It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature. — Henry James, Hawthorne (1876)
I have been creating content for academic libraries for more than a decade. The definition of “content creator” has changed significantly in the past ten years, especially since the emergence of TikTok, and expanded to include a set of skills and activities that have exceed what I ever imagined I would be asked to do. To effectively market academic libraries these days, you need graphic design skills, video editing chops, an eye for photography, a knack for writing everything from blurbs to long-form reports, an understanding of how social media algorithms work, and web design. And that’s only including what’s needed for making digital content, to say nothing of print, or the more relationship-centered work that is generally considered “outreach.” The job is far more complex than one person would normally be expected to handle; though, out of necessity, many do.
Perhaps this is why lately I’ve been dreaming of having a writers’ room to help develop library content. No, not a committee. This isn’t a service opportunity. Successful entry into the writers’ room would require some minimal level of aptitude, either in writing dialogue or developing storylines. So, still a low barrier to entry, but not necessarily a situation in which anyone would succeed just by virtue of being a library employee. And unlike a committee, the writers’ room would need to meet frequently, like two to three times weekly, to keep the creative momentum.
Suffice to say this isn’t a workflow that would likely survive in academia, but for a brief moment, I had something like this within my team. Last semester, our student employees would regularly hang out in our office suite before/after their shifts or between classes. Our conversations often found their way around to works in progress. It was in these moments that I could see the potential for regular pitch-and-workshop sessions around natal ideas. Many content ideas came out of these conversations (which, of course we didn’t actually work on until folks were back on the clock), driven by the diversity of life experiences, FYPs, and cultural references. Ideas that (1) developed at a faster pace and (2) I would never have developed on my own, or that would have seemed poor were it not for the enrichment of others’ perspectives.
I want more of that.
What I’m reading
🤖💥😳 Our Shared Reality Will Self-Destruct in the Next 12 Months by Ted Gioia: “At the current rate of technological advance, all reliable ways of validating truth will soon be gone. My best guess is that we have another 12 months to enjoy some degree of confidence in our shared sense of reality.” Well, that’s a fun thought.
🍊💀🌐 President Trump Is Alive. The Internet Was Convinced Otherwise by Katie Rogers. This was my primary source of entertainment over the holiday weekend. It’s classic conspiracy theory, but the ride was delightful and I loved every minute of it.
🔧📞🪙 An engineer restores pay phones for free public use by Julian Ring. Please normalize this. Maybe if we bring back pay phones, we can all leave our phones at home more often.
Links to the past
- 1 year ago: I was complaining about committees (Still am. See above) and urging for more intentional support structures for library outreach and communications work.
- 5 years ago: Nothing. Apparently I was taking a long sabbatical from blogging in 2020. Huh, wonder why.
- 10 years ago: I was preparing to move to my new job at the William H. Hannon Library.
- 15 years ago: I was in the middle of my MLIS program and looking to answer that essential LIS question: What is information?
Overheard online
Thank goodness we’re going back to the good old times before… *checks notes* medicine — @beyondmeat on Threads
banner image: Seminar Group, c1981 (lselibrary on Flickr)
