Lost in the Stacks: the Research Library Rock'n'Roll Radio Show

The hosts of the library-themed WRFG Atlanta public-affairs show Radical Reference With Sister Sai talk about how the show started and their values, process, and plans for radical reference on the radio.

Guests: Saira Raza and Keeza Hameed, hosts of Radical Reference on WRFG Atlanta (and Emory librarians).

First broadcast on August 7 2026. Transcript at https://hdl.handle.net/1853/81972

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"We're not the only game in town any more!"

In the third and final episode of an unofficial "Library of Congress" trilogy, catalogers from the ALA Core Subject Analysis Committee Working Group on Subfield V Retention discuss the Library of Congress's announcement that they have stopped using Subfield V and form subdivisions, e.g. "Mistaken identity--Juvenile drama."

Guests: Chloe Misorski, Head of Cataloging Services and Library Systems at Cleveland Museum of Art; Eduardo Fojo, Media Cataloger Librarian at Florida International University; and Deborah Tomaras, Metadata and Resource Management Librarian at Marist University.

First broadcast July 31 2026. Transcript at https://hdl.handle.net/1853/81971

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"...a bit of the subject heading that tells you not what the item is about but what it is."

Catalogers discuss rejecting neutrality in the creation and management of subject headings, taking special notice of the Library of Congress's insistence on (some version of) "neutrality."

Guests: Deborah Tomaras, Metadata and Resource Management Librarian at Marist University; Tina Gross, Metadata Analyst at University of Minnesota.

First broadcast July 24 2026. Transcript at https://hdl.handle.net/1853/81968

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"We asked Deborah to explain why this quite common term, which has been around since the 1950s, and has literary warrant, was not accepted as a subject heading in 2024."

The show team, with the help of cataloger Sofia Slutskaya, discusses the Library of Congress and tries to answer the question, "We don't have a National Library... or do we?"

Guest: Sofia Slutskaya, Head of Resource Description at Emory University Libraries. Transcript at: https://hdl.handle.net/1853/81867

First broadcast July 10, 2026.

Playlist

"As a cataloger, I need a more precise definition."

A Georgia Tech faculty member describes how using AI to write MATLAB code improved a course on chemical reactor design and the benefits of discarding the analytic solution for complex, real-life problems.

Guest: Dr. Michael Filler of the Georgia Tech School of Chemical And Biomolecular Engineering.

First broadcast June 26 2026. Transcript at https://hdl.handle.net/1853/81864

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"You are expected to use AI tools in this course."

The show team discusses the 2013 blog post "The End of the Library" by M.G. Siegler, clickbait that argued that the economics of ebooks and the existence of the Internet meant that libraries had to change or disappear.

First broadcast June 12 2026. Transcript at https://hdl.handle.net/1853/81848

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"Today's episode is called 'The End of the Library.' No it's not, it's called Clickbait."

The show team has an unthemed conversation for this summer free cut. They discuss travelling to see art, Google Maps, having your assumptions tested, failure as growth, and if the phrase "get in the car, it's summer" has any significant cultural meaning.

First broadcast June 5 2026. Transcript at https://hdl.handle.net/1853/81828

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"Yeah, it's not really working for me."

Georgia Tech faculty members talk about experimenting with virtual reality tools in a composition course, students experiencing multimodal Hamlet, and assessing how best to teach the "To be or not to be" monologue. Audio from a live recording during the Georgia Tech Library's Media Arts Day, January 29 2026.

Guests: Dr. Kelly Williams, Marion L Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow at Georgia Tech; Dr. Meryem Yilmaz Soylu, research scientist at the Center for 21st Century Universities (C21U); Alison Valk, the Emerging Technologies Librarian at the Georgia Tech Library.

First broadcast May 29 2026. Transcript at https://hdl.handle.net/1853/81791

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"That's as you like it."

Members of the Georgia Tech Library's Accessibility Community of Practice get into the weeds discussing alt text for mathematics in scholarly works.

Guest: Jordan Moore, User Experience Librarian at the Georgia Tech Library.

First broadcast May 22 2026. Transcript at https://hdl.handle.net/1853/81587

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"We're getting down in the weeds."

A Georgia Tech scholar from the College of Liberal Arts discusses the place of humanities in academia and how crisis is their natural habitat.

Guest: Dr Richard Utz, Senior Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives in Georgia Tech's Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

First broadcast May 8, 2026. Transcript at https://hdl.handle.net/1853/81266

Playlist.

"The humanities, as a term, would not exist without substantial crisis in how human beings think about themselves."