Laura Soto-Barra

At NPR we are changing the understanding of what it means to be a librarian. The word “librarian” no longer seems adequate to describe all the work we do; RAD expresses our combined activities that help support NPR’s journalism, mirror our aspirations as well as align to our corporate goals.

We are product owners, taxonomists, researchers, archivists, trainers, music experts and more; we have developed these skills in response to NPR evolving growth and needs. NPR needs more accurate and efficient research; data that serves our production and business needs and archiving that provides access and protects our audio legacy.

For these reasons, our group has changed its name. We are the RAD team. We have also created a position for a software developer, and hired the right talent. This position is responsible for the continuous evolution of the systems that steward data about all the stories we’ve ever told – and much of the music we use in our editorial work.

Computers in Libraries 2018