Let's Talk UNLV

0:00:00
Alright, well welcome to another segment of Let's Talk UNRV on KUNV with co-host Keith and Renee. Renee, how was your weekend?

0:00:15
It was nice. I took a nice walk on the trail, came home and had a nice little bottle of wine and watched some football. It was just a chill week.

0:00:25
But you know, my weekend was pretty chill too. You know, I had some relatives in town visiting, fully vaccinated. I had to tell them up front, hey, if you're coming to Vegas, if you want to see me, interact with me, you need to be vaccinated. And the kids. And the kids. Well, because they came, my cousin, his 17 year old daughter's birthday. So they came with some cousins, et cetera. And they were very interested in seeing UNLV's campus. And I was like, hey, if you're not vaccinated, you cannot be on campus because I cannot be in the paper. Like, hey, Dr. Raj, why did you have some family members on campus spreading was vaccinated. So basically we did the campus. But one of the things that we stopped on the tour was looking at the library. What? Yes. And, you know, of all the sites that we stopped at, the library site was a site where this where these young people had the most questions and they were most in awe just how impressive the library was. And then we had some of the staff at the library stop and talk to them, explain to them some of the things, so it was very impressive. And I think that sort of segues us into, you know, I guess. I'm learning from you, Renee. I'm learning from Renee. You know how to get some kudos. But so we have our guest today, Maggie Farrell, who's the Dean of Libraries. Maggie, welcome to the podcast. Keith and Renee, thank you so very much

0:01:47
for having me. And you know that's music to my ears to hear that you've got guests. Even though Renee's hating on that. To the, to the lead library, so thank you for having me today to talk about libraries and our services and how we contribute to student success.

0:02:05
And then Maggie, could you maybe just give us a quick maybe overview of just sort of how long you've been at UNLV and sort of what's the age of our library?

0:02:15
Sure.

0:02:16
So Keith, I have been at UNLV for four years, but I worked back at UNLV in the 90s for two years as part of my career, working in the former Dickinson Library, which is now our law college. So I've been here for four years working in Leed Library, which is the main library, but we do have other branch libraries. Leed Library turned 20 years old this year. So we are in the midst of celebrating Leeds Library's 20th year, 20 years, being just a critical building for the campus, for the image that we present to our community, but more so for being a student center where students come, hang out, study, network, have a cup of coffee, have lunch, take online classes, get technology and access to expertise. So 20 great years for LEAD Library.

0:03:25
Okay, so Maggie, I've not been in a library since maybe 2016 when I was working on my dissertation. Can you just like give me a quick lowdown of the do's and don'ts? Can I now talk openly in the library? Can I bring in a drink? Can I, I mean, what's allowed?

0:03:45
What's the decibel level that's permissible?

0:03:46
Right, what's the decibel level? Well, Renee, libraries have changed so much over the last 20 years, 10 years, even five years. I would say even this last year during the pandemic. So as a primary student center where students come and take classes, meet with librarians, access information resources, use technology, it is a buzzing place. Yes, you can talk, we hope you do talk. You can come and study as an individual in quiet spaces if that's your preferred way to study, or if you're meeting with your colleagues or classmates, we have group study rooms in areas that support group work. We have whiteboards, we have librarians working one-on-one with students as they are working on term papers or their research. We have classes in LEAD library to teach individuals information literacy, critical thinking. We have a coffee shop. It is a place where networking happens, studying happens, and the exchange of information is happening. So, yes, it's Well, Renee, but Renee, I would also say, because I know you and your ongoing work, that although we're talking about a physical space, libraries are also about virtual spaces. So many of our resources are online, and we work with many of our students in a remote environment or a faculty who's working on a research grant late at night, you can access over three million items that are available online. So the library is a place but it's also your desktop and so we often talk about the physical space but it's also very

0:05:55
much a virtual space as well. Now I did not hear you say that the fines went away. That's why she's staying away. That's why she hasn't been since 2016. That's none of my business. You know they have like the, what is the optical recognition

0:06:15
or something so you better be careful you walking into these spaces. Okay so have the

0:06:19
fines gone away or is that how you hold all of us accountable? Sure. So, Renee, the fines have not gone away, but something that we're looking towards in the future. During the pandemic, we did have a special program in place in which we did waive a number of fines, knowing that students wouldn't be able to return books, knowing that coming to campus was, was or just being out in the public wasn't always safe as far as our health. So we did waive a lot of fines during the pandemic. About once or twice a year, we have the food for fines program so that we contribute to the UNLV student food

0:07:31
We're offering her a way to return materials. So they're pretty minimal, the fines that we have. And the goal is that our students pay for these materials.

0:07:43
We want to make sure that the materials are returned so that another student can use them.

0:07:49
And then, Maggie, you know, now that we got off Renee's kick about her own personal stuff going on with the library, We'll get you back in good standing with the library.

0:07:43
It was a hard time.

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I was a doctoral student.

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I struggled.

0:07:48
But Maggie, I wanted to ask you, so what's probably the best kept secret of the library that students or even professionals and staff on campus may not know about as a reason for them to frequent or use the library's resources?

0:08:03
Well, a couple of things.

0:08:05
So, individuals are using our library resources if they're on campus, and they might not even realize that they're using it the way that we have set up technology. So, a good example, if you're in your office accessing the Chronicle of Higher Education, you're just automatically passed through so that you can read that free of charge. I think a number of individuals don't realize how they're already using information that the libraries purchase on behalf of our students, faculty, and staff. But I must stress the best resource that we have within the libraries are our faculty librarians. Librarians are here to work with students. We conduct workshops. We have one-on-one consultation sessions. We're in the classrooms with information literacy, critical thinking. We have liaisons that are experts in subject areas. For instance, we have a business librarian, urban affairs librarian, social sciences librarian, science librarian, education librarian, all of these experts that can work with classes, with students and faculty. And then we also have our branch libraries. We have branch libraries in architecture, music, education, and then we have a medical library with the School of Medicine. So in all of these libraries, we have individuals who are able to help students, and it is the best resource by getting to know our librarians, getting to know our staff, and they can help understanding this global information world that we live in and how to find that nugget that a student might need for a paper or that a research project might be solved, come and talk to one of our librarians and we can really help

0:10:19
students be more successful in their work. So if I'm a freshman, is it usually the case that there's an assignment that brings you to the library, or I'm referred by my instructor to complete an assignment, or, you know, I just stumble on it because I want some of that coffee that y'all have there. I mean, I mean, it's just perfect.

0:10:41
Well, Renee, all of the above. Plus, we work with classes, particularly at the freshman level, so we can introduce our students to the world of information because there's so much out in our world. And lately, we've heard a lot about fake news or false news. So one of the skill sets that we want for our students is the ability to navigate an information-rich environment. So how do you find information? How do you evaluate it? And how do you apply that? We want to make sure that when a student graduates from UNLV, but it will help them in their career. And it helps us to create an informed society by having students who know how to evaluate information and apply it to their lives. So that's our ultimate goal that we have for all of our students.

0:12:00
And then Maggie, could you talk about some of the partnerships that you have in place, like with the Academic Success Center for other supplemental services to be available in that space?

0:12:10
Absolutely, Keith. So we work closely with the Academic Success Center. We have a space in LEAD Libraries for tutors. So tutors are here every day working with students on a variety of topics. We want them to come into the library, not only to meet with the tutors, but the tutors can also refer individuals to an expert librarian if they need that assistance in their studies. We also work with the Disability Resource Center and we have special equipment within the library to help individuals that might need assisted reading technologies, for instance. We also work closely with the Graduate Student Association. There is a Graduate Student Location Association area within LEAD Library where only graduate students have access to that particular area. So we're engaging with graduate students through their graduate student association. And then we'll work with various entities across the university in order to bring services into the library or we have our librarians meet with those services outside of the library. I'll give you one or actually I'll give you two additional examples. One is career services. So we have a section within LEAD Library for career materials. Recently, career services held a pop-in afternoon within LEAD Library where they had individuals on-site who were working with students on career options. Our newest service that is going to open up later this fall is the Patent and Trademark Resource Center. And this, we hope, will help students understand the intellectual property applications for their creations, for their inventions, whether they're in engineering or the medical field or if they're in gaming, this is a resource available for our students so they can investigate the intellectual property rights that they might want to pursue for their invention or if they want to trademark a certain product. So that will be opening up later this fall and I'm happy to come back and talk to you more about that when that service is available.

0:14:51
Excellent. So we know that there are some listeners who are preparing probably for midterms very soon and may need to take advantage of this tutoring. So what kind of tutoring is offered

0:15:03
in the library? So Renee, the tutoring is overseen by the Academic Success Center. And the tutoring is grouped by various subjects. So they will have a tutor that is specialized in math. They'll have one in science. They'll have one in English. So an individual can come into LEAD Library. If the tutor is not available at that time, they can go ahead and make an appointment. And so those tutors are located on the second floor of Leeds Library.

0:15:39
And then Maggie, could you speak to, I know you talked about the library being both a physical location and then also virtual. Could you talk about sort of the evolution of just libraries in general with that sort of reimagining how their services and materials are accessed by its users?

0:15:58
Well, you know Keith, I could take up another hour of your time with the history of libraries. And, you know, often when people think about libraries, they have this image of libraries full of books and really quiet contemplation. And if you are here in the afternoon, you'll see that that's exactly opposite of what we are today. But actually, libraries have always been on the cutting edge of technology. People might not think about that, but it really started with the automation of book records way back in the 1950s. And in fact, libraries were one of the first to develop a markup language. It's called Mark, M-A-R-C, which is machine readable cataloging. So, we started all of that work in the 50s and early 1960s, and that automation is really the foundation for a modern library today. It allows us to know what books that we own. It allows us to lend books from one library to another. And it also allows us to organize all of the books and journals that we hold now. So to give you an idea of the scope of UNLV holdings and all of the technology that it takes to support this. So we have in LEAD Library about 1.5 million volumes, and many of you know that some of that is in our storage facility here in LEAD. But we also have about another 1.7 million electronic books. We have over 800 databases, and we have 85,000 electronic journals. So if you think of all of this information, it's the technology behind it that makes it all work. And our goal within the libraries, and we have technology teams that work behind the scenes to link all of this information and to make it all connected. So as you read an electronic book, you might see a footnote. You go from that footnote to the actual article. If we don't have the article, it sends you off to interlibrary loan. So all of this technology is at the fingerprint or at the fingertips, sorry, fingertips of our students. So our students as they work in the library, as they work at home, they might be working in an office at UNLV, they have access to all of this. It's very seamless. All you have to do is go to our webpage, which is, as you know, I can't leave you without giving you our URL. So our website is library.unlv.edu. Go to that website. You can do your searches. You can chat with a librarian. You can do an email request for a complicated question that you might have or you can't find a book. Can somebody find that book for you and have it ready for you? So all these services, again, on your computer or easily in one of our five libraries.

0:19:43
And then could you speak to some of the unique artifacts that are sort of in your inventory that you do special showings of?

0:19:51
Oh, Keith, you know we love our special collections. archives unit that collects primarily the history of Southern Nevada. And we are so proud of our special collections because they are doing amazing work in digitizing many of our records, our architectural records, our photographs, our manuscripts. But also, there's some unique projects that are happening within our special collections. So our Oral History Research Center is committed to documenting our history through oral histories. And they have been working on collecting the full history of Southern Nevada, really seeking out those marginalized voices that perhaps history has overlooked in the past. So currently we have an Asian American Pacific Islander oral history project. We are wrapping up our Latinx Voices project. And previously we did a project on the African American experience in Southern Nevada and Jewish heritage. So our goal within Special Collections is to collect the oral histories of the diverse voices of our community, as well as to collect manuscripts, photographs, and other materials of our past. We have a newspaper grant right now that is digitizing the only African-American newspaper in Las Vegas, Centennial, and that will be made available to your students. And then we go one step further. So two projects, and sorry, Keith, you know I could talk about this all afternoon. Oh, carry on. We have a number of projects that where we are drawing upon that expertise within our special collections and our other services. So we, last year, conducted a series, and we'll pick up the series later this fall, on the We Need to Talk, Conversations on Racism for a More Resilient Las Vegas. And so this educational series features university and community experts discussing issues on race, but more importantly, they are focusing on solutions for a more inclusive society. Some of our librarians are also contributing to improving information about other marginalized communities. So we've had a Wikipedia edit-a-thon and where students come in and they contribute verified sources for Wikipedia. And we've had one on art and feminism. We have Latinx and LGBTQ. And plus we've also had decolonized Wikipedia focusing on indigenous people and communities within America. So in addition to making information available, the libraries are very much about contributing to knowledge and having students come in and participate in our oral history research projects and our We Need to Talk conversations as well as in some of the work we're doing with Wikipedia and digitizing collections. So students are very much a part of this effort

0:23:44
to make sure that our resources are available for the community. All right, so last question. I know that you've played a critical role in helping UNLV reach its mission through teaching and scholarship through these services. So given COVID, all that it is, you know, all that we're enduring, what are you most proud of?

0:24:04
Oh, I am proud of our individuals. Rene, you and I have served on the incident management team and know how difficult this last year has been because of the pandemic. But through it, the libraries have been open and our librarians and our staff have been phenomenal. They have worked with the Office of Information Technology on the laptop checkout program. We've increased technology offerings for students who might need a headphone or a microphone for their online class. We've done curbside delivery when the libraries were closed. We continue to monitor our own health, but also our services so that we are keeping infection rates down not just across the university, but particularly in the libraries. I'm so proud of our librarians and our staff. They have been here throughout the pandemic, ensuring that we have safe and open spaces for students during a very, very difficult time.

0:25:26
If you were in the studio with us, Matt, you'd see Renee and I looking at each other like our heads are just all the things that happen in the library. My limited perspective was just being a high school student when I thought it was the coolest thing to have the period where I get to work in the library, you know, to put a few books away and, you know, sort of have some downtime. But just hearing you talk about just all the things has just been amazing. Renee, what are some of your key takeaways from today's session?

0:25:56
Well, if the fines are still in place. Beyond that, beyond that, though, just the volumes and volumes of resources that are available in such digital ways, electronic ways, all the way to just serving our students, but also faculty and staff that constantly rely on them so they can disseminate the information and provide great teaching and opportunities for students to learn. The tutoring that's taking place, the collaborations with the Disability Resource Center, with the Graduate Student Association. We know about the We Need to Talk series. We've had Clay T. White a part of KUNV. So just all that they're doing to me is just fantastic. And then most recently, like I said, I worked with Maggie with IMT, the student management team. She's right. The laptop checkouts, I mean, addressing the digital divide. And we talk about all the other pieces that come with managing a pandemic. But without the libraries and without the staff being willing to stay open and provide those services, some of our students would not be academically successful, as well as the faculty and staff that have to also use those materials.

0:27:12
Yeah. And, you know, I was happy to hear personally when Maggie talked about like just the faculty librarians and the distance specific experts and then all the personnel that help you do your research, because I was wondering, like my wife, she when she's with her dissertation, you'd be like living in a library. I'm like, what are you doing? So when she's like, you know, they help so much. So it was just, you know, and I didn't take advantage of that. So I guess if I had known that I could have taken advantage, I could have been an honors a student all the way through undergrad. Right. But I was doing it on my own, similar to what you're saying, 2016. Like I didn't go to the library when I was in undergrad. But the other thing that's surprising is that, you know, you see our library and you would not associate it with being 20 years young. No. You know, I mean, it's so well maintained. And when you go in there, it's just it still looks state of the art to me. when it first opened, just how the entire West Coast was just buzzy that UNLV had this such an impressive library and how it rivaled all the other libraries on the West Coast, even at these most prestigious institutions. So I'm glad to see that the library is still living up to that initial reputation that it had. And then just hearing just virtually all the materials that are available, even unbeknownst to those that are accessing them. You know, and I am, you know, through my accounts, I always go on looking at the different publications. So I'll be more intentional. And given the library, it's just do and recognition that I'm accessing the material. So, again, Maggie, thank you for joining us. And Renee and I learned quite a bit today. And Renee committed to stepping foot into the library. I'm going to step into the library. And you know those fines transfer, right? No matter what you incurred, they transfer. You hear what Maggie said about that technology. It's all interconnected, right?

0:28:58
Yeah, Maggie's watching. Thanks, Maggie. Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of KUNV Let's Talk UNLV. For my co-host Keith, I'm Renee. For my co-host Keith, I'm Renee. Tune in next week, Wednesday at 12, on KUNV 91.5 Jazz and More. That's a wrap!

Transcribed with Cockatoo