARLIE BENNETT (08:16):
Yeah, that's--
I always think of thecollection development
as part of alibrarian's job being
about status and self-assessmentmuch more than practicality.
MARLEE GIVENS (08:27):
Right.
Right.
FRED RASCOE (08:29):
Is it a territorial thing
because that's in my experiencein academic libraries
in the more traditionalliaison model
that we're talking aboutthat we'll remodel,
but the old version,there's a territoriality
that rears its headand makes cooperation
(08:53):
a little more difficult.
CHARLIE BENNETT (08:54):
Yeah, you know what the group noun
is-- the collective noun for abunch of academic librarians is.
A bristle.
FRED RASCOE (09:01):
Yeah.
There are folks that I'veworked with no longer
at the Georgia Tech Librarythat would tell me, oh, you're
going to talk to that faculty.
Actually, you needto go through me
to talk to that faculty,walls and barriers
between our own librarians here.
MARLEE GIVENS (09:20):
Yeah.
I also just kind ofwanted to point out
that we don't really usethe term liaison here
except among ourselves.
But if you look atthe website, we're
known as subjectexperts or we're known
as the librarian for X, Y, Z.
CHARLIE BENNETT (09:36):
And I think it's because liaison
implies a two-way street.
And we've begun tounderstand that it's really
just us trying to getpeople to interact with us.
MARLEE GIVENS (09:47):
Yeah.
FRED RASCOE (09:47):
That's one of the reasons
we need to remake it is becausewe've got the system-- there's
the idea we'll build itand people will come,
and that's not necessarily true.
We've got this service.
Hey, we can be your liaison.
And faculty say that's great.
CHARLIE BENNETT (10:03):
So, Fred, when you're off the board,
you can put buttons atthe end of segments.
It's awesome.
I'm so glad you'reno longer distracted.
Thank you, Cody.
This is Lost in the Stacks.
We'll be back with moreabout our liaison model
remake after a music set.
MARLEE GIVENS (10:18):
And you can file this set under TH4816.R443.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
FRED RASCOE: (SINGING) Blue moon-- (10:34):
undefined
CHARLIE BENNETT (10:36):
That was good.
FRED RASCOE (10:37):
By The Marcels.
And before that "Ina Band" by Pain.
Those are songs about realizingthat being with others
works better thanbeing on your own.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MARLEE GIVENS (10:53):
This is Lost in the Stacks,
and today's show is called"Re-make, Re-model."
We're discussing our liaisonmodel at the Georgia Tech
Library and how it is changing.
In fact, let's get into thatchange in detail right now.
CHARLIE BENNETT (11:09):
So what we want to do
is we want to gofrom one librarian
being the liaison toone school and have
it be a team of librarians asthe liaison team to one college.
And just in case anyone istired of higher education,
I will just explain briefly.
The university or instituteis made up of colleges.
(11:32):
The colleges are made up ofschools unless they're not.
At Georgia Tech, wehave, say, the College
of Sciences, which has init the School of Biology,
but it's not calledthat because it's
called somethingelse, biosciences
or something like that.
And in the Collegeof Engineering
is the School of MechanicalEngineering, and in the Ivan
Allen College of Liberal Arts isthe School of Literature, Media,
and Communication, whichwas once literature, culture
(11:56):
and communication.
But those days are over.
MARLEE GIVENS (12:00):
And so are the days of the liaison model.
CHARLIE BENNETT (12:03):
Yeah, I think it's toast.
Fred, Marlee, doeither of you feel
like, oh no, what are we doing.
We can't leave this behind.
MARLEE GIVENS (12:12):
No.
No.
FRED RASCOE (12:15):
There's got to be ways to connect with the faculty
that we're serving.
But as far as one librarian toa specific school or department
or whatever, that'sjust not efficient.
In my experience, it hasn'tnecessarily6 been a two-way
(12:37):
relationship, and it's be--
I don't want to say it'sfor lack of trying because--
and I think all of us in thelibrary have had that experience
of really trying to go--trying to get on to department
meetings, trying to havean engaged relationship--
CHARLIE BENNETT: Trying to be embedded. (12:53):
undefined
FRED RASCOE (12:54):
Right.
And that's just not whata lot of faculty need now.
So we're responding toI think realizing that.
MARLEE GIVENS (13:04):
I think so.
Yeah.
CHARLIE BENNETT (13:06):
It's a long-standing fantasy
that the library is alwaysa need at all times,
that we should bethere just in case
or because you ought to realizethat you need us at all times.
But we're not.
We are a dip in,dip out service.
(13:26):
We are a resource thatsometimes is self-service.
MARLEE GIVENS (13:29):
Yeah.
That's true.
And althoughpolitically I think--
CHARLIE BENNETT (13:35):
Yeah, this is all off the record, Marlee.
MARLEE GIVENS (13:37):
Yeah, it's a different thing.
I think people do liketo-- the idea that, oh,
I have a librarian who'sdedicated to me who--
yeah.
But whether they actuallycall on that librarian is--
FRED RASCOE (13:51):
So, Charlie, you're at the forefront of our team
trying to create a new model.
CHARLIE BENNETT: Hold on a second. (13:58):
undefined
Liz is the captain.
FRED RASCOE (14:01):
OK.
You're the co-captain.
MARLEE GIVENS (14:05):
You're the-- you're the-- yeah,
you're the COO I think.
CHARLIE BENNETT (14:09):
Actually, I'm going to push back
just a little bit more.
No, I'm just the jerk who saidsomething in the first meeting
about liaison models.
And so then Liz was like maybeyou want to work on this,
and I said, yeah, maybe I do.
Got a promotion coming up.
I got to work on this.
Yeah.
FRED RASCOE (14:25):
But this is what we're working on.
You're the one currentlyscheduling the meetings
and helping lead the meetings.
CHARLIE BENNETT (14:33):
And I wrote the narrative of what this
might actually end up being.
FRED RASCOE (14:37):
And we haven't finalized
what we're goingto do yet, but what
are we workingtoward-- what's it seem
like we're working towards?
CHARLIE BENNETT: Well, we've moved (14:43):
undefined
past is this how we can do it.
And just to say itagain, it's a team
of librarians whoare collaborators
in providing services to aparticular college, which
is made up of multiple schools.
So spread the knowledge around,spread the effort around,
keep it from beinga kind of boutique,
(15:06):
single faculty sort ofservice, which can be very cool
but does not scaleand does not help
all the people who arenot being served in a very
boutique personal way.
So that's a plan that everyonehas accepted, all the way up
to the dean.
We've gotten approvalon you can do this.
(15:29):
So how are we going todo it, and that's what--
those are the weedsthat we're in right now.
How do you contact a team?
How does the team distributethe questions that come in
or the requests that come inor just the huh that comes in?
How do you maintainaccountability?
How do you process and record?
(15:49):
How do you createmetrics that are useful,
et cetera, et cetera?
And so from insidethe process, I'm
feeling a little overwhelmedbecause I'm an idea person.
I'm a overview kind of person.
What I'm saying is thatI'm very superficial.
And I just thinkof the big picture,
and then I back off and letother people handle the details
(16:12):
and scrape the gum off thesidewalks and things like that.
MARLEE GIVENS (16:15):
Well, thinking big picture,
what feels differentabout the new model?
CHARLIE BENNETT (16:21):
The thing that feels different
about it is that it is sortof a all for one and one
for all model forthe librarians.
I don't know that it's going tochange so much for the colleges.
Maybe one professor who willremain nameless in public policy
(16:43):
will be like whycan't Charlie be
my bibliographic certificationperson like he was last time.
And I would bedelighted to do that,
but trying to find a propercitation for a Eugene Debs
speech was time that maybecould have been better suited
to building information literacyfor the whole department.
(17:06):
And if it's not anindividual and their face,
this is your librarian,then it becomes
more like the libraryis providing service,
and you've got a team.
And also if someone goeson vacation or is sick,
there's still serviceto be provided.
Yeah.
MARLEE GIVENS (17:24):
Right.
FRED RASCOE (17:25):
I think a lot of the advantages
are in what you justsaid, the logistics of it.
Someone listeningto this might think
so there was a liaison model.
It was one librarian.
Now it's going to be afew librarians responding
to a particular college.
Great, you figured it out.
But that's-- it's such afundamental change because I
(17:46):
mentioned it in the firstsegment that territoriality
of the subject liaison soingrained at the-- it used to be
very ingrained here at thislibrary, not so much anymore,
but I think across theprofession as well.
And so being able to havea team that's like, hey,
if I'm not here and someonewants to ask a reference
(18:10):
question or requestaccess to a database
or that we subscribe to adatabase or something like that,
more than one person cananswer that question.
MARLEE GIVENS (18:18):
It's true.
FRED RASCOE (18:19):
And it's--
it sounds maybe obviousto the outsider,
but it's a veryfundamental change
for more traditionalthinking librarians.
CHARLIE BENNETT (18:29):
And the--
there's a stealthreason to do this too,
which is to breakdown the idea that
only a librarian as certifiedby a masters of library
and information sciencecan possibly do the work.
FRED RASCOE (18:43):
Yeah.
My gosh, that's--
CHARLIE BENNETT (18:45):
Another show.
We've done that showplenty of times.
But the team can be librariansand it can be associates
and it can be allkinds of folks.
And I think that's better.
FRED RASCOE (18:57):
Exactly.
Exactly.
CHARLIE BENNETT (18:58):
You were listening to Lost in the Stacks,
and we'll talk more about ourremake of the liaison model
on the left side of the hour.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JOHN LINDEMANN (19:15):
Hi, I'm John Lindemann from the Watson
Library at theMetropolitan Museum of Art
and the Museum ofObsolete Library Science.
And you're listening to Lostin the Stacks on WREK Atlanta.
More wattage in the cottage.
Tune it in andtear the knob off.
CHARLIE BENNETT (19:38):
If you go back and listen to our library land
inspiration episode,the cold open
is me explaining to WendyJohn Lindemann's basic affect
when it came to librarianship.
And I re-listenedto it recently,
and I was surprised at howdelighted I was at his affect.
Anyway I'll just toss that out.
(19:58):
Today's episode of Lost inthe Stacks is called "Re-make,
Re-model."
It's a panel show about theliaison model at the Georgia
Tech Library.
Now Fred found an articleabout liaison work in academic
libraries publishedin the late '70s.
Have you got it in front of you?
FRED RASCOE (20:12):
Yeah.
Got a copy right here.
CHARLIE BENNETT (20:14):
What's the title and the author?
FRED RASCOE (20:15):
Liaison work--
"Liaison Work in the AcademicLibrary" by Lawrence Miller.
It's from a journal calledRQ in spring of 1977.
CHARLIE BENNETT (20:23):
I'm going to read from it.
As the academic libraryenters the late '70s, it faces
a challenge from a coalition ofboth new and old problems that
collectively threaten itsstatus as the primary campus
information agency.
MARLEE GIVENS (20:38):
Yeah, let's do the time warp again.
CHARLIE BENNETT (20:40):
I know.
Among the new factors areinformation technologies
that can strengthentraditional reference services
but can also be used byacademic departments independent
of the library andbudget problems
new in the degree to which theyblunt library effectiveness.
FRED RASCOE (20:56):
Is AI an information technology?
CHARLIE BENNETT: An old adversary-- (20:58):
undefined
that's actually in thearticle-- an old adversary
is the isolation andpassiveness of library services
on many campuses anda slowness to adopt
non-print andcomputerized information
formats, a slowness that doesnot amount to a rejection
but can hardly becharacterized as an embrace.
MARLEE GIVENS (21:18):
Did AI write this about you and itself, Charlie?
CHARLIE BENNETT (21:23):
It could have.
And it could have createdthis idea of, what's his name,
Lawrence and just put it like ahallucination out in the world.
FRED RASCOE (21:30):
We're living in a simulation.
CHARLIE BENNETT (21:32):
Oh my God.
OK.
File this set under BF637.L4S35and short out your simulation.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CYRENITY AUGUSTIN (21:51):
You just listened to "Step Close Now"
by Dolly Mixture.
Before that was "Messageof Love" by the Pretenders.
And before that was "ComeTogether" by Aerosmith.
All three songs are songs aboutpeople working closely together
to support each other.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CHARLIE BENNETT (22:09):
This is Lost in the Stacks,
and our show is called"Remake, Remodel."
So we've talked about it.
We've laid it out.
I think we're all enthusiasticabout the remake of the liaison
model.
But there's a question, and thatquestion is is it going to work.
Marlee, I thinkwe practiced this.
MARLEE GIVENS (22:29):
You don't want to hear it.
You don't want to hearthe answer, the answer.
CHARLIE BENNETT (22:32):
I think it's a great answer.
What's your answer to,hey, is this going to work.
MARLEE GIVENS (22:35):
It doesn't matter.
[LAUGHTER]
CHARLIE BENNETT (22:39):
Libraries have always been in crisis,
and that crisis is acrisis of confidence
and a crisis of usefulness andjust a crisis in their own head.
MARLEE GIVENS (22:49):
Yeah.
And we've always been waymore excited about what
we do than the people we serve.
CHARLIE BENNETT (22:54):
Right.
MARLEE GIVENS (22:55):
Yeah.
CHARLIE BENNETT (22:56):
I don't know why today I feel
totally comfortable with that.
MARLEE GIVENS (22:59):
Yeah?
CHARLIE BENNETT (23:00):
It's like, yeah, there's--
everybody thinks their business,whatever that might be,
is really important,and most people
don't care about otherpeople's business.
MARLEE GIVENS: Well, because you've (23:10):
undefined
been listening to people'sreference questions
coming to you aboutall the things
that they care so deeply about.
And you're like let's gofind a journal for you.
CHARLIE BENNETT (23:21):
So the way you said it doesn't matter made
me think, well, come on.
It's got to matter some way,and it matters internally.
This is good for us I think.
It's going to mix up--
it's going to mix up somepeople's not interests
but what they're intenselyenthusiastic about.
(23:43):
Not everybody can now find theirindividual school and go at it.
You have to work as a team.
You have to connect with others.
If we pull fromother departments,
I think technical services isgoing to get a boost out of this
by joining--
MARLEE GIVENS (23:58):
I hope so.
Yeah, I hope they are joiningus because as you previously
said most of thequestions we get
are things that don't require aparticular expertise to answer.
But there is an expertisein handling the--
(24:20):
handling the question andgetting the information
that we need in orderto provide an answer.
And that's a skill that I thinkmore people in the library
need to buildsimilarly to the way
that I have always said that weall need to learn a little bit
more about cataloging, forexample, because it helps.
CHARLIE BENNETT (24:37):
Marlee, please I don't want to.
MARLEE GIVENS (24:39):
It helps us.
It helps us providea better service.
And I think bringing--
CHARLIE BENNETT (24:44):
I'm with you.
MARLEE GIVENS (24:45):
Yeah, I think bringing
people who are traditionallybehind the scenes
out to the forefront.
They have a chance to apply theskills that they've acquired,
but it also helps us bringnew people in and paves
the way for us to leave and passthings on to our successors.
FRED RASCOE (25:06):
Yeah, it reminds--
this discussion ofhaving a liaison team,
and it doesn't necessarilyhave to be librarians.
it's very reminiscentto me of the way
that academic librariansviewed reference desk services
several years ago andhow those have changed.
(25:28):
And it turns out that youdon't have to necessarily
have an academicallycredentialed librarian
on the reference desk.
The staff folks do an excellentjob, and probably better
than us sometimes.
Yeah, yeah.
MARLEE GIVENS (25:44):
Yeah.
CHARLIE BENNETT (25:45):
Sorry to stomp on your line there, but, yeah,
we all think it.
There's some stuff thatnot only does it not
require someonewho is a librarian,
but also it probably needssomeone who's not a librarian.
I also think maybewhat's going to be
great is that we work moreclosely with different people
(26:08):
and our institutional knowledge,not of the organization
but of the institute willbegin to grow and become
much more sustainable andexpansive because then
that will inform the library'sservices and the library's
ability to respond to requestseven if no one other than us
(26:30):
notices the difference,which is usually what happens
[INAUDIBLE] at the library.
FRED RASCOE (26:36):
Because it just doesn't matter.
CHARLIE BENNETT (26:38):
It's just--
what mat-- nothing matters.
Nothing matters.
Eventually the sunwill consume the Earth.
FRED RASCOE (26:45):
But librarians will still
be worried about what itmeans to be a librarian, how
to get people to use the.
CHARLIE BENNETT (26:50):
I don't know if the sun coming towards us
means that I have tochange how I do my work,
but I hope that it does not.
MARLEE GIVENS (26:57):
This is Lost in the Stacks,
and today we've beendiscussing the model
for liaison work at theGeorgia Tech Library
and what we'regoing to do to it.
CHARLIE BENNETT (27:07):
File this set under Z675--
it sounded likea threat, Marlee.
That's why I liked it so much--
Z675 .U5L4145.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(27:37):
That was "Questions and Answers"by the Apples in Stereo--
hello, Athens-- and beforethat "Liaison" by the Yorks,
songs about the people whoprovide valuable assistance.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(27:58):
Today's show was called"Re-make, Re-model"
about the changes coming forour liaison model at the Georgia
Tech Library.
So I want to throwit out to the show.
Do you have any other modelyou're looking to remake?
For instance, I wouldlike to make some changes
to how we're managing theUnited States Postal Service.
Maybe just less activedismantling would be good.
MARLEE GIVENS (28:21):
Yeah.
CHARLIE BENNETT: How about you, Fred? (28:21):
undefined
FRED RASCOE (28:22):
Yeah, let's have less dismantling
of a lot of governmentagencies to be honest.
CHARLIE BENNETT (28:26):
Let's not get political, Fred.
FRED RASCOE (28:28):
We need the IMLS, for example,
just to throw one out there.
But on a strictlypersonal level,
I would like to remake andremodel my kitchen because I've
currently got a leak fromthe upstairs plumbing coming
through the ceiling,damaging my cabinets.
So that's where I'm at.
MARLEE GIVENS (28:45):
Wow.
FRED RASCOE (28:46):
Marlee.
MARLEE GIVENS (28:47):
So all of us who live in Atlanta
would probably agreethat the belt line has
remade a lot of Atlanta.
CHARLIE BENNETT (28:55):
Absolutely.
MARLEE GIVENS (28:57):
Yeah.
And I think we havethis opportunity
to do the same thing withour downtown connector,
divert the Chattahoochee,flood the connector,
and build a belt line runningthrough the middle of the city.
CHARLIE BENNETT: I love this idea. (29:11):
undefined
MARLEE GIVENS (29:14):
Cody.
CODY TURNER (29:16):
Yeah, that-- you're hitting
on my number one soapbox,the Atlanta beltline there.
I go to a lot of those meetingsthat have public comment
section, and I thinkthe one thing that I'd
like to change about thepublic comment section
is you have to answer justa one question survey.
What is this meetingabout before you
can get up and do whatever youwant with your two minutes.
MARLEE GIVENS (29:37):
That's genius.
Cyrenity.
CYRENITY AUGUSTIN (29:40):
Probably going to go small fry again,
falling back to what Fred said.
Probably my bedroom.
I just got a newbed frame, and it
means I need torestructure everything
to make it livable again.
So that's probably whatI'd remodel, remake.
CHARLIE BENNETT (29:54):
Yeah, I think we should all
take a little inspirationfrom Fred and Cyrenity.
Remake and remodel something athome maybe if you feel like it.
I'm not calling you to act.
Just roll the credits.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Lost in the Stacksis a collaboration
between WREK Atlanta andthe Georgia Tech Library.
(30:16):
Written and produced byAlex McGee, Charlie Bennett,
Fred Rascoe, and Marlee Givens.
FRED RASCOE (30:20):
Legal counsel and, what else, oh, who cares.
It just doesn't matter.
It never matters provided by theBurrus Intellectual Property Law
Group in Atlanta, Georgia.
You matter, Philip.
You matter.
MARLEE GIVENS (30:31):
That's right.
That's right.
Special thanks to LizHoldsworth for being the team
captain on this liaisonremake and remodel.
And thanks as always to each andevery one of you for listening.
CHARLIE BENNETT (30:40):
Our webpage 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.
MARLEE GIVENS (30:51):
Next week, you'll never believe it,
but we are talking aboutartificial intelligence again.
CHARLIE BENNETT (30:57):
I surrender.
I know we have to talk aboutit because it's probably
talking about us right now.
FRED RASCOE (31:03):
It's definitely listening.
Time for our last song today.
As we've discussed,doing things with a team
often produces better resultsthan when you just go it alone.
We open the show withBryan Ferry's solo version
of "Re-make, Re-model,"which was good enough.
CHARLIE BENNETT (31:18):
How dare you?
FRED RASCOE (31:19):
It's Bryan Ferry.
It's a good song.
But, oh, when he worked with hiswhole team, the band Roxy Music,
well, that song wasjust a masterpiece.
CHARLIE BENNETT (31:28):
So I guess we're not
going to hide thisdisagreement at all.
FRED RASCOE (31:32):
Yeah, Bryan Ferry working with Phil Manzanera,
Brian Eno, oh, man.
It's wonderful.
So let's bookend the showwith the Roxy Music version
of "Re-make, Re-model" righthere on Lost in the Stacks.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
CHARLIE BENNETT (31:47):
You know Manzera's on the other version,
too, man.
Come on.
[CHATTER]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
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