Reflection 1: BookTok & Hyperlinked Communities

When perusing this week’s readings, I was drawn to the article As Seen on #BookTok: Inspiring Young Readers, TikTok Is a Boon for Books by Kelly Jensen. Like many, I know of BookTok and have witnessed its explosive growth within the past few years. I’ve certainly come across some content from within the community before, though I wouldn’t consider myself a part of its subcommunity really, as my TikTok  usage has been pretty sparse these days — though I have engaged more with similar communities on other social media sites like YouTube (or “BookTube” as it can be called there).

What drew me to this article was its relevance to libraries as a significant information community that could be tapped into in order to expand and modernize library services. It also reminded me a lot of my chosen information community in INFO 200 — online fandom communities (particularly Star Wars fans). Like my chosen community in that class, BookTok members are also a group that congregates primarily online. Like those in fandoms, they too have a massive reach. Books that get popular on BookTok often see an exponential spike in sales — with some titles going from selling about 50 copies per week to 9,000 (Jensen, 2022). Recently, it was even announced that due to BookTok’s impact in sparking a joy and renewed interest in reading (Jensen, 2022), sixty new Barnes & Noble bookstores would be opened across the country (Hopkins, 2025). The bookstore chain credits BookTok for “Americans’ sudden shift in public reading habits” (Hopkins, 2025).

Despite the prevalence of online shopping, it was interesting to see that physical stores like Barnes & Noble saw a surge in sales and usage — with the company saying that the stores have become popular social spots (Hopkins, 2025), providing a unique experience that online vendors cannot emulate in bringing this book-loving community together. The ways in which stores like Barnes & Noble tapped into the impact of BookTok stood out to me as something that libraries could also work to creatively utilize. Barnes & Noble, and other bookstores too from my experience, created tables and displays highlighting certain popular “As Seen on BookTok” titles (Hopkins, 2025) — further creating a sense of belonging and connection with this information community.

Seeing as how many libraries (both school and public) have also noticed an increase in demand for certain popular BookTok titles (which include both newer books as well as classic novels), I think it would be a great idea for libraries to continue to lean into these trends (Jensen, 2022). Regardless of whether or not you actually like the books that get popular on BookTok (of which many I know are contentious for various reasons), the truth of the matter is that it does drive up both book sales and library circulation. This interest in reading is a boon for libraries, who can also market themselves as a similar social space for Booktok communities. In fact, public libraries could do so in an even more meaningful way because their spaces are free and do not have a lingering expectation of a purchase which could limit the amount of time one could spend in a Barnes & Noble bookstore, for example. The important thing is to get more patrons in the door (either physically or virtually) as it could then lead to not only further circulation, but perhaps also an interest and usage of other library services and programs as well. This isn’t just to keep the library running, but it is important for more of the community at large to be aware of all that a library has to give.

While buying and/or stocking up on every BookTok trending title is likely not feasible for every library, as there are collection constraints and budgets to consider, there are still ways to get around this. One suggestion was for libraries to suggest similar titles to a popular Booktok book — either to generally broaden a reader’s horizon, or to serve as a buffer for longer wait times between holds (Jensen, 2022). Similar to bookstores, libraries could create BookTok-inspired displays to entice readers — or they could take these ‘reading lists’ online! The latter reminds me of some of the things libraries like the San Francisco Public Library (SFPL) are already doing. Though not BookTok, SFPL has posts on its Instagram page recommending books, movies, shows, and even music for fans of certain popular TV shows such as Severance and The White Lotus. Such a format could easily be repurposed for BookTok books. Shown below is a (slightly squished) sampling of some example recs that SFPL shared for Severance fans.

(Source: SFPL on Instagram; January 31, 2025)

Though there is a lot more interesting content I came across because of the BookTok article in this week’s readings, such as looking into the ways that BookTok users connect over and market books (which could in turn be utilized in libraries too, especially online), I’m going to end the post here before it gets even longer than it already is. The lasting point for me here is that libraries and other information organizations should remain open-minded and willing to bend and flow with the times in order to understand and appeal to new, significant information communities that are popping up. Sometimes, it may be just the thing needed to rejuvenate and re-popularize an institution — as was the case for bookstores like Barnes & Noble! 

References:

Hopkins, A. (2025, February 12). BookTok brings Barnes & Noble back. The Post. https://www.thepostathens.com/article/2025/02/barnes-noble-booktok-stores-comeback

Jensen, K. (2022, February 10). As seen on #BookTok: Inspiring young readers, TikTok is a boon for books. School Library Journal. https://www.slj.com/story/as-seen-on-booktok-inspiring-young-readers-tiktok-is-a-boon-for-books-libraries