ATGthePodcast 313 - A Conversation with Ciaran Talbot, Director: AI and Ideas Adoption, The University of Manchester Library

Today's episode features guest host Michael Upshall (guest editor, Charleston Briefings) who talks with Ciaran Talbot, Director: AI and Ideas Adoption, The University of Manchester Library. Ciaran studied computing and began his career as an IT support analyst in the central team at Manchester University before an IT position opened up in the library, where he has now been for over 15 years.   He says his current role allows him to work more connectedly with students, researchers and collections, and he encourages staff in open discussion and the adoption of useful tools in technology and to experiment with technology while balancing it with ethical and environmental concerns. Ciaran says he believes that libraries sit at the center of the AI landscape and are evolving from service providers into facilitators of innovation, guiding users with critical thinking, and helping them navigate and critically engage with AI-driven tools while maintaining trust and academic integrity. The video of this interview can be found here: https://youtu.be/DlInQ56FZa8 Social Media: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mupshall/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ciarantalbot/ Keyword #EdTech #FutureOfEducation #FutureOfLibraries #DigitalAdoption #InformationAge #ResearchInformation #OpenScience #AiLiteracy #Generative AI #TechLeadership #HigherEducation #AIInEducation #DigitalTransformation #AcademicWriting #InformationProfessional #AI #AIandLibraries #career #scholcomm #ScholarlyCommunication #libraries #librarianship #LibraryNeeds #LibraryLove #ScholarlyPublishing #AcademicPublishing #publishing #LibrariesAndPublishers #podcasts

Today's episode features guest host Michael Upshall (guest editor, Charleston Briefings) who talks with Thorsten Fröhlich, Professor of IT Management and Big Data at IU International University of Applied Sciences. Thorsten has over 35 years of experience in higher education, IT & digital transformation, and curriculum development and he holds a doctorate in chemistry.  He is an entrepreneur, having founded several companies in scientific publishing and software development, including LUMITOS AG and Unchained Intellect Press, and he's an author of textbooks and publications on academic writing and AI in creative fields. In this conversation, Thorsten shares his journey from a rural upbringing to becoming a prominent figure in chemistry, technology, and academia. He discusses his early interest in chemistry, the founding of his first startup, and his transition back to academia where he focuses on guiding students in thesis writing. Thorsten talks with Michael about the innovative use of AI in evaluating theses and the importance of self-reflection in the age of digital tools. He reflects on his artistic ventures and the role of public art in community engagement, highlighting his multifaceted career and the intersection of science, technology, and creativity. The video of this interview can be found here:  https://youtu.be/AzXsqxfw7H0 Social Media: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mupshall/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/prof-dr-thorsten-fr%C3%B6hlich-334005195/   Twitter: Keyword #EdTech #FutureOfEducation #FutureOfLibraries #InformationAge #TechLeadership #HigherEducation #AIInEducation #DigitalTransformation #AcademicWriting #BigData #InformationProfessional #AI #AIandLibraries #career #scholcomm #ScholarlyCommunication #libraries #librarianship #LibraryNeeds #LibraryLove #ScholarlyPublishing #AcademicPublishing #publishing #LibrariesAndPublishers #podcasts

Today's episode features guest host Michael Upshall (guest editor, Charleston Briefings) who talks with Phillip Bradley, Consultant on AI and the Internet. Phillip has titled his life story "From CD-Rom to AI". He says he decided as a child that he wanted to be a librarian and obtained an Honours degree in librarianship from the Polytechnic of North London. Phillip then went to work for the British Council in the UK, where he became involved in training people from overseas offices that would come to the UK. He discovered that he really enjoyed teaching people about information work.  He was running training courses on how to use reference books, and eventually how to put promotional videos together. He taught a Basics of Librarianship course in Lesotho, South Africa.  He started to do more training for British Council offices and went around the world to different countries teaching aspects of librarianship. He took an interest in CD-Roms, which the British council was not interested in, so he left to join Silver Platter, which was the pioneer of CD-ROMs. He talks about his first experiences with the internet in the early 90's, the training courses he created at the request of librarians on how the internet worked and how to be more effective with search engines, and his views on current developments with AI and the role of the information professional.  Philip emphasizes the critical role of librarians in society, arguing that they are the most powerful and important information professionals. He expresses frustration over the lack of appreciation for librarians' contributions and seeks to redefine their identity as essential figures within organizations. The video of this interview can be found here:  https://youtu.be/XFHAZ-J_xZs LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mupshall/  https://www.linkedin.com/in/philbradleyuk/ Keyword #LibraryScience #Innovation #DigitalLibraries #FutureOfLibraries #InformationAge #DigitalTransformation #InformationProfessional #AI #SearchEngines #AIandLibraries #career #scholcomm #ScholarlyCommunication #libraries #librarianship #LibraryNeeds #LibraryLove #ScholarlyPublishing #AcademicPublishing #publishing #LibrariesAndPublishers #podcasts

Today's episode features guest host Michael Upshall (guest editor, Charleston Briefings) who talks with Brewster Kahle, Founder & Director, Internet Archive. Brewster says that back in the 1980's he believed that everything would eventually become digital. He dreamed of building a Library of Alexandria where humanity's knowledge would be freely accessible. In this conversation, he talks with Michael about his work building early search technologies at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. In 1983, he helped create Thinking Machine Corporation, a pioneering supercomputer manufacturer.   In 1996, he founded Alexa Internet, a web traffic analysis and ranking company that was eventually acquired by Amazon. He then launched The Internet Archive, which now contains over a trillion archived web pages and works with thousands of libraries around the world to preserve digital content. Brewster says he believes the internet should be a global, open library that supports learning and that compensates content creators fairly. He also talks about some lawsuits against publishers, controlled digital lending and the importance of open access for the future. The video of this interview can be found here: https://youtu.be/mJ-R9j7Oc4s Social Media: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mupshall/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/brewster-kahle-2a647652/ Keyword #OpenAccess #KnowledgeEquity #KnowledgeForAll #Innovation #DigitalLibraries #DigitalRights #SearchEngines #MetaData #GenAI #LLM #OpenWeb #WebArchiving #career #scholcomm #ScholarlyCommunication #libraries #librarianship #LibraryNeeds #LibraryLove #ScholarlyPublishing #AcademicPublishing #publishing #LibrariesAndPublishers #podcasts

Today's episode features guest host Michael Upshall (guest editor, Charleston Briefings) who talks with Rachel Miles, Research Impact Coordinator, Virginia Tech University Libraries. Rachel is "an expert in the applications and impacts of research in academia and the public sphere: how it's communicated, what makes it most visible to different audiences and why, what makes it "impactful" and how this impact is tracked, as well as how academics perceive impact when they publish, go up for promotion and tenure, and how they view it from a philosophical perspective throughout the different stages of their careers." She is also a strong supporter of open access. In this conversation, Rachel talks with Michael about how her first degree was in psychology, but she became interested in librarianship while teaching English in South Korea.  She wanted to help people with their research more directly. She didn't yet know how, but she wanted to be the service point where people could really get the insight that they need to understand the literature.  Her interest in metrics began during her last semester in grad school while she was a graduate administrative assistant doing survey research on what LIS professionals do with research impact metrics. She was very interested in this because it's a behavioral field in many ways, but it's also a field that looks at policy, procedure and ethics. Rachel believes that having a diversity of backgrounds is good for libraries and, for her field, she feels that her psychology degree is useful because research impact, research evaluation, and bibliometrics tend to be deeply tied to human behavior as it relates to scientists. Rachel also talks with Michael about the rise of research impact and metrics, altmetrics and policy citations and the future of research evaluation. The video of this interview can be found here: https://youtu.be/xjvkwZOXhHI Social Media: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mupshall/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelamiles/ Keyword #LibraryScience #LIS #InformationScience #Research #ResearchImpact #ResearchEvaluation #ImpactMetrics #ResearchAccessibility #Altmetrics #Bibliometrics #OpenAccess #PolicyCitations #KnowledgeEquity #KnowledgeForAll #Innovation #career #scholcomm #ScholarlyCommunication #libraries #librarianship #LibraryNeeds #LibraryLove #ScholarlyPublishing #AcademicPublishing #publishing #LibrariesAndPublishers #podcasts

Today's episode features guest host Michael Upshall (guest editor, Charleston Briefings) who talks with Stevan Harnad, Professor of Cognitive Science, University of Southampton. Stevan is one of the most prominent advocates for open access and a distinguished scholar in cognitive science. In 1978, he founded the journal Behavioral and Brain Sciences which pioneered "open peer commentary", a form of public discussion on published content. In this conversation, Stevan looks back on over 50 years of campaigning for, and implementing tools for, open access.  Stevan invented a term for internet-based discourse, which he called "scholarly skywriting" in 1987. But, his most famous intervention was the 1994 "Subversive Proposal", the call for peer-reviewed papers to be made openly available on the Internet so that everyone could access them – which became green Open Access. He also talks about why in 2026, the mechanism set up in the early 2000s still has not delivered what he had hoped for.  Lastly, Stevan talks about GenAI tools and says he is very positive about their ability to "brainstorm." The video of this interview can be found here: https://youtu.be/bD5w9BTZx0M LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mupshall/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevan-harnad-82863216/ Twitter: Keyword #OpenAccess #Research #ResearchAccessibility #GreenOpenAccess #OpenPeerCommentary #PeerReview #CognitiveScience #BehavioralAndBrainSciences #KnowledgeEquity #KnowledgeForAll #Innovation #career #scholcomm #ScholarlyCommunication #libraries #librarianship #LibraryNeeds #LibraryLove #ScholarlyPublishing #AcademicPublishing #publishing #LibrariesAndPublishers #podcasts

Today's episode features guest host Michael Upshall (guest editor, Charleston Briefings) who talks with Rupert Gatti and Alessandra Tosi, Co-Founders, Open Book Publishers. Alessandra, a literary historian specializing in Russia, and Rupert, an economist, both Cambridge based scholars, founded the biggest independent open access academic book publisher in the UK, Open Book Publishers, in 2008.  In this conversation, Alessandra talks with Michael about frustrations over the limited reach of her own scholarly monographs, and many scholars being excluded in the humanities in Russia over the high cost of scholarly works and high book processing charges with traditional commercial publishers. This is why they founded the open access, non-profit academic press, following the diamond open access model, to service both authors and readers and make research in the humanities and social sciences freely available worldwide.  Rupert says open access is not an end in itself, but part of a larger commitment to open scholarship and knowledge equity.     Video of this interview: https://youtu.be/luA6BaJGDhA LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mupshall/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/rupert-gatti-113b3620/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/alessandra-tosi-50321020/   Twitter: Keyword #OpenBookPublishers #OpenScholarship #SocialSciences #Humanities #Research #ResearchAccessibility #OpenAccess #DiamondOpenAccess #KnowledgeEquity #Innovation #career #scholcomm #ScholarlyCommunication #libraries #librarianship #LibraryNeeds #LibraryLove #ScholarlyPublishing #AcademicPublishing #publishing #LibrariesAndPublishers #podcasts

The following interview is part of the 2025 Charleston Conference Leadership Interview Series. In this series, we sit down with leaders and innovators who are making a real difference in scholarly publishing, libraries, and the broader information world. Each conversation is a chance to hear firsthand how these decision makers tackle new challenges, rethink traditional models, and collaborate across sectors. Today's episode features the next conversation from the 2025 Charleston Conference Leadership Interview Series.  Heather Staines Senior Consultant, Delta Think, and a Conference Director, talks with Paul Rosenzweig, Principal, Red Branch Consulting and a Lecturer at George Washington University. Paul has had what could be called a "zigzaggy" career, but it all came full circle. He started out as a chemist with a master's in chemical oceanography and expected he would be a senior oceanographer examining the world by now.  However, due to difficulty obtaining government funding, and the job being not as interesting as he had hoped, he decided to change paths and follow in his father's footsteps. Paul started law school with the idea of focusing on environmental law to tie into his oceanography background. But, instead, he ended up in the environmental crime section at the Department of Justice where he found that he liked the criminal law side a lot more than the environmental side.   He talks about the disruption of 9-11 and losing friends and, as a result, transitioning from criminal law to Homeland Security criminal law and doing cybersecurity work for the Department of Homeland Security. Things came full circle here for Paul as he now leaned on the early computer programming and large-scale data basing he had done as an oceanographer. When the cybersecurity crisis hit the government, Paul was early on the scene. In 2009, he left this position and started his consulting company and began teaching at George Washington University part-time as an adjunct. One of his clients is the American Library Association. The video of this interview can be found here:  https://youtu.be/aek77eVR18I Social Media: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heatherstaines/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-rosenzweig Keywords: #LeoLo #CharlestonConference #AgainstTheGrain #AnnualReviews #LeadershipInLibraries #InnovationInLibraries #TeamWork #Team #ConferenceEvolution #LibraryCommunity #Librarianship #ProfessionalDevelopment #LibrarianJourney #LibraryEducation #InformationAccess #LibraryCommunity #libraries #librarians #libraryCareer #librarySchool #LibraryLove #academic #AcademicPublishing #scholcomm #ScholarlyCommunication  #learning #learnon #information #leaders #leadership #2024ChsConf ##career #scholcomm #ScholarlyCommunication #libraries #librarianship #LibraryNeeds #LibraryLove #ScholarlyPublishing #AcademicPublishing #publishing #LibrariesAndPublishers #podcasts

The following interview is part of the 2025 Charleston Conference Leadership Interview Series. In this series, we sit down with leaders and innovators who are making a real difference in scholarly publishing, libraries, and the broader information world. Each conversation is a chance to hear firsthand how these decision makers tackle new challenges, rethink traditional models, and collaborate across sectors. Today's episode features the next conversation from the 2025 Charleston Conference Leadership Interview Series.  Erin Gallagher, Chair, Acquisitions & Discovery Services at the University of Florida, and a Conference Director, talks with Leo Lo, Dean of Libraries and Advisor for AI Literacy at the University of Virginia. Leo shares that he has a film degree and originally wanted to be a film scholar and film preservationist and didn't realize that librarianship could be a career until he discovered it by accident when searching for a graduate program in film preservation. One of his professors suggested that he look into the library science programs for preservation specialization. Leo says he became interested immediately, as it was an exciting time when the internet was exploding and changing everything, including librarianship.  He earned his MLIS at Florida State University. He says librarianship is the intersection between honoring the past and shaping the future. In this conversation, Leo gives an employer's perspective as to some steps future librarians could take to better prepare for a landscape where AI is really going to play a large and evolving role. He talks with Erin about his unique role as Dean of Libraries but also being appointed as advisor to the provost for AI literacy, the value for librarians in joining organizations like ALA and ACRL and his experience the first time he used ChatGPT. The video of this interview can be found here:  https://youtu.be/zbv2c4xT9hk LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-gallagher-39a2b211/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/leoslo/ Keywords: #LeoLo #CharlestonConference #AgainstTheGrain #AnnualReviews #LeadershipInLibraries #InnovationInLibraries #TeamWork #Team #ConferenceEvolution #LibraryCommunity #Librarianship #ProfessionalDevelopment #LibrarianJourney #LibraryEducation #InformationAccess #LibraryCommunity #libraries #librarians #libraryCareer #librarySchool #LibraryLove #academic #AcademicPublishing #scholcomm #ScholarlyCommunication  #learning #learnon #information #leaders #leadership #2024ChsConf ##career #scholcomm #ScholarlyCommunication #libraries #librarianship #LibraryNeeds #LibraryLove #ScholarlyPublishing #AcademicPublishing #publishing #LibrariesAndPublishers #podcasts

Today's episode features guest host Michael Upshall (guest editor, Charleston Briefings) who talks with Paolo Manghi, CTO, OpenAIRE, and Researcher, Italian National Research Council. Paolo is a prominent figure in European Research Infrastructures. In this conversation, he talks about his career path, first earning a degree in information science in Pisa, then a degree in science and technology, and then a PhD in research on data and databases before working with data infrastructures and joining CNR, a pioneer in the field of technical innovation and scientific advancements and who he says coined many famous terminologies used in the industry today.  Paolo talks about dividing his time between being a researcher and working at the worldwide open scholarly communication infrastructure OpenAire which he describes as being more than a technical platform, that provides a trusted forum for policymakers, funders, institutions, and researchers to share data and shape open science together. The video of this interview can be found here: https://youtu.be/gNwuzvT-Qb0 Social Media: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mupshall/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/paolo-manghi-880a54/   Twitter: Keywords: #CNR #OpenAIRE #Science #OpenScience #OpenInfrastructure #OpenAccess #Research #OpenResearch #ResearchIntegrity #ResearchTransparency #ResearchPublishing #ResearchInfrastructures #ScientificPublishing #Metadata #MetaResearch #PeerReview #DigitalTransformation #ResearchCulture #PublishingTechnology #Discovery #LibraryTechnology #Innovation #career #scholcomm #ScholarlyCommunication #libraries #librarianship #LibraryNeeds #LibraryLove #ScholarlyPublishing #AcademicPublishing #publishing #LibrariesAndPublishers #podcasts