Book Chapter: “Crowdsourcing COVID-19: A Brief Analysis of Librarian Posts on Reddit”

The book chapter linked below (full text, open access) was recently published online by Chandos Digital Information Review.

Title

Crowdsourcing COVID-19: A Brief Analysis of Librarian Posts on Reddit

Author

Daniella Smith
University of North Texas

Source

Chandos Digital Information Review
DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-323-88493-8.00003-3

Abstract

Initially, COVID-19 was mistaken for a cold. As time passed, the entire world was infected. It became evident that social distancing was needed to counteract the virus’s spread when the infection rate increased. Although social distancing was a viable option for many professions, it impeded the services offered by libraries. Libraries are cultural institutions that facilitate the social and educational health of their communities. Many citizens rely on libraries to obtain resources critical to their well-being. As such, libraries continued to offer their much-needed services, and librarians worldwide sought to implement the best-known practices to survive the COVID-19 disaster. This study explores how librarians responded to COVID-19 by examining their posts to the Reddit social media network. Popular discussion topics, questions posed by librarians, and the strategies used to cope with the pandemic are presented.

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Filed under: Libraries, News, Open Access