AMANDA PELLERIN: Before we start the show, we'd like to take a moment to recognize the continued prevalence of systemic racism in our country that led to the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and too many other Black Americans. LITS members are individually and collectively committed to doing better in speaking out against racial prejudice, systemic injustice, and taking action to combat the inequities within the caustic system. [MUSIC PLAYING] ANGELA STANLEY: A kitschy tourist site that I would like to visit but have not is not too far away from me here, so I have no excuse. But it's the American Museum of the Housecat. [LAUGHTER] And-- WENDY HAGENMAIER: Yeah? ANGELA STANLEY: It's in-- TAMARA LIVINGSTON: Wow. ANGELA STANLEY: Sylva, North Carolina. [INTERPOSING VOICES] AMANDA PELLERIN: This should be like a library. I feel like this should be like a library and archivist field trip. TAMARA LIVINGSTON: Totally. Totally. ANGELA STANLEY: Yes. I mean, like they're just-- AMANDA PELLERIN: They are calling our people. TAMARA LIVINGSTON: Yes. [MEOW] [MUSIC PLAYING] WENDY HAGENMAIER: You are listening to WREK Atlanta. And this is Lost in the Stacks, the research library rock and roll radio show. I'm Wendy Hagenmaier in the virtual studio with Amanda and Fred. Each week on Lost in the Stacks, we pick a theme and then use it to create a mix of music and library talk. Whichever you're here for, we hope you dig it. AMANDA PELLERIN: Today's show is called Glamorizing your Travel Plans-- How Libraries, Archives, and Tourism Collaborate. GLAM is the acronym for galleries, libraries, archives, and museums. As an industry, GLAM institutions educate and entertain people with stories of local traditions and practices, preserved in the information resources of libraries and archives. WENDY HAGENMAIER: We'll be finding out more about the role of archives and libraries and curating tourist sites, and the visibility that tourist sites provide for library and archival resources. MAN: Collaborations between professionals in the information and tourism industries create more authentic destinations and experiences for visitors. Cultural heritage tourists seek out historic sites to understand their own past, or learn about the traditions of other people. AMANDA PELLERIN: I interviewed Tamara Livingston of Museums, Archives, and Rare Books at Kennesaw State University, Angela Stanley with Georgia HomePLACE, and Cheryl Hargrove of the Georgia Department of Economic Development's Explore Georgia Program, to discuss the mutual benefits from partnerships between GLAM and cultural heritage tourism industries. If you want to add to the conversation, we're on Twitter as Library Radio. MAN: Our songs today are about exploring, traveling, trails, intersections and GLAM. Admittedly, there isn't a lot of tourism while we're dealing with a pandemic. But if you have access to online archives or libraries, you're on your way to thoughtfully searching for, and engaging with, new histories, geographies and people. So let's start with a song about a thoughtful search. This is Searching for a New Day by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, right here on Lost in the Stacks. [SHARON JONES AND THE DAP-KINGS, "SEARCHING FOR A NEW DAY"] AMANDA PELLERIN: That was "Searching for a New Day" by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. Today's show is all about the role of libraries and archives in cultural tourism. I interviewed Tamara Livingston, Executive Director of Museums, Archives, and Rare Books at Kennesaw State University, Angela Stanley, Director of Georgia HomePLACE, a division of the Georgia Public Library Services, and Cheryl Hargrove, Director of Industry and Partner Relations for Explore Georgia, the tourism division of the Georgia Department of Economic Development. I started by asking them to define cultural heritage tourism and their role in the industry. TAMARA LIVINGSTON: Having been an archivist and a librarian for many, many years, I never really thought that of the bigger picture of which I was a part. So I see cultural heritage tourism as sort of the whole universe of different activities revolving around preservation of aspects of culture, including physical preservation and preservation of cultural life of the past, and then how that interacts with people who want to engage with it, whether it's through a museum, a visit, or through going somewhere, or even just sort of learning about things. And so I think, specifically in my institution, I think, we have a rare book collection and an archives collection. We use those collections to try to connect people with history. And I think, in general, that's probably what most archivists do. So I think we have a very strong role in cultural heritage tourism, although we might-- I like to think of us sometimes as the unsung heroes. I don't know. Angela, maybe you can add some to that. ANGELA STANLEY: Sure. So, public libraries have a really broad mandate to basically serve-- and libraries in general, but to serve whoever kind of walks in the front door, but I think have seen an uptick in particular for tourism efforts geared towards either people who are specifically seeking out interesting public libraries, or interesting library buildings. I follow the hashtag libraries on Instagram. And there's always somebody posting some beautiful example of libraries around the world. And so I think a lot of public libraries are benefiting from that. And also from genealogy tourism. So we've seen a lot of folks increasingly interested in tracing their ancestral past, and traveling to the places of their ancestral origin to find information and documents about themselves, but also about the places that produced their family members. And so I think to Tamara's point about just finding more information and connecting with history and culture has become increasingly important, particularly as maybe we feel kind of atomized by the internet, or sort of all sort of separately spinning in our little tiny universes. Living in Athens, I know that we've got a major university in the University of Georgia, and a wonderful multi-county public library system in the Athens Regional Library system. And both places can really provide a robust sense of cultural heritage and genealogical resources to tourists. CHERYL HARGROVE: So the definition for cultural heritage tourism, as defined by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and widely used through the industry, is traveling to experience the places and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present. And at Explore Georgia, we really focus on the fact that people want to get out and explore places that are significant, places that are distinctive, places that really help tell the story of our destination versus every other destination. And globally, that really is a positioning opportunity, because it allows you to focus on what makes you different, what makes you unique, and it also helps people connect the past and the present. So understanding the relevance as to the foundation of a place, whether that's through the built environment, through the cultural traditions, such as music, or art, or craft, or food, and then how it's translated into current day times as well. We look at how to help destinations develop tourism product, and quite often that's done through our Department of-- our Tourism Product Development team will go out and look at and conduct assessments. And really saying, you know, what do you have that is unique or distinctive to your community that could then be enhanced or interpreted or showcased for visitors. And so that's one way. Our marketing team also really promotes those kinds of unique festivals and events, and even on Explore Georgia, which is our website, we have a lot of that information as well. WENDY HAGENMAIER: This is Lost in the Stacks and we'll be back with more about cultural heritage tourism and curated information after a music set. MAN: File this set under G 156.5 dot H47 M35. [MUSIC PLAYING] [REM, "RADIO FREE EUROPE"] You just heard "Radio Free Europe" by REM, the original Hib-Tone version, by the way. And before that, "Light Flight" by Pentangle. Those were songs about finding your way to a new place and connecting with a new culture. [MUSIC PLAYING] AMANDA PELLERIN: This is Lost in the Stacks. And our guests today are Tamara Livingston, Angela Stanley, and Cheryl Hargrove. We talked about the intersection of information services and cultural heritage tourism. How do you characterize the relationship between GLAM industries, meaning, galleries, libraries, archives, and museums, and the cultural heritage tourism industry? TAMARA LIVINGSTON: My department, if I can bring that up simply because we are the Department of Museums, Archives, and Rare Books, so internally, I guess, I know, I was trained as a librarian and an archivist. But I'm in a department together with the Museum of History and Holocaust Education, and museum educators, and those who are trained in the museum field. So it's been an interesting observation. And we also have a rare book collection, so that's sort of the library piece. It's been interesting to me to observe, like I said, the differences between all of these different activities, but just how powerful it can be when they are all on board. And again, it's sort of the sense of mutual internal respect for each of these divisions that I think really makes it successful. But I do think it's-- the relationship needs to be emphasized more. I think ideally, we would all be kind of group advocating for each other. I know that museums would be lost without their internal archives. They know the value of it. Just as we would be kind of set adrift if we just had our collections and no way to connect them to anything. So I think it's just-- they are loosely affiliated, is my sense. And I think we could be more powerful were we all working towards sort of a common goal, which might be something which may be very specifically to make sure that we are recognized as a vital part of cultural heritage tourism. I didn't normally attend the Georgia Association of Museums and Galleries and happened to attend a conference where I did hear Cheryl speak, specifically targeting museums and talking about the opportunities to connect with cultural heritage tourism. And so I thought that was a wonderful thing that I wanted to take ad-- I assumed, just assumed, that invitation was open to all members of GLAM. And that's led us to our project that I will be talking about I think in just probably a few minutes. ANGELA STANLEY: I also think it's been really interesting to see where collaboration has been increasing between libraries and museums in particular, or archives and museums, where there's maybe co-curated content or sort of thematic ties or, in the case of public libraries, here in Georgia will circulate passes through the libraries so folks can check out a pass and go and visit a local museum or zoo, or a State Park. Of course, in New York City, you've got the museums pass, and it's from my understanding just been wildly popular. So I think for those people that are looking for it, the alliance and the overlap comes naturally. But I think the challenge is connecting that to people who don't automatically think, well, of course libraries and museums go kind of hand in hand, and archives as well. You know, that those things are all sort of part of the cultural heritage landscape. I can say that as of at least last year, we saved Georgians $13 million in direct expenditures on these experiences. And so that's a huge savings, of course, to Georgians. But I also think it really works both ways. It benefits the tourism industry, and I think we've kind of been talking about this is how does tourism benefit or not benefit cultural heritage institutions. But I think our institutions are a draw for the tourism industry as well. And I don't think we've always done a spectacular job of leaning into that relationship and really capitalizing on it. So it doesn't surprise me at all that you would see Cheryl at the GLAM conference because it seems like a natural place where she would go to find ways to connect tourists to our various institutions. And I think it's an example of somebody being great at what they do, looking for all of those different ways to plug into what's already going on in your state or your area. CHERYL HARGROVE: I think it's integral. I think that galleries and libraries and museums are certainly some of the places that cultural heritage travelers seek out on their destinations or on their visits. But I also think that archives and libraries serve as a foundation for information that destination marketers or destination developers can use to really help identify the stories, identify the unique components of a place, and that may help them then better understand what is happening that could then be used for a tourism experience. Little known facts, or activities that had happened, or other kinds of research. And also, certainly libraries for genealogy, which is a big reason that people travel as well. Without the foundation of having strong museums, interesting places to visit, the interaction with artists, the resources, the expertise that archivist and librarians can afford, cultural tourism doesn't have as strong a foundation. Because it really relies on those four components as part of its very nature. It needs that strong foundation. If people don't value museums, if they don't have the opportunity to visit galleries, then they're not necessarily engaging in cultural heritage tourism. WENDY HAGENMAIER: We'll be back with more from Tamara, Angela and Cheryl on the left side of the hour. [MUSIC PLAYING] JOE KARAGANIS: My name is Joe Karaganis. I'm director of the Open Syllabaus Project. And you are listening to Lost in the Stacks on WREK Atlanta. [MUSIC PLAYING] AMANDA PELLERIN: Today's Lost in the Stacks is called Glamorizing your Travel Plans-- How Libraries, Archives, and Tourism Collaborate. When we planned for this show at the beginning of the year, our ability to travel looked and felt a lot different. If you had upcoming travel plans, chances are the pandemic altered or ended those itineraries for the foreseeable future. That is a loss on many levels for both the visitor and the host. Exploring new places is an important outlet for bringing people together and encouraging dialogue across cultural divides. Right now, we are safer apart. However, that does not stop us from learning about faraway people and places. Leaders and trendsetters in the travel profession encourage would-be travelers take this time to explore sights from the comfort of our own home. While it is a shadow of the real thing, watching travel shows and reading blogs and guidebooks can provide an escape and help scratch your travel itch. Travel evangelist Rick Steves says, the virus can stop our travel plans, but it can't stop our travel dreams. File this set under AM9.H37. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MOTT THE HOOPLE, "ALL THE WAY FROM MEMPHIS"] That was "All the Way From Memphis" by Mott the Hoople. And before that, there's A Break in the Road by Betty Harris, songs about intersections, changing directions, and GLAM. [MUSIC PLAYING] MAN: Our show today is called Glamorizing your Travel Plans-- How Libraries, Archives, And Tourism Collaborate. AMANDA PELLERIN: Tamara, Angela and Cheryl discussed the Atlanta Treasures Brochure Project from the Archives Council of the Atlanta Regional Commission for Higher Education, also known as ARCH, and the impacts of GLAM and cultural heritage tourism collaborations. TAMARA LIVINGSTON: I'm embarrassed to say this. I don't have the exact history, but we started this committee a number of years ago as part of the ARCH Archives Council, which had been meeting regularly, and we were sharing information about our institutions and learning a lot of great things about each other and having presentations having to do with topics of kind of general or interest to members. But the idea came up in that I think there was a need among members-- there were some members who expressed the challenges of working within a parent institution. It's very common for an archives to be part of a library or some other larger institution, or a museum for example. And sometimes there are challenges in expressing the value of what archivists do in building and maintaining and preserving and developing their collections to their parent institutions. So I think that was one of the driving factors behind the committee. And then the thought arose that really, in this day and age of libraries sharing a lot of content because of the way it's acquired through licensing, through providers of digital content, that really in many cases, archives hold the unique materials to an institution and can be used, really, as kind of an interesting example of things that aren't found elsewhere. So then the idea was born, well, how about articulating our value not only to our parent institutions, but also beyond that, and ideally, to the general public, most of whom have no idea what an archives is. I mean they kind of know what a library is, but they have no idea what an archives is and why archivists are important. And [AUDIO OUT] one of the things that you and I did, Amanda, when we started grappling with this question of our collective impact, is we decided that we needed to know a little bit more about our member institutions. So we developed a survey, a couple of years ago already, and sent it out to learn more about each member of the ARCH Archives Council in terms of their collecting areas, their budget, what their parent organization was like. We asked a number of questions about how they operate and tried to get a sense of each individual institution. But we did find that the survey told us that we had a lot of work to do, I think, internally for even conveying between each other what our strengths are, what our holdings are. So we decided to focus on just a couple of different collecting areas, and thinking, connecting those then with a sense of place, Atlanta, Atlanta history, and those things that are interesting that would draw visitors to Atlanta, specifically to see something unique. And so we started with that idea. And then we wanted to think about some way to make that information publicly accessible in some kind of format and Angela. We looked towards your booklet. I don't know if you want to talk a little bit about that. ANGELA STANLEY: Sure. So back in 2017, the state library here in Georgia put out a 16 page color booklet called Georgia's Treasures, the subtitle of which is Exploring Your Genealogy History and Culture in Public Libraries. So it kind of speaks directly to this conversation and how GLAM institutions intersect with cultural heritage tourism. But we traveled around to 10 public libraries around the state that had sort of larger or kind of hallmark collections of local history and genealogy materials. We really highlighted four in particular around the state, and then dedicated space and descriptions to an additional six public libraries in Georgia. And then in the back, we listed a whole bunch of libraries that had smaller, but still curated local history and genealogy collections. And so we produced this booklet. And we sent it out to all 409 public libraries around the state. So you should be able to get a copy at any library. You can also see the booklet online at georgialibraries.org/genealogy, if you were interested in browsing through it. But that was kind of I think, where we wanted to build off of for this Archives Council booklet, as a way to sort of highlight major collections at different Atlanta area archival institutions and sort of call attention to what their collecting strengths are, what kind of stuff they might have that y'all might not-- y'all-- people might not know about. And so that is what we're working towards right now. We're collecting that information from the institutions. And once we have all of that, we'll begin the process of laying it out and looking for photos, and hopefully be able to come out with this nicely produced, curated booklet that will begin to tell some of the story of archival institutions around the Atlanta area. Everyone is kind of increasingly pressured to prove their worth and their value and to prove that not just in terms of knowledge dissemination and sharing, but in terms of hard dollars. And so you how do we contribute to the culture of tourism in a city like Atlanta? And what is our draw and our impact? And how do we use those numbers to tell the story of archives? CHERYL HARGROVE: Well, I think that the impact is broader than just the state tourism office. I think the impact is of value to all of the tourism industry in Georgia. And that is that it is a great resource, and it also should be a great recognition of what contributions GLAM bring to every destination marketer, every destination developer, and hopefully that it becomes a model for other regions to look at of how this collaboration can be of great assistance and be a great resource. And also, I think, it can also serve as new outreach opportunities. Because again, visitors are hungry for places that maybe they have not been to or were not aware of. And so it's important that we have those kinds of new product, and we use the word in the tourism industry, product, but really it's an experience, it's a place that physically, or even that online that people can go and get additional information, focusing very much on that educational opportunity but also that experience opportunity as well. WENDY HAGENMAIER: This is Lost in the Stacks. We've been speaking today with Tamara Livingston of Museums, Archives, and Rare Books at Kennesaw State University, Angela Stanley with Georgia HomePLACE, and Cheryl Hargrove of the Georgia Department of Economic Development's Explore Georgia program. [MUSIC PLAYING] MAN: File this set under F287.K54. [OUTKAST, "LOVE BELOW INTRO"] (SINGING) Some say Atlanta. Some say New York. [ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND, "BLUE SKY"] AMANDA PELLERIN: You just heard "Blue Sky" by the Allman Brothers Band "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" by Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers. And the "Love Below Intro" by Outkast, all local musicians and songs about cultural trails to and from Georgia. [MUSIC PLAYING] Today's show is called Glamorizing Your Travel Plans-- How Libraries, Archives, and Tourism Collaborate. We've been talking about how librarians, archivists, and tourism professionals work together to connect people to the stories and traditions of travel destinations. MAN: Using information resources from libraries and archives tourism specialists can create an authentic sense of place, making information resources come to life. WENDY HAGENMAIER: Likewise, cultural tourism sites spark curiosity and visitors to discover what else an archivist and librarian may help them discover about themselves, the history of a place, and other people. AMANDA PELLERIN: Growing up, I loved going to historic house museums. I would imagine running through the hallways of the Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthplace, having tea on the porch of the little White House, and taking care of animals at the Smith family farm. Some of these places have gone virtual during this global pandemic environment. Just because we're currently a bit restricted in our movements, doesn't mean we can't build out our travel dreams. A new place to explore on my list, thanks to one of the travel shows I've been watching, is Lake Nicaragua. It's the largest freshwater body in Central America, but it uniquely also has oceanic life. Fred and Wendy, what are your travel dreams? MAN: I'm not sure if it's because I grew up in the South and it's summer and it's really humid, but I would really like to see a glacier. I've never seen a glacier of any kind. So I would like to go someplace where there are glaciers, and actually see a glacier. WENDY HAGENMAIER: I think I'm pulled in two directions right now in terms of my travel dreams. But my impulse is to say I just want to be able to visit my family in California and Wisconsin, which it's funny to say that is a dream right now, since it's usually so sort of mundane. But I think at the same time, I'm also having a strong craving to just go to the woods and keep walking and just get lost in nature, wherever that is. Let's roll those credits. [MUSIC PLAYING] Lost in the Stacks is a collaboration between WREK Atlanta and the Georgia Tech Library, written and produced by Ameet Doshi, Amanda Pellerin, Charlie Bennett, Fred Rascoe, Marlee Givens, and Wendy Hagenmeier. AMANDA PELLERIN: Today's show was edited and assembled by Fred in Stone Mountain Georgia, where the freedom bell ring. MAN: Legal counsel and an itinerary for a tour of southeastern vineyards provided by the Burrus Intellectual Property Law Group in Atlanta, Georgia. WENDY HAGENMAIER: Special Thanks to Tamara, Angela, and Cheryl for being on the show, and for the great music suggestions. And thanks, as always, to each and every one of you for listening. AMANDA PELLERIN: Find us online at lostinthestacks.org. And you can subscribe to our podcast pretty much anywhere you get your audio fix. MAN: Next week, you'll hear a rerun, and we'll be back with a new show about public programming in the library when the public is not in the library. WENDY HAGENMAIER: Time for our last song today. And while we may not be experiencing a typical kind of summer, and maybe we are unable to travel too much during this global pandemic, the online resources of our archives and libraries can still help fuel our knowledge and spark our travel dreams. And maybe that can also spark a little summertime magic. So let's close with "Summertime Magic" by Childish Gambino, right here on Lost in the Stacks. Have a great weekend, everyone. [CHILDISH GAMBINO, "SUMMERTIME MAGIC"]