[Intro Music]

Anna: Hi, welcome back to Can of Worms! My name’s Anna.

Cambria: I’m Cambria.

Max: And I’m Max.

Anna: Today, we are talking about books! Do you guys know what books are?

Cambria: Books!

Anna: Do you do books?

Max: Like booking for concerts?

Anna: So it’s these things. It’s paper-binded with, like, thicker paper, and then there’s like, ink on it, and then you, like, read it. Have you heard of that?

Max: Ohhh. A novel?

Anna: Yes, sometimes, yeah. Do you know what that is, Cami?

Cambria: I’ve heard of books.

Max: Why are we talking about books?

Anna: Well, we’re in a library right now. I don’t know if you know that. We are in the Marriott Library at the University of Utah, one of their podcast booths.

Max: This room doesn’t have books in it.

Anna: This room doesn’t but the rest of the library sure does got a lot of books, and it has stuff- even more than books.

Max: Like what?

Anna: Like podcast booths and like gaming consoles.

Cambria: That’s true. We are in the ProtoSpace. The ProtoSpace has a lot of cool stuff. It has board games.

Max: Oh, you know, now that you mentioned, I do know a lot about what’s in the Marriott Library.

Cambria: Yes you do.

Anna: What do you know, Max?

Max: Yeah. Oh, well. I mean, there they have all sorts of stuff on each floor. There are four floors. And really, it’s so much that I can’t name them all on this in this recording, or else, it would take too long. It’d be quite boring. You got the first floor, you got their General Collections, which is a whole ton of books, so many books that you have to have the crank moving bookshelf so they can fit it all in there. Always fun, but that’s where you can find their General Collections. Also on the second floor, they have a similar thing. On the third floor, they used to have more collections. Now they have the class reserved books, which you can’t rent out, but you can keep inside the building for a period of time. A lot of times I’ve been looking for books, and they’re only available there. I can’t take them out, but I can grab them, maybe take some pictures, put it back and leave. And beyond that, they also have the secret warehouse, mechanical warehouse, filled with all their other collections. They have games, DVDs, VHS, maps, all sorts of stuff in pretty much everything you could ever want. I found some really obscure movies in there and found them. VHS for movies that I just cannot find anywhere else, I found there. I rented there, and nobody else gets them. I highly recommend you get them, if you’re listening to this. Marriott Library has also got the Writing Center. Have you guys ever used the Writing Center? My older sibling worked in the light Writing Center. Helped tutor people to write better essays and pieces, not sometimes short stories, fiction, whatever you can go there. It’s all free. They’re happy to help you out with other writing. They also got book binding — have you guys use this, the book binding station here at the Marriott?

Anna: The printing press?

Max: The printing press.

Anna: Yeah, yeah, I haven’t, but I’m very interested in it. I might be taking a class about it next semester. They have four classes. It’s called the Book Arts program. And they also do a ton of free workshops and stuff that are, I’m pretty sure, open to the public. They do a lot of cool stuff with that.

Max: You can print books.

Anna: You can print books.

Max: It’s as easy as that.

Cambria: And that’s only talking about the physical library, not even talking about the website, the online catalog, which is most filled with information! I’ve used on, dare I say, every single class that I’ve ever taken, I’ve used the Marriott Library online catalog.

Max: I’ve used this as well for research purposes. In previous classes, we’ve worked with librarians to tell us how to research best and how to run through their databases. And there really is a heck a ton of stuff in there. There’s a lot of stuff in that research database, and I highly recommend you look through it if you’re doing some sort of study, because it is more useful than I could ever imagine. But some stuff isn’t even on the online database. They get the Special Collections unit up on the third — fourth floor! I’ve been there. I’ve been there, and I’ve done research in the Special Collections unit. It’s very interesting. They ask you to put your backpack and all — most — devices in a locker. They have you come in, they want you to wash your hands before you touch anything. And they have all sorts of stuff up there. Some of that stuff is really rare. Well, all of it’s kind of rare. Some of this stuff is very valuable. I would say, I think they have original printings of “Alice in Wonderland” and Charles Darwin’s notes. But along with this, they have just books that are out of print. I’ve looked at just regular biographies that don’t seem as rare and important as the ones I just mentioned, but are out of print, and I can look at them in the Special Collections unit. You can only look at those books while they’re up there, and you have to schedule times to do that, and need to get approved to go in. But it’s pretty simple process. They let me in, so they’ll probably let anybody else. But aside from books, that’s only the start of what they got here. We’re in the ProtoSpace, and they got gaming PCs.

Cambria: VR.

Max: They have VR headsets. They have 3-D printers. They have a typewriter. You guys been there? You guys —

Anna: I haven’t seen that, actually, I don’t know that.

Max: It’s an automatic typewriter, I think from the ’90s, so you have to plug it in to make it work, and it makes like a [makes a loud machine noise]. It’s quite large. It’s quite large. They have that. They have the Knowledge Commons, which is on the second floor, which is mainly just computers.

Cambria: Our computer lab.

Max: Printers, if you want to pay for printing you can go to there.

Cambria: And all throughout, they have rooms that you can reserve, just like we’ve reserved this podcast booth so that you can study and you can — sometimes they’ll have TVs based on what you need, so you can do presentations or group study sessions.

Max: It’s true. It’s true. You just have to book them in advance. Nothing will make you realize how many people are at this school faster than seeing how many people book those study rooms, and how quickly they do it.

Cambria: Especially they do, especially when finals weeks are coming up.

Max: Yeah, like now. So if you want to do that, do it a couple of days in advance.

Anna: I actually was able to interview Sarah Schreeves, who is the dean of the Marriott Library. But I got to talk to her a lot about some of the types of cool media and stuff that we have at the library, but also some of how the board decides what events go on and like the things that are just important to the library and what they look for in in creating a good experience for the students. So here’s what we talked about.

[interview begins]

Anna: What do you think are the most beneficial resources that the Marriott Library has for students that they may not know about?

Sarah: Yeah, so, I actually think the most beneficial resource the library has is our librarians and our staff, because they have such expertise. So whether you’re doing research, in whatever subject area you’re doing research in, and if you’re feeling a little lost about where to begin — because we have a lot of resources here, right, it can be a little hard to find your way — getting in touch with your librarian, they are going to help you. And they’re going to be able to get you started and on your way. So the people are our biggest resource that I think students sometimes feel hesitant to contact, but we are here, and they can really sort of make connections for you that perhaps you don’t you didn’t even realize that you needed to make, or give you access to things that you just had no idea existed. So that’s what our training is in, [it’s] to provide that kind of assistance.

Anna: What type of like events and programs do you think like students may want to know about, or like just generally don’t know about?

Sarah: So we have a lot of events. So we bring in speakers in sort of different times. So we always do, for example, something during Banned Books Week, which is in the fall. So bringing in speakers to talk about banned books, or we bring in an author whose books have been banned to talk about the impact on them. So events like that, I think, really highlight the importance of libraries, and the impact that the current environment around book bannings is having on libraries. But we also have lots of things really focused for students. So during sort of the end of the semester, we always try to have a stress-buster week, right? We’re bringing in dogs for students … you know, if you’re missing your dog from home, it gives you a chance to sit with the dog and pet it and just spend a little time with the dog. We work with other student groups around campus to host other sort of events as part of the stress-busters, so we have the stuff, the flashy event and we provide food. We’ll provide pizza and donuts, and we really try to take care of students.

Anna: Do you take any measures to ensure that library resources and services are kind of, like you were saying, inclusive and accessible to all students?

Sarah: Yeah, we really do try to ensure that we are buying material that one meets the needs of our students and our faculty. So we’re paying attention to the programs that are being developed, academic programs, the research that’s being developed. We’re really trying to make sure that we’re paying attention to that and buying in the areas that need to be supported.

Anna: How do you think that the library contributes to the overall culture on campus?

Sarah: One of the things I love about this library is during the school year, it is buzzing, right? So my office is up on the fifth floor. I walk out into the atrium overlooking the third floor, which is what we often call the “student living room,” because it feels like a living room, and the sort of buzz and noise that comes up from the atrium is just so it’s just great. I love it. I love that feeling that there’s so many people in the library. So last year, our gate count — the number of people coming in — was 1.1 million. There’s a lot of people coming through our doors and spending time and extended periods of time in the library, in all sorts of different spaces. So, I do feel like the library is, in some ways, this real center for students to come and hang out and study with their friends, but also take breaks. I think it’s a place where students can have fun as well. You know, I’ve been here two years, and I really do love this library and the place it holds with students is special. You don’t always see that. In my experience, having been at several other institutions, you don’t always see the connection that students seem to feel with the Marriott Library in other places. It really is special.

[interview ends]

Max: That’s interesting.

Cambria: That’s really cool.

Anna: She’s so cool. I — she was so cool. I loved her so much.

Max: The Marriott Library is good, I would say.

Cambria: The Marriott Library is also very fantastic.

Anna: It’s also super open to the public, which I didn’t know.

Cambria: No, it is one of the — if you look up libraries in Salt Lake, Marriott is one of the ones that comes up, just a general, regardless of that it’s part of the university as well.

Anna: If you have proof of state residency, you can check out whatever for free.

Cambria: And speaking of Marriott Library, you can also, if there isn’t stuff in the online catalogs, you can request it and they will buy it for you and have it and put it so that you can have access to it. They encourage, and all the librarians encourage, like, “Hey, don’t go out buying stuff. You should request it from the library, and we will get it,” because they love — the thing with libraries is that they love it when people interact and use their stuff, because that gives them more funding, that gives them more community outreach and it just strengthens the community.

Max: It’s true.

Cambria: Which is the best.

Max: Plus, when you get rents something at the library, you have it for a long, a long time. If nobody requests whatever you have, then you can kind of just keep it. I’ve had something for a little longer than I care to admit that keeps getting auto-renewed for larger and larger amounts of time, and nobody’s requesting it back. Living in a nice little limbo.

Anna: Another library that’s — we have a ton near us — is the Salt Lake City Public Library, the SLCPL, which is free for Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County residents. I love the Salt Lake Public Library. I grew up going there. I volunteered there in the summers when I was in middle school and high school. It’s a really great, it’s a cool thing. That they have close to us for free. Um, do you guys like the library, this library?

Cambria: Guys, I love the library. I — now, I didn’t grow up in Utah, but I did move around, and one of the first things we did every time we were to a new state is we were like, “hey, it’s time to go get our new library cards.” Every single time we would go, and it’s great. The library — libraries in general — are the best places to be, in my opinion. This is my hot take, because it’s one of the only places that you can go that’s a public place that you aren’t required to do anything. Like you don’t — you aren’t expected to buy things. You aren’t expected to, you know, like necessarily socialize. It’s just a space for people to gather and learn and be a community, and it’s just really nice and peaceful and also filled with knowledge. I did a little digging about the Salt Lake Public Library, specifically upon request for this episode, and I was really excited, because what I did is I went to their website, and I spent a really long time just clicking through their website of all the stuff. So first of all, it’s really clear what they have. The website is well formatted. But also really the best thing I can say is just go to their website, just search up Salt Lake City Public Library, and just mess around, because they have all they always have events going on for all ages and all people. They have access, just like all the things that Max was saying that Marriott has, the Salt Lake Public Library also has a lot of this stuff. So if you can’t find it in one spot, go find it in the other spot. They have events. They also have, like a community garden, which I didn’t know.

Max: It’s true.

Cambria: Which rocks, which is really cool, and I want to go check that out. I haven’t yet.

Max: At the main? The top of the main? I’ve never been up there before.

Anna: They just redid the roof. So, you can’t get up there if you’re there.

Max: If you’ve ever watched High School Musical, and gone to the real East High, and been disappointed at the lack of a rooftop garden. I got good news. The main library has exactly that.

Cambria: The plot is located on the north side of the main library. I can’t emphasize enough how much people you just — if you’re bored and you’re like, “hey, how can I be little more social, or just kind of explore things that I didn’t know,” go to the library, also things about libraries and bookstores in general is that they’re always looking for ways to connect to the community. And so if you can message them and be like, “hey, I would be really interested in doing this thing.” And they love hearing about ideas, because what they want is people from the community saying what they want, because that helps them get more outreach and more people to come, and more support and more funding from everywhere. Like, I can’t emphasize the power of libraries. And also, speaking of libraries, do you guys know Libby?

Anna: Yes, I love Libby.

Max: I know of Libby.

Cambria: I, before we recorded this, I was reading a book on Libby.

Anna: What is Libby?

Cambria: So Libby is an app that you can download on your phone that if you have a library card, or if you get a library card, basically, it’s the online database of whatever library cards you have. And you can go online and go through there and check through the catalog and check out books and reserve things, and I’m constantly on there. It’s great for when you can’t necessarily have a book on you, or you’re just going — I love to just take out my phone and just be reading at monstrous levels.

Max: Can I hit you with something that I’m not even sure if you knew about that connects with libraries in a similar way that Libby does? Have you heard of Kanopy?

Anna: Yes!

Max: Kanopy is a streaming service that connects to any — well, most libraries, I assume it connects to Salt Lake library, so that as long you have a library card you can connect to it and has so many movies. I think TV available way more than most other streaming services. It’s pretty incredible. I use it a lot. I think that’s something that I as a film student, I’ve been using the library for renting movies since I was in middle school. The primary reason I went to the library was to pick up movies. Only very recently have I been able to read fast enough to rent a book and give it back fully read within seven days. But for the most part, I’ve been using movies. And Kanopy is a wonderful source to just get something on your computer through your library card. It costs nothing, except for wifi, I guess. All you need is this.

Cambria: Whoa! For our listeners, Max just held up a library card.

Max: Life ain’t hard when you got your library card.

Cambria: Wow.

Anna: Another option for books, if you are a fan of collecting books, rather than just checking them out, or you know you want to, you want to keep them and you or you want to write in them, or you want to, whatever is, is bookstores.

Cambria: I’ve heard of bookstores.

Anna: You worked at a bookstore, Max.

Cambria: I live next to a bookstore.

Max: I worked at Central Book Exchange.

Cambria: Tell us more about bookstores.

Anna: Bookstores are really cool. Similarly to the library, if you call them and say, “Hey, do you have this book?” And they don’t, they can also order it for you, which is a kind of a fun alternative, I think, to maybe some like online shopping or whatever. It’s the same convenience, but you’re supporting your local bookstore. There’s also cool bookstores, like the Central Book Exchange that Max worked at. What makes that bookstore cool?

Max: It was cool because it was built on an exchange program. So you could donate books. They wouldn’t pay you money, but they would give you points, points to use to get discounts on books that you would later get. See, I already have the spiel that I learned. They also have student discounts. They have a lot of textbooks and student learning books that students can get on discount, which is really wonderful. They have a lot of opportunities to just get books for cheaper prices. They get a lot of good stuff.

Anna: There’s also some more, like traditional bookstores. There’s kind of like a sisterhood of four bookstores here in Salt Lake, including Under the Umbrella, which is a queer-focused bookstore. The Legendarium.

Cambria: I love the Legendarium.

Anna: Which is so cool. It’s fantasy and sci-fi.

Cambria: It’s the ultimate D&D nerd bookstore. It has its own fantasy-themed cafe. It has all sorts of RPGs, and it also has weekly game nights where you can sign up to be a part and like play in some D&D games with people and meet, meet folks. They’re great. We love the Legendarium.

Anna: The next is Lovebound, which is a romance female-owned bookstore. And then King’s English. We love King’s English. It’s a lot more — it has a much wider range of books. It has everything from kids books to like, not kids books.

Cambria: The full range. Walking in there, you will find nooks and crannies that you didn’t know could be in a building. They have all sorts of activities also, like they have all sorts of readings and book signings, and they love to connect with local authors. It’s great. We love King’s English.

Anna: Yeah, um, books are pretty cool.

Cambria: Guys. Books are the best, knowledge is the best. Being able to access things for free and easily accessible with people who always want to help you is the best. We love our bookstores. We love our libraries. Always go support even if you aren’t that much of a reader, if you don’t go out and do these things, take out a library card anyway, because that really, really supports the libraries and keeps them able to do the cool things that we have talked about today, forever and ever and always.

Max: That’s true. Library cards are good.

Cambria: Guys, thank you so much for listening to our books episode. We’re so glad you tuned in. Anna, thanks for hosting and bringing us together for this.

Anna: This has been Can of Worms!

Cambria: We’ll see you next time!

[outro music]

Max: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was … uh … a podcast. Thank you all for listening.

Cambria: No way! No way you ended with “It was a podcast.”

Max: But it was!

Anna: The end.

Producer: Cambria Thorley // [email protected]

Host: Max Rhineer // [email protected]

Host: Anna Rollins // [email protected]