#mychal threets

[geezerwench]

Mychal Threets, the magical librarian from Civic Center Library in Solano County, who was becoming so popular on social media, spreading Library Joy and Book Joy, but felt he needed to resign from the Library because of all the internet trolls who were coming for him, has been hired by PBS, as a result of good people, (who will always outnumber those with mental and emotional decay), linking “PBS” and “PBS Kids” to Mychal’s posts on Tik Tok, the former Twitter and Threads.

As a result PBS noticed, and is hiring him to be PBS’s resident librarian for a social media series. I cannot believe what this angelic person, whose only aim is to spread joy and reading promotion, had to endure, but this is great news for PBS and kids and adults alike. Good wins!

[itisiives]

[mathart]

Mychal Threets Wants Everyone to Experience ‘Library Joy’ — The 33-year-old librarian from California has become popular on TikTok and Instagram with his upbeat take on libraries. — Mychal Threets is the supervising librarian at the Fairfield Civic Center Library in Solano County, Calif.

[warm-mangoes-with-chai]

[missmickiescorner]

It's a bird, it's a plane—

It's—

One of the best pieces of pro-library propaganda ever put to animated children's television.

On tonight's episode of "What You Are Looking For Is In the Library," we'll be taking a look at Advocacy—what it is, what it isn't, and who it helps (hint: your local library was made possible by viewers like you 🫵🏽)

Thanks to some great marketing (like you see above) the library—as a global information organization—has been immensely successful in establishing itself as a neighborhood or community landmark...and much less fortunate in being able to convince the powers that be of its continued necessity in the twenty-first century.

From personal experience, I can say that I don't think I've ever not known what a library is. While at a young age, my ability to articulate why the library was useful would be limited to, "because that's where the books are," I can see as an adult that as we move towards a rapidly advancing technological society that has embraced an odd pursuit of anti-intellectualism; the outdated—but commonheld—ideas about what the library is and does unfortunately inform the public about its usefulness. 

Said another way, there is a prevalent misconception that the library is an old building, with old librarians, with old books that nobody reads because we all have cellphones and everything is moving online...that can—in part—be addressed with more advocacy by and on behalf of library professionals and organizations to remind the public of all libraries have been and all they can continue to be in the lives of twenty-first century patrons.

So if a playful bop about the fun of library cards was the pro-library advocacy of the early 2000s, what does advocacy look like over twenty years later? 

We have librarians like Mychal Threets who utilize social media to let people know about what services libraries currently offer; campaigns and protests to see that library's receive proper funding; online information organizations going to bat to fight for the right to provide free access to information and many, many, more—all done in hopes of supporting the center of information services in the community.

To summarize,

What Advocacy Is

Building relationships with the local community.

Showcasing library/information services.

Securing support (of both monetary and non-monetary value) that will enable the library/information organization to continue operating to the best of its ability. 

What Advocacy Isn't

Politically motivated.

Simply about money/funding.

Pointless.

Impossible.

Bibliography

Nemec-Loise, J. (2016). Top Ten Advocacy Myths–Busted!Links to an external site. Children & Libraries: The Journal of the  Association for Library Service to Children, 14(1), 34–35. https://journals.ala.org/index.php/cal/article/view/5924/7497Links to an external site.

PBS KIDS. (2023, August 22). Arthur | SING ALONG: Library Card Song | PBS KIDS [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRTdmmdEuRM

Sweeney, P. “PC.” (2022). Advocacy. In Information services today : an introduction (Third edition., pp. 388–396). essay, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Incorporated.

Staff, B. (2024, February 27). “mychal the librarian” set to collaborate with PBS Kids in Social Media Series. Because of Them We Can. https://www.becauseofthemwecan.com/blogs/the-feels/mychal-threets-pbs-kids-collaboration

NYC’s Public Libraries Call for Reversal of $58.3M in Proposed Budget Cuts  | The New York Public Library. (n.d.). The New York Public Library. https://www.nypl.org/press/nycs-public-libraries-call-reversal-583m-proposed-budget-cuts

Freeland, C. (2024, April 19). Internet Archive Stands Firm on Library Digital Rights in Final Brief of Hachette v. Internet Archive Lawsuit. Internet Archive Blogs. https://blog.archive.org/2024/04/19/internet-archive-stands-firm-on-library-digital-rights-in-final-brief-of-hachette-v-internet-archive-lawsuit/

[celestial-mar]

I hope Mychal the librarian knows that I love him (respectful)

[fortunatefires]

Mychal the librarian is a lovely human and deserves joy at all times. If anybody is mean to him it's on sight, ya hear?

[sistahscifi]

TOMORROW! Our founder/CEO, @IsisAsare, will host guests librarian Mychal Threets, and authors Cassidy Bridges, Gabrielle W. Bridges on Sistah Scifi Wine Down Wednesday!!!! They will be discussing The AfroRevolution - the books, the event, and the movement. Swipe to learn more and link in bio.

Sign up to join to hang out with us @SistahScifi | https://sistahscifi.com/pages/events

@mychal3ts @cassidy_brianna @briebridges @iamsherriwinston @bloomsburychildrens

#sistahscifi #afrorevolution #mychalthreets #library #sistahscifiwinedownwednesday

[an-elk]

I bring this up because the opening line is, "However relevant the stereotypical, silence-enforcing librarian remains in the popular imagination, Mychal Threets wants to dispel any lingering notion of the library as a dry, humorless place, lorded over by rigid pedants." Which is the sort of thing that always makes me think of this: https://catandgirl.com/long-time-listener/ ...

[stimpunks]

“It is deeply subversive to live proudly despite being living embodiments of our culture’s long standing ethical failings.” —Maxfield Sparrow

Happy Weird Pride Day!

[ashbunny2027]

‘So happy you’re here’: how a librarian became an advocate for mental health | California | The Guardian

This is wonderful! And highlights the importance, not to mention the impact of libraries ❤️📖📚❤️

[dirtyyellowdog]

An article about viral librarian Mychal Threets. I’m a big fan of this guy.