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

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.