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“Ummmmm, guys? Don’t microwave your books”: Readers, Authors, and Institutions in #PandemicReading Tweets

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Bookshelves in the Age of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Part of the book series: New Directions in Book History ((NDBH))

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Abstract

This paper reflects upon public use of the #PandemicReading and #PandemicBookshelves hashtags on Twitter in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. Analysed tweets were collected using the freely available browser-based web scraping tool Netlytic; a detailed methodological overview is provided. Three broad categories of tweeters are identified based on trends in the tweets under review: (1) reactive readers; (2) resilient authors; and (3) digitally engaged institutions. Each of these categories is reviewed in turn. This paper concludes by acknowledging the cathartic and communal potential of engagement with the #PandemicReading and #PandemicBookshelves hashtags.

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Correspondence to Leah Henrickson .

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Henrickson, L. (2022). “Ummmmm, guys? Don’t microwave your books”: Readers, Authors, and Institutions in #PandemicReading Tweets. In: Norrick-Rühl, C., Towheed, S. (eds) Bookshelves in the Age of the COVID-19 Pandemic . New Directions in Book History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05292-7_13

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