you don't have to be good.

i like it too :)

Tempted to actually put this on spotify so I can secretly stream it at work...

I just wanna see how we crash this plane

# of likes = # of passengers on board

# of reblogs = # of flight hours the pilots have

ME: Ah! I've been a library assistant for 5 years. Surely I can explain this in a reasonable and nuanced, yet concise way!

2 HOURS LATER:

Like, here are some VERY COMMON examples of personal breaking points that can come up in archiving:

Trans person whose friend keeps writing Harry Potter fanfic

Parent whose coworker loves drawing shota/lolicon

Uncle going down an anti-vax documentary hole

Mom pushing diet magazines on her daughter

Racist old dudes on school reading lists

True crime Youtube clickbaits

AI-generated Elsagate brainrot shorts

Comic books by a white guy posing as Asian

$2 exploitation porn DVDs

School shooter simulator video game

Guides on making explosives

LiveLeak content

Odds are pretty good that at least one of those made you, reading this, viscerally cringe and want to argue about, WHICH IS WHAT I MEAN. Every person has a breaking point, and THAT'S NORMAL.

The point of the library training isn't to make you into a unique person who has never, ever been reviled by or wanted to destroy a piece of media. It's to learn how to live with that feeling, step back, and work with your team to maintain the archive, anyway.

And sometimes, maintaining means recognizing that not every place IS an archive! I'm only able to maintain an archive space BECAUSE I know I have spaces where the stuff that revolts me is banned! It's okay to curate multiple spaces; tolerance is more than blind acceptance.

The library archives information, the bar should not be allowed to become a Nazi bar. The AO3 tags archive every fic, the Discord group chat isn't made to be a museum. You don't have to take everything home with you at all times to prove yourself.