More books. More resources. More possibilities... A new reciprocal borrowing partnership between the University at Albany and the Albany Public Library is opening the door to more opportunities for UAlbany students and Albany residents to discover, borrow, and explore. In this episode of "The Engagement Ring," host Mary Hunt talks with Kabel Nathan Stanwicks, Senior Assistant Librarian and Head of Access Services for the University Libraries at the University at Albany, and Deanna DiCarlo, Head of Branch Services for the Albany Public Library, about how a simple idea — and a shared commitment to expanding access — have created new opportunities for learning, strengthened connections between two community institutions, and made it easier than ever for people across Albany to connect with books, media, and knowledge.
Kabel Nathan Stanwicks, Senior Assistant Librarian and Head of Access Sevices, University Libraries
Deanna DiCarlo, Head of Branch Services, Albany Public Library
UAlbany and Albany Public Library Partnership Offers More Access to Library Resources, UAlbany News Center, April 7, 2026
The Engagement Ring is produced by the University at Albany's Office for Public Engagement. Special thanks to our recording engineer Scott Freedman of UAlbany’s Digital Media Services. If you have questions or comments or want to share an idea for an upcoming podcast, email us at ualbanyope@albany.edu.
The Engagement Ring, Episode 41:
More Than a Library Card — The story of two libraries, one partnership, and countless new possibilities
[Lively, upbeat theme music plays as program host Mary Hunt introduces the program and plays excerpts from the program.]
ANNOUNCER/MARY HUNT:
Welcome to the engagement ring, your connection to an ever-widening network of higher education professionals, scholars, and community partners working to make the world a better place. I'm Mary Hunt. Today on the podcast,
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
Our users' information needs don't stop neatly at that institutional boundary. So, giving them the opportunity to go to Albany Public Library, or just walk right into the University Library, the Science Library, or the Dewey Library to grab the book off the shelf that they want and bring it home right away, or log on to our computers, use the electronic resources, the research databases that we have, I think it really helps both the city, residents of the city, and our students here at UAlbany.
ANNOUNCER/MARY HUNT:
More books, more resources, more possibilities. A new partnership between the University at Albany and the Albany Public Library is making it easier than ever for UAlbany students and Albany residents to discover, borrow, and explore.
DEANNA DICARLO:
Although we are different kinds of libraries, we have core values in common. We care deeply about intellectual freedom. We care deeply about the freedom to read and the freedom to learn anything we choose.
ANNOUNCER/MARY HUNT:
I'll talk with Kabel Nathan Stanwick, Senior Assistant Librarian and Head of Access Services at the University Libraries, and Diana DeCarlo, Head of Branch Services for the Albany Public library about how a simple idea and a shared commitment to access have opened the door to greater opportunity, connecting people with knowledge, strengthening community, and making learning more accessible across Albany.
DEANNA DICARLO:
There are so many ways that we serve as kind of a people's university in the public library setting, and that only is enhanced by us working together, because we are want to both be good neighbors to the city, and we are part of the city.
ANNOUNCER/MARY HUNT:
Here's my conversation with Kabel Nathan Stanwicks and Deanna DiCarlo.
MARY HUNT:
Kabel and Deanna, welcome to the podcast.
DEANNA DICARLO:
Thanks for having us.
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
Yeah, thank you.
[Music fades out]
MARY HUNT:
Oh, my pleasure. At first blush, a university library and a public library seem to have very different missions. What made you realize there was an opportunity to work together, and what were you hoping to accomplish?
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
Well, I think you know, I agree with you. On the surface, academic and public libraries do look different, right? The university libraries were deeply connected to coursework, to research faculty scholarship and student success here on campus where public libraries are deeply connected to the neighborhoods, to lifelong learning and supporting communities and civic engagement. For us, I think the partnership made sense because UAlbany students are also members of the broader Albany community. They live here. They travel throughout the city. They volunteer. They work in Albany. They do their internships here, and some of them even build their lives here too. So, and then on the flip side of that, you know, Albany residents have intellectual curiosity. They've got those commitments to lifelong learning, and they've got their own research needs and personal interests. And I think that this just provided an opportunity for us to share our university collections with the broader Albany community, and giving the students here at UAlbany the opportunity to engage with the great resources that Albany Public Library has.
DEANNA DICARLO:
Yeah, that's so well said. I completely agree. I think although we are different kinds of libraries, we have core values in common. We care deeply about intellectual freedom. We care deeply about the freedom to read and the freedom to learn anything we choose, and then wide access to information is another core value. So the ways that we provide those and to whom we provide it has been separate, but always not always separate because of all the examples Kabel mentioned. We have a lot of UAlbany master students who work at Albany Public Library. I was one of them myself, and there's a lot of opportunities for nontraditional students or residents who've maybe never been to college before, kind of gain access to the university library from their public library. There are so many ways that we serve as kind of a people's university in the public library setting, and that only is enhanced by us working together because we are want to both be good neighbors to the city, and we are part of the city.
MARY HUNT:
So as you said, so well said, and I should have mentioned that you are both UAlbany alums, which makes it really extra special to have you as partners, and I wonder if that makes it a little bit easier to work together because you have an institutional knowledge that is shared. So, does that enhance the partnership do you think, or help you sustain that mission? Because you're on the same page to begin with, I would imagine.
DEANNA DICARLO:
For me, it did because I have an understanding of the University at Albany. I mean, I've been living in the city for 30 years. I attended a different program before I did my master's program in information science. So I'm familiar with the uptown campus. I'm familiar with the downtown campus. We share patrons. There are a lot of patrons who use the public computers in both locations. So having that like sort of broader knowledge of not only how academic institutions and libraries work, but specifically this wonderful academic institution was really helpful, I think for me. Plus, Kabel is great to work with.
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
Likewise.
[Laughter]
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
I think you know that commitment to, the shared commitment to the university and the city really does help us partner. And I've been a longtime user of Albany Public Library. My wife is a children's librarian down there, so being able to kind of really build those bridges and engage more with colleagues at Albany Public has been fantastic. Working with Diana and her crew has been great.
MARY HUNT:
Well, let's talk a little bit about the initiative. What need were you specifically aiming to address, and how did you go about doing that?
DEANNA DICARLO:
I don't want to speak for Kabel's team, but my sense is a deeper desire to engage the community and make available the resources that you have. And for us, it is the same. We want to make sure that our residents understand that they don't have limits to just our collection. We have always had interlibrary loan where we could request things, but this particular partnership just makes it so much easier to access the collections here at the library. And if I may tell one short story, a very brief one. I can remember very clearly about 15 years ago, I was a library assistant working the reference desk at APL, and I got a phone call from a patron who I will not name, Mr. B, who said, "Deanna, I'm standing in the stacks at the University Libraries, and the book I requested via ILL is right here. And I'm wondering why you haven't processed my request yet. [Laugher]
DEANNA DICARLO:
And I was like, "Mr. B, you know, give us a chance.” And now that will not happen because Mr. B can request his own title and have it, pick it up right at the library.
MARY HUNT:
What does what does the partnership entail then? Obviously, it's sort of… is reciprocal borrowing. I don't know if that's the right way to phrase it, but…
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
Yeah, that that's the right term. So walk-in borrowing, like Deanna said, we've always been willing to do interlibrary loan with each other, but interlibrary loan can take time, and it can be frustrating for someone who has an immediate information need. I think you know, going back to your question about what was the problem we were trying to solve. Our users' information needs don't stop neatly at that institutional boundary. So, giving them the opportunity to go to Albany Public Library or just walk right into the University Library, the Science Library, or the Dewey Library to grab the book off the shelf that they want and bring it home right away, or log on to our computers, use the electronic resources, the research databases that we have, I think it really helps both the residents of the city and our students here at UAlbany.
MARY HUNT:
What's the process? How does a patron gain access to either one of the libraries?
DEANNA DICARLO:
At the public library, if our patrons want to gain access to the University Libraries, they can go to any service desk, and it's a quick application. As long as they are an adult cardholder in good standing, they fill out a very brief application. Our team then scans that, checks it, scans it over to Kabel's team, who processes it, and the same library card number works in both institutions once that card is processed. So it's not a separate card even. It's just the credential is added to the APL card.
MARY HUNT:
And for students and faculty staff?
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
Well, it's just for students primarily. If faculty and staff live in the city of Albany, they're eligible to become Albany Public Library patrons. But our focus has really been on expanding access to the student population here, and the… our colleagues at Albany Public Library were great. They've got an online application that we're directing students to use, and as long as they enter their Albany.edu email address and the University's address, 1400 Washington Avenue, in there, they get access pretty quickly.
MARY HUNT:
And what's the secret sauce you each bring to this partnership? So talk a little bit about your libraries, your library system, and what special collections you may have, what media patrons may have access to. What do you think they're gaining by this partnership in terms of access to resources?
DEANNA DICARLO:
At Albany Public Library we have seven locations throughout the city and every location has a full collection of fiction and nonfiction and children's books and DVDs and some locations even still have CDs and I know that Gen Z is unplugging and getting back to physical media so we check out a lot of DVDs. You'd be surprised. We also have a very… because of our membership in the Upper Hudson Library System, we have a huge digital collection of e-books, digital audio books, comics through Comics Plus that you can access with your library card. We also have a ton of programming at every location, including story time every single day except for Sunday throughout the city. We have programming for adults. We have programming for seniors. We have after-school activities for kids and teens. We also have a couple of special collections I’d like to call your attention to. The Washington Avenue branch has a makerspace, which has 3D printers and a Cricut and old school like screen printing equipment and all kinds of stuff that is used. It's open nine hours a week, and we also recently partnered with the makers, the Creative Lab here at UAlbany, and their interns did some programming for our patrons. That's another way we've all worked together. And then, in addition to that special space, we have a local history room at the Washington Avenue branch, which has just Albany City Common Council minutes going back to the beginning of the Common Council or city directories from the beginning of city directories and all kinds of information on just local organizations that are that are historical in Albany that gets pretty well used. Right now, we're open one night a week. We're hoping to expand that, and we offer a ton of local history programming out of that space.
MARY HUNT:
Excellent, Kabel, what does the University's libraries offer that patrons might have an interest in accessing?
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
We have a ton of research material, right? So our libraries house over two and a half million volumes within our collections. So we have a considerable amount of research material that's related to history, literature, stuff that supports all of the different subject areas here at the University. So, folks who are interested in doing some deep dives into historical research, pulling up periodicals from our science collections, they've got an opportunity to really dive deep and take advantage of one of North America's major research libraries. The University of Albany is a member of the Association of Research Libraries, which is a preeminent group of about 140 research libraries across the United States and Canada.
MARY HUNT:
I don't know if you would agree with this or not, but I've always had sort of the perception that people feel sometimes a university library is off limits to the community. It's really just for the campus community. How are you overcoming that perception?
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
I think you know one of the things that we're trying to do is really lean in on this partnership with Albany Public Library and see how we can expand that to other local communities as well. We have been working on doing things like taking in the College of Saint Rose's children's collection and the curriculum collection from their old school of education. So we're thinking about how do we advertise this to the broader Albany community, to members of the City School District of Albany, people who are working within the Albany schools, to come into the University of Albany libraries, take advantage of those collections, so that they can use them in their curriculum planning and things like that. We definitely do have sort of a stuffy…
[Laughter]
MARY HUNT:
No.
[Laughter]
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
I think… not a not a vibe, but there's this sense that academic libraries are serious places.
MARY HUNT:
Yeah, intimidating maybe.
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKAS:
Intimidating. Yeah, absolutely. And I think you know some of the things that we're trying to do right now is transform the way that our spaces look, make our spaces more welcoming, so that when people come in, it doesn't feel as intimidating to people walking in that front door.
MARY HUNT:
I wanted to ask you about that because I've noticed on campus that about the library that you are in constant change. You are always trying to keep in step with what your patrons are looking for, and I know you're changing collections or changing the format collections or on things like that. So talk a little bit about that. How have you changed in the last several years? Will you find less print material, and you'll find more digital media, or what can people expect if they come to visit the library?
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
We are still committed to our print collections and maintaining those collections, but as we have an increasing number of online learners, and as we're dealing with the upcoming new Title II requirements for accessibility, we're really focused on how do we license more electronic books for our users, so that students who are enrolled in our degree programs, but maybe they live in Buffalo or in a totally different state, they can still easily access the material that they need for their classes. So that's a huge transition that we're making right now. We used to receive and maintain our print periodicals, and I think it was about two or three years ago we migrated all of that to electronic journals. So we no longer subscribe to print periodicals. It's easier for the users to just jump in and access the content that they're interested in. It's easier to maintain those collections too because we don't have to deal with the physical materials, shelf reading, and making sure everything's in order, paging stuff, putting things back on the shelves.
MARY HUNT:
I'm kind of curious. How did you both, and I'll start with you, Deanna, know that this was the career field you were interested in? When did you're interested in information sciences begin? Was it something you always knew or was it something you were interested in or introduced to in school and sparked your interest.
DEANNA DICARLO:
It wasn't an immediate path for me. I started thinking I was going to be an English professor. I have a master's in English from Binghamton University, another SUNY school, and I started working on a PhD program here at the University of Albany. Actually, and it didn't work out the way I had hoped, and someone suggested that I get a job at the public library, and I was like, alright, let me see what that's all about. And I was one of those kids who… I went to the University of Rhode Island for undergrad. I've always gone to state schools. I've always worked my way through school. I've always had jobs, and when I went for my public library interview, I was so proud to talk about my master's degree in English and all the stuff I've read, and they didn't care. They were really interested in the fact that I was a server at a well-known, very busy Center Square Tex-Mex place, and that I could hold my own there. And I was like, okay, what's this going to be all about?
[Laughter]
DEANNA DICARLO:
And I did. I got the job. I was a clerk at the Washington Avenue branch, part time. And on my very first day on the job, it clicked for me that everything I care about-freedom to read, access to information, education, the people's university, all the ways that the library can function, along with my you know desire to be of use in service to my community, along with my customer service skills, it just kind of all was one thing, one place that just made sense. A couple years later, I came back and got a second master's here at UAlbany, and it was a great experience. I was working full-time at APL. I was working on my degree. I got it done in a couple of years, and I always tell our grad students that if I could do it, you can too. You know, you can have a career that will… in 20 years later, you'll be on a podcast talking about how great your library is and working with a partner. So for me it wasn't an immediate understanding, but the values were there.
MARY HUNT:
That's a nice pathway. How about you, Kabel?
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
Yeah, my pathway was kind of similar, actually. So I thought that I was going to be a music professor, and I was over at the University of Connecticut. I did my undergraduate work there, and then I enrolled in a graduate program there in music history and music theory. And as I was doing that, I got a job working in the music library over there, and I realized that I enjoyed the library work quite a bit and wasn't as interested in the music history and music theory. I really preferred performing and playing my instrument so…
MARY HUNT:
Which was what?
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
Saxophone.
MARY HUNT:
Oh, yeah?
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
So I'm a saxophone player.
MARY HUNT:
Any in particular? I don't know much about music, but alto or tenor or…
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
I play them all.
MARY HUNT:
You do!
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
Yep. I play ‘em all.
DEANNA DICARLO:
Of course you do.
[LAUGHTER]
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
Primarily alto, though, and and tenor, but I really enjoyed being in in the academic library setting, and it was really interesting to see and hear about all of the different changes that were happening at the time. This was probably the early 2000s so we were just starting to shift to electronic serials. So we thought at that time, you know, we would be maintaining our all of our print holdings, and then the electronic journals would just be sort of an ease of access for folks. You know, fast forward to today, and it's a totally different situation. But at that same time, you know, Google Books was emerging, and there were huge copyright cases going through the courts related to scanning and digitizing material, electronic course reserves, and stuff like that. And I was just really fascinated by those intellectual property arguments that were happening, and there was a big shift in conversation around access versus ownership in libraries at the time, and a lot of my colleagues were arguing for ownership. Libraries needed to have stuff just in case, and at that time I was working in circulation and interlibrary loan, and I realized you know we can we can get stuff from other people if somebody asks for it and needs for it, and I really dug into that access side of things, and it's been a great trip since then.
MARY HUNT:
So nice. I think that what you just described just explains beautifully librarians. They are so well versed and so knowledgeable and have to be, but maybe that's why they found their way to their career to begin with because they have a great interest in a lot of different things, which may be a myth about librarians or libraries. What would you say if you could bust any myth about libraries or librarians? What would it be?
DEANNA DICARLO:
The myth for public libraries is we're not quiet. There's no shushing.
[Laughter]
DEANNA DICARLO:
They're loud, vibrant spaces filled with children and teens and folks from every walk of life in your community, and the idea that they're a quiet space of you know reflection and reading, all those things happen, but it's a very vibrant space. Lots of lots of activity,
MARY HUNT:
Especially I would think in the Albany system. You have different libraries and different types of communities, and some are busy. Maybe some are more quiet than others. More kids in one, or I don't know.
DEANNA DICARLO:
yeah. I would say there's that; all of that is true. Our children's books tend to circ higher at our New Scotland Avenue location and our Western Avenue location, perhaps than some of our smaller locations in the South End or in North Albany, but the folks, the kids coming in for programming and the program attendance is pretty high across the board. I would say so, and then adult circulation probably varies depending upon. I think Pine Hills is probably our leader right now, but probably because of its proximity to the University libraries and professors live in that neighborhood. I don't know, but yeah, so I would say, yeah, some things are different depending upon the neighborhood, but there’s a lot that's really pretty consistent as well.
MARY HUNT:
I think that's a great myth to bust. How about you, Kabel? What would you say?
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
I agree with Deanna. One of my colleagues was shushed by a student yesterday, actually. So we're loud.
[Laughter]
MARY HUNT:
The nerve!
[Laughter]
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
Yeah, right. I think that you know librarians come to their careers from a variety of different backgrounds, and we just have a ton of interesting people, colleagues that we get to work with and collaborate with on a on a daily basis. Just a lot of cool people.
MARY HUNT:
And I know it's early in your partnership. I know probably the planning process took a while, but now you've launched. You said February 26 was when really you launched the project. Can you share any whether it's hard data or it's anecdotal evidence, what you're hearing about the partnership? Are you finding people are taking advantage of this opportunity, or what are you seeing? What makes you say, yeah, this is working, this idea has legs?
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
What did I say yesterday? We had 93…
DEANNA DICARLO:
Yeah, I think it was 93.
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
… people from Albany Public Library so far, which is pretty good for borrowing privileges at the University here.
MARY HUNT:
Excellent. Are you noticing students are taking advantage of this?
DEANNA DICARLO:
Yeah, I think it's important to note we've always had a student card. What has made it so special is now they don't need to show proof of address. They can just show their UAlbany ID and get a card. And we have our head of community engagement, and her team have also tabled at orientation issuing cards.
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
Yeah.
DEANNA DICARLO:
So that probably has upped our numbers some as well. And then yes, I think we have always had students, whether it's from UAlbany or some of the other colleges in town, come and seek cards, but I think this has made it just a little bit that little extra push. So I'd like to see it grow. One of the things I was going to ask you…
[Laughter]
DEANNA DICARLO:
…if I can put you on the spot is coming up with a program in the fall where your team could come and do a program for the for our patrons about some of the collections that they might be interested in, and we can talk about interlibrary loan, how we can get the other stuff that we can access…
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
Yeah.
DEANNA DICARLO:
…whether it's an electronic journal article. I think that would just be like the next, for me, anyway. Like our next, how we can promote it.
MARY HUNT:
You read my mind.
DEANNA DICARLO:
I did?
[Laughter]
MARY HUNT:
I was going to say what's the next step?
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
Yeah, I think that road show is it.
[Laughter]
DEANNA DICARO:
We’ll bring the mascot.
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
Yes, we will.
MARY HUNT:
We’ll bring Damien, the mascot.
DEANNA DICARLO:
And Bleeker, ours.
MARY HUNT:
He always draws a crowd. Other programming? Or other ideas? That’s a great idea. Kabel, from your point of view how else could you expand or any kind of wish list you're developing for this partnership?
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
I think so far we've had great luck with the community engagement folks from Albany Public coming up here at the start of the semester, at the end of the semester to encourage people to sign up. We have students coming through right now for orientation and connection days, and our EOP students are on campus right now too. So this is something that we're advertising quite a bit with those groups as they're coming into campus. We're trying to encourage them, sign up for your Albany Public Library card. Here are all the cool things that you can get access to. Really pushing the e-books, the audio books, the comics, and the museum passes. I think you know as we continue to grow together, leaning more on our maker spaces and opportunities for engaging with the community in that way, and probably looking at how do we do some programming together, where librarians from UAlbany and librarians from Albany Public can get together and offer stuff here at the University, offer stuff in the seven branches that we have throughout the community too
MARY HUNT:
And we touched on this, I think. And as I was speaking to someone about talking to you folks, someone was saying, "Did you know that our librarians at UAlbany are, most of them are, researchers themselves?
KABLE NATHAN STANWICKS:
Yeah.
MARY HUNT:
And it's something I didn't realize. So, what kind of research are they typically involved in, and your own research? Could talk a little bit about that, Kabel?
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
Sure.We're actually considered academic faculty here at UAlbany, so we have to go through the whole tenure and promotion process, and everybody gets to choose the direction for their research. So, folks will typically pick research direction that aligns with the work that they're doing. For me, a lot of the work that I focus on is research involving library leadership and management, and then I also have a lot of research that focuses on the intersection of how librarians describe the resources that are in our collections and our catalogs, and how our users describe them, with the goal of bringing those two together, so that someone can search for something using the words that they know in their own natural language, or words in language that might be representative of the community that they grew up in, and how do we connect those with the what we call controlled vocabularies that libraries use to describe resources. So I'm just diving into some work right now using agentic AI to explore some opportunities for that.
MARY HUNT:
Deanna, that must be make your heart beat faster. That must be you know a service to your patrons, that would be something that would be very much a service to your patrons.
DEANNA DICARLO:
Definitely true. WE definitely use some tagging and some things like that with some of the language, and our database is a shared database with the entire Upper Hudson Library System, and we could always work toward improving the public library database in terms of its results. So I think that's that research is incredible, especially thinking about the different ways staff… staff are can sometimes be very jargon-heavy, and use very technical terms, and the general public does not always know those terms or think to use them. So that intersection is very fascinating. That's cool.
MARY HUNT:
Well, if you're game, I have a couple lightning round-type questions I want to shoot at you. Okay, so here goes. I'm going to fire these at you. Fill in the blank. The world needs more research on…
DEANNA DICARLO:
Menopause.
MARY HUNT:
Kabel?
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
I think that's a great answer.
[Laughter]
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
Um… [Pause] You’re going to have to edit out that um right there.
MARY HUNT:
I was just going to say I think you stopped him in his track on that one.
[Laughter]
MARY HUNT:
That's okay.
[Laughter]
DEANNA DICARLO:
There's other things too, but that that's front of mind right now.
MARY HUNT:
That's how these lightning round questions are designed. We want to hear your first answer.
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
No, I think that's fantastic. So you know, one of the things that my wife Sarah has done at Albany Public Library is brought the period party over to APL as programming to bring Planned Parenthood together and sort of demystify some of some of the thoughts and ideas that are out there around menstruation, menopause, periods, and women's health and sexuality. So yeah, I agree with you on that one. That's a that's a great answer.
DEANNA DICARLO:
Thanks. I also should say Sarah won an award for that program.
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
That's right. She did.
DEANNA DICARLO:
…and presented at the youth services section of the New York Public Library Association's conference on her excellent work. So, shout out to Sarah.
MARY HUNT:
Excellent. Did you know Sarah before? How did you meet Sarah? I have to ask that question because you're both librarians. Were you…
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
We are. Yeah. So we were both working at the University of Connecticut. It was sort of, I guess you'd call it an office romance, right?
[Laughter]
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
We were in different libraries.
MARY HUNT:
Very nice.
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
But yeah, we met there. We were both very early in our careers. She's from Wisconsin. I was from Connecticut originally, and yeah, it's been great.
MARY HUNT:
It's nice, nice to share something like that in common with your spouse. Question two: A book you've read more than once.
DEANNA DICARLO:
“The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter” by Carson McCullers.
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
“Talking with Strangers” by Malcolm Gladwell.
MARY HUNT:
How about a book that changed your perspective?
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
“Talking with Strangers” by Malcolm Gladwell.
DEANNA DICARLO:
Oh boy, I could say “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter,” but…
MARY HUNT:
You could, and that's acceptable.
DEANNA DICARLO:
But yeah, I'll just leave it with that.
MARY HUNT:
Okay, sounds good.
MARY HUNT:
Complete this sentence: My librarian superpower is that I can…
DEANNA DICARLO:
Pivot.
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
Connect with people and bring them together.
DEANNA DICARLO:
Yeah, good one.
MARY HUNT:
We talked about the library myth. That was what I wanted to ask you, but we already covered that. So I'll go to my last one. Complete this sentence: Libraries are…
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
Third spaces.
MARY HUNT:
What do you mean by that?
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
Um, it is the community living room. You know, it's where people get together outside of their house. It's not a space where you have to have a membership in order to enter. You don't need to pay for any of the services that you're getting there. Everybody's welcome. There are lots of things to take advantage of in our libraries and in our spaces. They're the beating heart of our communities.
DEANNA DICARLO:
Libraries are for everyone, I guess, would be how I would complete that sentence for all the reasons that Kabel just said, and just with an understanding that we want you to come into our spaces. We don't care who you are or where you came from, but you're welcome here, and we care about your safety in our community, and you're welcome here. So libraries are for everyone.
MARY HUNT:
Very nicely said. You managed that lightning round beautifully. Very nice. Very good answers.
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
Not bad for one cup of coffee.
[Laughter]
MARY HUNT:
Let me wrap up by asking you… you know, we've seen a lot of changes in libraries over the years. They're kind of a quiet, trusted… I say quiet... I shouldn't have used that term, but trusted institution in our society. We're always hoping they'll be there, and we always depend on them. But they've been able to keep up, keep step. But as I say, they've sort of been quietly doing it, been systematically or in an organized fashion, going about it smartly. What needs do you think libraries will be responding to in the coming, say, five or 10 years? What will they be asked to do or feel they have to do to kind of meet the needs of their patrons and their communities?
DEANNA DICARLO:
So, great question. It's not really a new need, but I think something that's been amplified recently for me is we're going to need to work more with local social and human services agencies and organizations to address socioeconomic and mental health issues in our community. I imagine mental health issues are probably also important for dealing with the student population. But depending on where libraries are located, we often partner with community action groups. Like we work with Joseph's House in the city of Albany, for example. There's just a lot of need to address things like food insecurity, or navigating social services, or literacy levels for vulnerable populations, workforce development. So, depending upon the larger political landscape, libraries are often a trusted partner for community groups addressing a myriad of social issues. And I don't see that changing. The issue may change, but that need will continue.
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
Yeah, I think critical information literacy is going to be a big thing, especially with artificial intelligence moving at such a rapid pace. We have so much information out there, but our users need help understanding is the information that they're encountering as they're using generative AI tools… is that information accurate? Is it trustworthy? Where did it come from, and how do they evaluate that information? Where do they access the original source.
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MARY HUNT:
Excellent. Well, Deanna, I hope you'll look to the University for some help with some of those things you've identified, because we have great experts in all those areas.
DEANNA DICARLO:
Absolutely.
MARY HUNT:
That might be some the continuation of the partnership. It seems to me.
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
I think so.
MARY HUNT:
Well, congratulations on the partnership, and I wish you much, much luck. And I'm delighted that you joined me today. I really enjoyed our conversation. Thank you.
DEANNA DICARLO:
Thank you for having us.
KABEL NATHAN STANWICKS:
Yeah. Thank you so much. Kabel Nathan Stanwicks is Senior Assistant Librarian and Head of Access services at the University Libraries at the University at Albany. His work focuses on finding new ways to improve how people discover books, media, and other resources, including using artificial intelligence and user-generated descriptions to make library catalogs easier to search and navigate. Diana DeCarlo is Head of Branch Services at the Albany Public Library, where she supervises the library's branch managers and oversees all services, materials, staff, and patron experiences at Albany Public Library's seven locations. For more information on UAlbany's partnership with the Albany Public Library, visit the resource page for this podcast online at the engagement dash ring dot Simplecast dot com. The Engagement Ring is produced by the University at Albany's Office for Public Engagement. Special thanks to our recording engineer Scott Freedman of UAlbany's Digital Media Services. If you have questions or comments or want to share an idea for an upcoming podcast, email us at ualbanyope@albany.edu.
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