Every Book Its Reader: Participate in the Annual, Librarian-led Wikimedia Campaign

Fighting censorship and promoting books through Wikipedia

Posted on March 31, 2025 in Blog Posts

This April, for the third year, librarians, library staff, and literature enthusiasts around the globe will join together to support authors and their works through the #EveryBookItsReader campaign. Participants will improve content about books on Wikimedia projects like Wikipedia and Wikidata. In 2023 and 2024, events took place in Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Uganda, Ukraine, and the United States, leading to improvements and increased content across multiple languages including Spanish, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, Italian, Swedish, Igbo, Romanian, and Ukrainian.

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What is a Wikimedia campaign?

A Wikimedia campaign is a coordinated effort to encourage contributions to Wikimedia projects around a specific theme, topic, or goal. Campaigns often involve organizing events like edit-a-thons, content drives, or workshops to increase participation and improve content in a targeted way. Well-known campaigns that have been running for more than a decade include Art+Feminism, Wiki Loves Folklore, and 1Lib1Ref. 

#EveryBookItsReader is inspired by the third law of Ranganathan’s Five Laws of Library Science, “Every book its reader,” which can be interpreted to mean that every book has a reader and, therefore, a place in the library. It was launched in April 2023, emerging from a conversation among three librarians from different countries who shared concerns about book censorship and access to knowledge. All three librarians had previous experience working with Wikimedia projects. Because of this, the discussion quickly turned into a call to action, recognizing the opportunity to promote literary works and intellectual freedom in an open knowledge platform. 

One of the librarians, Núria Ferran-Ferrer, is based in Barcelona, where the long-standing tradition of the Day of Books and Roses–Sant Jordi’s Day–is celebrated every April 23rd. On this day, booksellers fill the streets, lovers exchange books and roses, and literature is celebrated. Inspired by this annual event, the campaign naturally found its home in April, transforming a single conversation into a global effort to highlight and share information about books.

Currently, the leadership team behind #EveryBookItsReader is made up of five librarians: Lilian Viana and Stela Madruga in Brazil, Martin Tena Espinoza de los Monteros and Alejandro Quiroz Hernández in Mexico, and me in the United States. The leadership team works toward building a common culture around the campaign’s goals and creating conditions for its development and strengthening. Anyone is welcome to organize and develop activities within the scope of the campaign. So far this year, we are aware of events taking place in Brazil, Kenya, Nigeria, Spain, Uganda, and the United States.

Getting involved in #EveryBookItsReader

Regional events can be found through our website, everybookitsreader.org. You can join an existing event or organize your own event. Logos for promoting the campaign are available in nine languages. If you are interested in editing independently (not as part of an event), please sign up on the dashboard so your edits are counted in the campaign. 

Last year, as part of the campaign, I set a goal to create four new Wikipedia articles about books. Although I fell just short, I successfully contributed three: Sweet Bean Paste (viewed 12,226 times since creation), Crooked Plow (viewed 11,704 times), and Seeking Fortune Elsewhere (viewed 1,020 times). Without a doubt, each Wikipedia article I create reaches far more readers than any research article I’ve published in an academic journal. Knowing that thousands of people have accessed these pages, discovering new stories and connecting with literature, brings both professional fulfillment and personal joy.

If you’re new to editing book articles in Wikipedia and aren’t sure where to begin, check out the LibGuide I created, “Creating and editing Wikipedia articles about books.” And if you’re looking for inspiration, think about the books that have shaped your own reading journey—could they use a little more attention on Wikipedia? Now’s your chance to ensure every book finds its reader.

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