‘Cool’ Comes Dancing to the Library
The pandemic wiped out decades of progress in children’s reading skills. So what is a librarian hoping to engage children and teenagers with books and reading to do?
“Meet them where they are,” said Sara Day, a teen services librarian in Woodland, California. And that, she said, is on TikTok.
A growing number of librarians are joining her there. Recently, Ms. Day and her colleague, Sara Vickers, a children’s librarian, led dozens of librarians in a short choreography set to Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” at the Young Adult Library Services Association’s 2022 symposium in Baltimore, Maryland.
“Looking cool was a big challenge at the beginning,” Ms. Vickers, 34, told the crowd. That was until her colleagues had a change in mind-set. “Lean into the cringe,” Ms. Day, 29, advised. Teens are overwhelmed, she said. “Put a smile on their face.”
Asked if their libraries were on TikTok, about half of the room raised their hands. The message to teens, Ms. Day said, is: “Come in, there’s a space for you.”
On TikTok, librarians wear costumes, dance to viral songs, show off new books and bond with their co-workers. The videos draw in visitors and drum up interest in reading: Margo Moore, 28, a teen services librarian in Lawrence, Kansas, said that interest in books featured in popular TikTok videos often surges in the days and weeks that follow.
There is no official tally of library and librarian TikTok accounts, but Katie Elson Anderson, a reference librarian at Rutgers University-Camden in New Jersey, has compiled a list of 85 accounts — which she says is likely an undercount.
Being on TikTok tells young people that “we’re here, we hear you, we feel you,” said Celia Greer, 30, a teen coordinator at the Kankakee Public Library in Kankakee, Illinois. The library posted a video on TikTok last year that earned over one million views and scored a comment from the actor Kevin Bacon. The library posted a second video celebrating Mr. Bacon’s comment, earning over 30,000 views.
“People know who we are out in public because of the TikToks,” Ms. Greer said.
As conflicts over book bans escalate across the United States, some librarians have brought the issue to TikTok. In August, the Dallas Public Library posted a TikTok about books that had been banned or challenged. In the video, Emily Jackson, 40, the social media manager for the library, holds up books as “World’s Smallest Violin” by AJR plays. The post reached nearly 28,000 people.
Some librarians are ambivalent about encouraging young people to use TikTok. Elizabeth Miller, 22, a youth services librarian in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, said that the platform is not always a healthy environment for adolescents.
But other librarians find that TikTok lets them engage with the community in person, too. The Kankakee Public Library often collaborates with local figures, including the mayor. The library also plans to make TikToks with cheerleaders and the drama club at the local high school this year.
“We may not make them readers this year or next year,” said Mary Bass, 30, the youth services assistant supervisor and lead at the library. “But they’ll know that we’re here as they grow up.”
Being on TikTok tells young people that “we’re here, we hear you,” said Celia Greer, far left, a teen coordinator for a library.