January has been a very long month. Many times, I’ve felt particularly useless in the era we’re living in, and that came to a head on January 20th. I posted a video on TikTok asking if folks wanted to learn how to find information, and when I woke up the next morning, I had 500 followers, 10k views, and a resounding number of yeses. Right now, I’m sitting at about 1400 followers and 32k views. I want to reiterate – I didn’t have ANY of that before Monday 1/20.
I didn’t set out to be a content creator, and to be honest, having that many people view what I do makes me deeply uncomfortable. I want to retreat into my turtle shell and delete the account all together. But that’s just my first impulse; I think about it longer, and I’ve come to the conclusion that this is a good uncomfortable. I am appalled by what is happening in the United States right now, and while I can’t change it by myself, posting videos about information literacy is something that’s in my sphere of influence. To be frank, it’s been a great way to redirect my rage and energy about it all.
I also think that this is making me a better librarian. Planning out and writing the scripts for the videos forces me to slow down and consider what a very general audience might know or not know. I either cut down on jargon or explain it, go slower, and put some big concepts into bite-sized videos. It’s content I could definitely reuse to flip some of my instruction, but it’s also good practice for those 50 minute one shots where it feels like there’s just too much to cover in very little time.
It’s clear to me from the response to my initial wonderings that people want to learn this. Given the information landscape we live in, with AI nonsense proliferating search engine results, uncertainty in who and what to trust, and government websites going down with the rise of the new administration, it’s needed. That is unequivocally a space that academic librarians can contribute to, and I’ve found a lot of renewed purpose in this side quest.
I don’t know how long the algorithm will be on my side, or how long I’ll keep making videos. Honestly, I don’t really feel capable of planning that far in advance right now – we still don’t even really know if TikTok will be a viable platform in a few months. The app still isn’t currently available in the app stores. I do know that over 1,000 people have favorited my tip about adding “LibGuide” to a Google search and at least one person has gotten a library card because of my video explaining the process. To me, that’s well worth it.
If you have any suggestions for videos I should make next, I’d love to hear them. My handle is @interstellar_ed if you’re curious. And remember: January will be over very soon, and we will keep going.
This is seriously inspiring, Emily! Thanks for sharing