The Top Five Must-Read Stories about Librarians from 2023

Most articles and publications from library organizations are designed to speak to librarians. While there is value in librarians talking to each other, our Medium articles are designed to do something that no one else in libraries is doing: we are talking to Americans about libraries. Our donors have helped us to do that -- and we allow and encourage libraries across the country to repurpose our content to help build local support by affixing a Creative Commons License to the end of each story we publish. EveryLibrary has published 703 stories on Medium since 2017, with 212 articles published this year alone at a rate of three stories every week.

EveryLibrary’s Medium magazine speaks directly to Americans about the role of libraries and librarians to build understanding and political support through social media and Medium. This year, articles related to access to information and diverse perspectives had the highest readership statistics, suggesting that people are genuinely interested in learning more about the significance of librarianship and how it impacts them. This is a considerable achievement, thanks to a dedicated team, including our new addition, Editorial Assistant Tina Andrews, and our growing staff of talented freelance writers. 

In 2023, we received the highest readership and engagement on the stories about the importance of access to information and diverse perspectives, particularly for underrepresented groups, highlighting the public's interest in the implications of censorship on library shelves. "Book Bannings Targeting Black Authors and Perspectives Are Skyrocketing" and "What Happens When Kids Can't Access Information About Gender and Sexuality at the Library?" received some of the most enthusiastic engagement, demonstrating the growing alarm that limited access to diverse materials in school and public libraries will lead to intolerance, and discrimination. These statistics, in addition to significantly high readership statistics on articles such as "Libraries and Information Literacy" and "What I Wish Everyone Knew About the Library," indicate that people are genuinely interested in learning more about the role of librarians.

The articles that we originate on Medium contribute to EveryLibrary's online presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, Mastodon, Instagram, and Twitter, and with the help of donor support through paid boosts in addition to our organic reach, are seen by as many as 1,000,000 Americans each week. With a total reading time of 31,179 minutes over the last three months on Medium, at an average of 303 Medium viewers daily, and as many as a million viewers weekly through our social media, we meet Americans where they are and speak directly to them about libraries and librarians.

As a magazine, we don't just report on the latest news; we aim to offer our readers a comprehensive understanding of librarianship's significance and how it impacts each American, not just library users. We hope our readers have found our content informative and thought-provoking. Thanks to our donors, we can continue to grow our writing staff, promote the role of librarians, and fight for access to information and diverse perspectives through libraries. We are proud of how we have expanded our Medium presence this year and look forward to continuing to have an active role in guiding the discussion around libraries in 2024.