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For The Washington Post

Virginia Oliver

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Courtesy of Mychal Threets

Mychal Threets is a self-proclaimed library super fan. He has a tattoo of <a href="https://pbskids.org/arthur" target=_blank>Arthur Read</a>’s library card on his arm.

“I’ve loved Arthur as long as I can remember, probably as long as I’ve loved the library,” Threets said of the famous cartoon aardvark who likes books and libraries.

Threets, 33, is the supervising librarian at Fairfield Civic Center Library in Solano County, Calif. It’s the library he grew up frequenting as a young boy. Over the past few years, Threets has been sharing snippets of his life as a librarian on social media, in the hope of spreading what he calls “library joy.”

“Libraries are so much more than books,” said Threets, who is known for his high energy and colorful wardrobe. “It’s a place that’s there for you. The doors are open. The library is for everybody.”

Threets has hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok and Instagram and has received mostly positive feedback about his posts, which generally consist of book reviews, his library experiences and mental health messages. He was profiled in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/01/us/mychal-threets-librarian-influencer.html" target=_blank>New York Times</a> for his “upbeat take on libraries.”

Recently, though, Threets became the subject of insults on social media.

On Dec. 29, someone shared one of Threets’s library-related videos on X, formerly Twitter, and wrote that “people are getting weirder.” The post continued with additional tweets, including one that used a slur implying people at libraries have developmental delays.

Then came dozens of comments from other people, criticizing Threets’s appearance, voice and mannerisms. Some people called him autistic, which Threets said is incorrect.

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Threets was at his grandmother’s 90th birthday party when he got scores of messages from concerned friends and fans, warning him about the post circulating on X. The post has been viewed more than 43 million times.

“It made me feel very horrible,” he said, explaining that he was especially disturbed by comments insinuating he could be a danger to children. “That was what I was really saddened by.”

Threets said he takes pride in being “weird” and was upset that the word had a negative connotation in the post.

“There is nothing wrong with being weird,” he said. “I have some of the weirdest friends in the world. They are extraordinary and they are amazing because of their weirdness.”

The tide turned for Threets when people came to his defense. There were friends and fans — as well as complete strangers.

“Incredible, you took a guy who is passionate about his job of being a librarian and trying to encourage adults and kids to read more/get a library card....and somehow made it negative,” one person commented.

“Have we decayed so much as a society where general wholesome enthusiasm is seen as an undesirable trait?” another person wrote.

“Doesn’t get any weirder than trying to shame someone for being enthusiastic about learning and uplifting activities,” someone else commented.

Before long, the critical comments were far outnumbered by those that were supportive of Threets.

“So many people were burying those negative words,” he said.

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In an email to The Washington Post, podcaster Josh Lekach said he made the critical post on X — where he has 47,000 followers — as a reaction to Threets’s social media videos, which he called “bizarre and performative.”

“Those millions who disagreed with my benign post are wrong,” Lekach wrote.

Threets decided to address the situation in <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@mychal3ts/video/7318647644551875882" target=_blank>a TikTok video</a> — which led to an even greater wave of support for him. He said sometimes the best way to respond to people who level insults is with empathy.

“I hope those people have a much better day tomorrow. I hope they experience kindness. I hope they experience joy. I hope they remember that they still belong at the library. I hope better days are ahead of them,” Threets said in the video.

Threets knows that many young people follow him on social media, he said, and he thought sharing the story could be a teachable moment.

“That’s why I made the video — to remind people of how important kindness is,” he said. “I wanted to remind them that it’s perfectly okay to be weird.”

Thousands of people commented, remarking that “you are such a light in this world” and “I want to be like you when I grow up.” Others vowed to get a library card in his honor.

“That was one of the most amazing feelings of my life, to see all those incredible, kind things that people were saying,” Threets said.

His co-workers were also touched by the outpouring of kindness.

Joan Parker, the children’s librarian at Fairfield Civic Center Library, has worked with Threets for nearly five years and said his online presence has drawn more interest in the library.

“Mychal definitely put us on the map,” said Parker, 35, noting that children and their parents have told her on many occasions that they wanted to visit the library because of Threets.

“He is that voice for all people working at libraries,” Parker added. “He’s had a big impact.”

Although Threets was initially upset about the comments on X, he said he will continue spreading library joy on social media. By doing so, he said, “we’re taking the word weird back.”

“I will keep reminding people that there’s far more kindness out there than there is negativity,” he said.

McGill University, BA

Columbia University, MS in journalism 

Sydney Page is a staff reporter who writes for The Washington Post’s Inspired Life section, a collection of stories about humanity. She has been a contributor to The Post since 2018.

Sydney Page

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Librarian Mychal Threets faced insults. Thousands came to his defense.

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