Matt Hacker has been working in the University of Chicago’s John Crerar Library since February 2007. But that is not all he has been up to—he has also been taking the course “Boccacio’s Decameron” (not to be confused with Doraemon), classes on learning to milk Microsoft Excel for its worth, and discussing Aristotle on a weekly basis with friends, all while working and maintaining the status of a social star within the Facebook.com community. Currently, there are 20 active and enthusiastic members in the Official Matt Hacker Fan Club Facebook group. I met Matt while working in the Bookstacks Department during college. Over the past two years, I have invited him to my parties where I personally served him drinks in the (the) Schlitz goblet, mooched his Parliament Lights at the Cove in my pre-lung-collapse days, and listened to his stories about growing up in southern Indiana. I, along with my colleague Sam, have decided that with a man like Matt Hacker in it, the world is a lucky place.
Sam (SM) and I (KH) took some time out on a pleasant Friday afternoon to interview Matt, so that the world may know more about him.
KH: Okay, Matt. What do you do that is related to the ASR [Automated Storage and Retrieval] project?
MH: [Laughs]…I make sure that the books that are going into storage have records, so that the ASR is not a black hole.
KH: A black hole. Mmhmm. What would you say is your favorite part of your job?
MH: I like that I've been permitted to use my own discretion in organizing the project I was hired to complete. I invite the challenge to establish a method for this work which will ensure efficiency and accuracy as we come ever closer to housing titles in an automated storage system.
KH: So your official ASR nickname is the “Whiz Kid.” We’ve all noticed that Excel is your niche, with your hidden columns, fourteen colored associated tabs and whatnot [see right; click for larger image]. What is your history with Microsoft Excel?
MH: I used Excel for high school physics lab reports.
SM: I did that, too.
KH: I never took physics. [For some reason, everyone laughs.] [Mumbles] I did take astrophysics, and used Excel for that.
MH: We are gelling as a team as we discover our past.
KH: Indeed. So how did you get to using Excel more recently?
MH: I inherited an Excel workbook from my supervisor of data accumulated over the past year. I was told to fill in the blanks, but the only information in there were titles and online backfile sources.
SM: Skeleton workbooks.
KH: Mmm.
MH: Mmm. [Pauses] I started looking for information to fill in, and when I couldn’t find it, I made it up.
SM: [Laughing] So Elsevier doesn’t exist!
MH: That’s right; [grinning] Elsevier is a character from a fantasy novel!
SM: What do you think about learning organizations? We posted on Chris’ blog about them, for a class he took. What are your thoughts on the matter?
MH: What’s a learning organization?
SM: Who knows.
MH: I like to learn about organizations, and I like to organize my learning. So I’ve always loved learning organizations.
KH: That's a good response. I agree with you. Now let’s get back to your recent, increased activity with Microsoft. How did you get involved with Access?
MH: I was convinced that the ASR project could only be carried out in its most efficient and accurate form by Access, by creating a database—shoutouts to George Rumsey. When I conferred with supervisors and trainers, they agreed. Access and I also dated for a while during high school.
KH: What went wrong?
MH: We were moving in different directions. She said I was moving too fast. I disagree.
KH: I’m sorry to hear that.
SM: So is it lonely working at Crerar? Do you feel out of the loop or anything?
MH: I’m a desperado. Crerar is my kind of environment.
KH: That's a timeless quote. Who is that man who works in the same room as you?
MH: Andras. A-N-D-R-A-S. Same root as “Andrea” or “Andrew”—etymologically, it means “man” in Greek.
KH: Oh, like “anthropology”?
MH: Right. [Writes it out in Greek for KH.]
KH: So, can you explain “ontological dependence” in layman terminology?
MH: The thing which is ontologically dependent on the other doesn’t exist if the other thing doesn’t exist.
KH: So does that just mean that two things are dependent on each other?
MH: Yes.
SM: So that’s important to his Excel sheets because the things in the workbooks are often ontologically dependent on each other.
[Not-present ER says in KH’s imagination: "Well, isn’t it nice to always know everything, Quiet Storm."]
SM: So we have to end this interview with something like, ‘Currently reading…’ What are you currently reading?
MH: Moby Dick.
KH: Are you serious? I tried to read that twice and didn’t get into it, although I’d like to.
MH: I’m 300 pages in.
SM: Make sure to put that in there so everyone knows he’s really reading it.
KH: [Writes it down; thinks back to the few pages of Moby Dick she read.] So what do you think of the relationship between Queequog and Ishmael?
MH: I like it when my foreign friend smokes in bed with me also, so I understand.
MH: I want my colleagues, friends, and fans to know only this: Rinse, and repeat. Always. Each and every one is already cooler than a polar bear's toenails. I think this message will accomplish more. [Originally, his message was “Stay cooler than a polar bear’s toenails.”]
SM: We need to know your inspirations.
MH: Bob Dylan…Kaiser Wilhelm II…and Wayne Gretsky.
SM: Not Ted Koppel?
MH: No Ted Koppel.
KH: [Scribbles "Ted Koppel" and then strikes it with an X.] Thank you for your time, Matt.
***
And that was our interview with Matt. Stay tuned for more exciting interviews with members of the ASR Crew and related staff!
6 comments:
I wish I wasn't a tool.
Sam- you're not a tool. You may not be as cool as Matt, but you're no tool. Good job Kei (and tool), I look forward to the next installment.
Sam, you had some key lines in this interview, and caused some. "Crerar is my kind of environment" wouldn't exist without you!
that's some wicked awesome use of Excel. I bow to your greatness. Data quivers in your presence.
For clarity's sake--as well as for that of my continued employment at John Crerar Library--I should add that when I referred to the Greek root of Andris's name, and then mentioned Andrea, I didn't mean to infer that my boss is a man. She is a paragon of femininity, to the extent that traditional conceptions of femininity in no way affect her capacity to govern and provide for both patrons and staff at John Crerar Library.
I totally mispelled "Andras" when I wrote out Matt's spelling of it. COPY EDITOR!!!
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