He's America's Favorite Librarian — And He's Just Getting Started Spreading 'Library Joy'

In less than a year, Mychal Threets has captured the hearts of thousands by sharing touching stories from his library.

In less than a year, Mychal Threets, a supervising librarian at the Solano County Library in California, has earned a handful of monikers: “He’s human sunshine.” “A modern-day Mr. Rogers meets Levar Burton.” “America’s favorite librarian.”

Threets has captured the hearts of thousands online with his viral TikTok videos and Instagram reels in which he recounts touching anecdotes and teachable moments from day-to-day library interactions.

His compassion radiates through the screen as he promotes positivity, belonging and “library joy.” In a country faced with a dire literacy crisis, coinciding with regressive and discriminatory book bans and attacks on third spaces from conservatives, Threets’ work to make reading more accessible is needed now more than ever.

“Library joy in its simplest form is just the joy of the library. What that means is just what I try to and what I hope all library workers embody. It is [fostering that sense of] belonging,” Threets, who has more than 600,000 followers on social media, told HuffPost. “I keep on saying that the library is for everybody: library kids, library grown-ups, mentally ill, unhoused. I love telling people that they don’t have to leave their anxiety, depression or PTSD outside the library. There’s no sign that says you can’t bring your anxiety in.”

In 2020, Threets went viral when he led a campaign to launch a Scholastic Book Fair for adults. He had hoped the events would be hosted in breweries and wineries and would tap into nostalgia; the proceeds would be donated to local schools so no child would leave their book fair empty-handed. Although the idea didn’t materialize due to hesitance from some publishers, it taught him the power of social media.