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

Episode 691: Juvenile Drama

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. Playlist [https://www.wrek.org/read/playlist-for-lost-in-the-stacks-july-31-2026-juvenile-drama-episode-691] "...a bit of the subject heading that tells you not what the item is about but what it is."

Episode 690: Rejecting Neutrality

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. Playlist [https://www.wrek.org/read/playlist-for-lost-in-the-stacks-july-24-2026-rejecting-neutrality-episode-690] "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."

Episode 689: We Don't Have A National Library... Or Do We?

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 [https://hdl.handle.net/1853/81867] First broadcast July 10, 2026. Playlist [https://www.wrek.org/read/playlist-for-lost-in-the-stacks-july-10-2026-we-dont-have-a-national-library-or-do-we-episode-689] "As a cataloger, I need a more precise definition."

Episode 688: Discarding the Analytic Solution

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 [https://hdl.handle.net/1853/81864] Playlist [https://www.wrek.org/read/playlist-for-lost-in-the-stacks-june-26-2026-discarding-the-analytic-solution-episode-688] "You are expected to use AI tools in this course."

Episode 687: Clickbait

The show team discusses the 2013 blog post "The End of the Library [https://techcrunch.com/2013/10/13/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 [https://hdl.handle.net/1853/81848] Playlist [https://www.wrek.org/read/playlist-for-lost-in-the-stacks-june-12-2026-the-end-of-the-library-episode-687] "Today's episode is called 'The End of the Library.' No it's not, it's called Clickbait."