Library
Create a library of reusable terms (strings) and display their contents anywhere on your site with a shortcode.
Consider an alternative
Library shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 900+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 11 years ago, and scores 34/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (900+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
- No update in 10 years
- Only tested up to WordPress 4.4 (latest is 7.1)
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Library stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| content | >100 |
| dictionary | >100 |
| library | >100 |
| shortcodes | >100 |
| strings | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews
About Library
From the official readme · v1.1.0Description
Create a library of reusable terms (strings) and display their contents anywhere on your site with a shortcode.
Library lets you create a library of reusable terms (or strings) without any code necessary and access a term’s content with a shortcode.
You can add a term (just like you’d add a post or page) called “Copyright Line” and its content could be “©2014 Your Company” and then use that anywhere on the site with [library term="copyright-line"] or <?php do_shortcode( '[library term="copyright-line"] ); ?>.
Because the library terms are a post type they inherit WordPress features like revision history, draft/scheduled/published, ability to change the term slug, full HTML, and so on.
Business Cases
These are real-world examples of how this plugin is being used or could be used. Each of these uses a shortcode to display the most up-to-date version of a term’s content.
A financial institution is advertising an interest rate across many pages on a large website. There are instances of this percentage in content and in templates. Within a matter of seconds all of these numbers can be changed rather than crossing your fingers and hoping you caught all of the rates.
In order to quickly change the price of a fluctuating product a company put their price in a term to update across the whole site.
A health insurance company uses the same disclosures on many pages and UI contexts and keeping them compliant with changing regulations was difficult until they kept them stored in the Library.
The copyright line in the footer of a website might change sometimes to reflect a new year, a new trademark, new ownership, etc.
Installation
Using The WordPress Dashboard
- Navigate to the ‘Add New’ in the plugins dashboard
- Search for ‘library’
- Click ‘Install Now’
- Activate the plugin on the Plugin dashboard
Uploading in WordPress Dashboard
- Navigate to the ‘Add New’ in the plugins dashboard
- Navigate to the ‘Upload’ area
- Select
library.zipfrom your computer - Click ‘Install Now’
- Activate the plugin in the Plugin dashboard
Using FTP
- Download
library.zip - Extract the
librarydirectory to your computer - Upload the
librarydirectory to the/wp-content/plugins/directory - Activate the plugin in the Plugin dashboard
Changelog
1.1.0
- Adds a media button to easily insert shortcodes
- Improved error handling
1.0.2
- Localized admin screen strings
- Escaped admin screen strings
1.0.1
- Updated base language file
- Typo fixes
- Removed blank index.php files
1.0
- First version
For developers
Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.
Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own — no account needed.
Best Library alternatives
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FAQ
Library: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Sep 30, 2026
Is Library free?
Yes. Library is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Library safe to use in 2026?
Library shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 900+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 11 years ago, and scores 34/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Library?
Library is active on 900+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 4,553 times since it launched in March 2014. It was downloaded 120 times in the last 30 days.
Does Library work with WordPress 7.1?
Library is officially tested up to WordPress 4.4.34, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
When was Library last updated?
The latest version, 1.1.0, was released on December 31, 2015 (11 years ago).
Who makes Library?
Library is developed and maintained by Patrick Daly.
What are the best alternatives to Library?
The most popular alternatives to Library are One Click Demo Import (1M+ installs), Advanced Excerpt (80K+ installs) and Rara One Click Demo Import (20K+ installs).
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