TILT #63 — biologically enhanced tech support
So it turns out that giving tech tips on Twitter is sort of my sweet spot between librarianing and being a tech person. A few cases in point:
- Hate Netflix auto-playing previews? Sure you do. We all do. If you’re watching Netflix on a computer, there is a fix. Seems simple, but internet people enjoyed it.
- Likewise that stupid Twitter algo which makes you watch sports games and Hannukah in the wrong order? You can do an advanced search thing that gets your timeline back. Someone else online pointed their url REALTWITTER.COM at it and presto. I retweeted this in August and a famous person picked it up yesterday and pow.
- Also Drop-In Time has started back up. Pretty low attendance but I still managed some good stories out of it.
It’s not so much just giving out tips — I have collected some here if you want to read them all in one place — but sticking around to answer people’s questions. Any nerd can make a fun redirect, but a real librarian will stick around to make sure people know how it works. Meanwhile Google wants to kill the URL. Let’s make them think twice about that.
I like Kelly’s signature on her email, it’s such a perfect librarian touch.
Denver Public Library is one of many large public libraries that has social workers and peer navigators for people experiencing homelessness and/or managing addiction. Here’s a short video about Cuica Montoya who runs the peer navigator program, talking about its transformative properties.
I donated several hundred of my father’s books to a local library over the summer and I felt I “did it right.” Book donation is one of those things that librarians seem to implicitly understand but many others don’t. I wrote up a little guide on my blog about how to do it well.
As I was looking for more tip-type lists, I found this delightful “Lone Arranger” blog and I adore it. Please enjoy Tiny Archives Project Quick Tips III: Could You F*^king Not? by Rebecca M. Fullerton.
Also on the subject of archives, Erin Glasco discusses her work as an activist archivist, and what that entails.
Once you realize how much archives and archivists heavily influence the writing and telling of history, which also means they also heavily influence what goes into history books. So, we have a huge role. And, once you realize that and really problematize that and think about it critically, I think it’s natural to say: “I want to try to create things outside of this really fucked up framework that exists and that is so harmful to archivists who work in these spaces.”
Short things to read:
- How (and When) to Limit Kids’ Tech Use — meaty reading from the NY Times, good for handing out to patrons.
- The Privacy Conundrum by UW-M librarian John Hubbard guides us through some things to think about regarding privacy and 21st century librarianship
- Why we need libraries — an essay in pictures — by Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell — you may have seen parts of it elsewhere, read it from start to finish and enjoy.
Thanks to everyone who sent a birthday postcard. I arrived back to Vermont after a summer mostly away and was overjoyed to have a bunch of fun mail from friends, family, readers and randos. Hope the Back to School season is treating you well.
Today in Librarian Tabs is written irregularly by Jessamyn West who also maintains librarian.net. It’s available in more-accessible format your inbox via TinyLetter. Thanks for reading.
