Meet Mychal Threets, The TikTok Creator Who Is All About Spreading Library Joy

The Gist:

• Mychal Threets is a librarian who has become very popular on TikTok.
• In his videos, he spreads positive messages about the library and often shares anecdotes about his job.
• Mychal has received some hurtful comments regarding his upbeat personality and joyful videos.

Is reading a book better for you than watching TikTok videos? Probably, but the joy of connecting with fellow book lovers online, especially BookTok creators who actively champion reading and put you onto new titles, can be just as beneficial. Additionally, keeping up with creators who advocate for libraries, is also as important.

Keep reading to learn more about Mychal Threets, a TikTok creator and librarian who wants you to know that you are always welcome at the library.

Mychal Threets is a librarian turned TikTok star. He works as the supervising librarian at the Fairfield Civic Center Library in Solano County, Calif., which he features in many of his videos. He is big on spreading "library joy" as he calls it.

In his videos which have amassed millions of likes, Mychal shares stories from his workday at the library. He has spent a lot of his life at the library. Mychal got his first library card at age 5. Not to mention, he was home-schooled by his mother through most of grade school and relied on many of the resources at his local library — which he now runs, as he told the New York Times. Mychal claims earliest friends were the books, and voices, on the shelves. Mychal got his first library card at age 5.

One of Mychal's favorite childhood characters is Arthur Read, the aardvark protagonist of the eponymous series. He nods to him in his TikTok bio by borrowing his iconic line: "Having fun isn't hard when you have a library card." In fact, Mychal has Arthur's library card tattooed on his arm.

Mychal's cheerful library videos aren't adored by everyone though. In a recent social media interaction on X, Josh Lekach, host of the podcast Wrong Opinion, shared one of Mychal's videos, writing "People are getting weirder."

Mychal addressed Josh's hurtful comment as well as others made in response to the post, which included comments mocking his voice, mannerisms, and how he retells his interactions at the library. Some folks tried to defend him, claiming he's autistic.

Setting the record straight, Mychal explained: "I'm not autistic. There's nothing wrong with being autistic. I think autistic people are some of the coolest people on the planet."

As for the folks who said mean things about him, Mychal said the following: "When people are really suffering, sometimes they resort to meanness, cruelty because that's what they feel about themselves. And I hope those people have a much better day tomorrow. I hope they experience kindness. I hope they experience joy."