We are an increasingly disconnected and lonely country. Bowling Alone came out 24 years ago and identified trends that continue today: We tend to join fewer organizations, know our neighbors less, and meet with friends less frequently. The surgeon general advised last year that our epidemic of loneliness and isolation represents a significant health concern. This growing disconnect leads to polarization, cynicism, and division, documented clearly in America at a Crossroads.
Thinking about ways to reverse this trend, libraries stand out as an opportunity to forge connections. By providing us with access to many perspectives and ideas, libraries help us understand each other. Libraries are places where we are encouraged to coexist and engage with each other.
Within that shared library space are the books where we share our stories. Books and stories are the windows through which we see each other, and that can bring us closer together. Here at NoveList, we celebrate this idea, that books have the power to inspire, teach, and connect.
Physical presence is important for feeling connected to each other. Our digital world can feel highly impersonal. And it’s getting more complicated now that our digital tools seem able to converse with us as described in the confusing reality of AI friends. But in libraries, we have the unique opportunity to be authentically and physically present with each other, to share space and ideas. We also have the chance to ask real humans (aka library staff) for help navigating the growing misinformation, disinformation, and confusing digital tools.
So, let’s think of 2025 as our year of building more connections, especially human connections. If we are intentional about this, perhaps we can reverse the trend toward loneliness by bringing people together over their shared enjoyment of reading.
So, let’s think of 2025 as our year of building more connections, especially human connections. If we are intentional about this, perhaps we can reverse the trend toward loneliness by bringing people together over their shared enjoyment of reading.
At NoveList, we have some exciting projects in the works for 2025 that help foster that connectedness:
- For those of you looking to learn how to grow a strong reading culture in your community, make sure to follow along with all that we’re doing in Learn with NoveList. Thousands of library staff have already taken our foundational courses, and we’re in the middle of adding a whole lot more from some of the best, most knowledgeable teachers. Look for topics like attracting more readers to the library, keeping up with new books, developing key partnerships, and more. We’re also preparing to release an upgrade to Learn with NoveList that will offer more advanced tools for admins.
- If you want to help more people fall in love with reading, try one or more of our reader engagement tools. We’re offering several in 2025 that are proven to work: The 2025 NoveList Reading Challenge has some great new reading prompts, our 2025 Summer Reading Collection includes new templates and reading lists, and our readers’ advisory email newsletter service continues to deliver expert recommendations to patron inboxes. Offering great reading suggestions is the most effective way to keep people connected to the library, and using these reader engagement tools will keep your library top of mind for readers.
- You already know NoveList as the place to delight and inspire readers by matching them to books they didn’t even know to ask for. One of our goals for the year is to make sure that NoveList is easier for everyone to use, staff and patrons alike. Be sure to watch for our upcoming release of a new and improved NoveList. The new NoveList will be modern, accessible, and beautiful. It’s also more than just a new design. We have included some new functionality including new ways to uncover hidden gems that we think you’re going to love.
That’s where we’re going. How about you? As the world changes, there’s a lot of pressure on libraries to keep up with bots, AI, algorithms, and more. Libraries risk being seen as irrelevant or out of touch when they lag behind the levels of service and convenience that have become commonplace elsewhere. But convenience doesn’t bring people closer together, and right there is the opportunity.
Libraries have something unique to offer and that is a personal connection to their people, ideas, and stories. This sense of connection is what we all need. A personal experience is exactly how libraries can stand out in a crowded world. The NoveList team is here to help libraries deliver that personal experience, and we put together this short video that shows how. Also, be sure to sign up for our newsletter so that you can follow our progress during 2025.
Danielle Borasky is Vice President of NoveList. She is reading All the Beauty in the World by Patrick Bringley.
