Memes. We all look at them, and on hard days in library land, it’s nice to have some good ones we can giggle over, or make us sigh in sympathy.
Check out this article, reviewing some of the library memes that came up each month of 2017. It may have been a dumpster fire of a year for a lot of people – but memes could be a unifying force for library people everywhere!
“Looking back, 2017 was a turbulent year in libraryland. Let’s take a peek at the library memes that emerged.
First: What is a Meme?
The term “meme” rose to prominence in the 1990s, accompanying the rise of the internet and personal computer. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “meme” is a noun that means an idea, behavior, style or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture.
It can also mean an amusing or interesting item such as a captioned picture or video that is spread widely on the internet. “Memes are often harmless images with funny text over it,” says to Michael Levenson, a Boston Globe reporter.
Richard Dawkins, a British scientist, first used the term “meme” in 1976 book The Selfish Gene to mean “a unit of cultural transmission”. When he created the word, he sought a monosyllable that sounded a bit like “gene”. “Mim” was a root meaning mime or mimic, and “-eme” a distinctive unit of language or structure.
January: “Hey, this is library” #thisislibrary
Is the library an appropriate place for loud protest?
You are missing out if you haven’t followed the meme and video trail for the guy who interrupted an anti-Trump protest that took place in a library at the University of Washington in January.
With the library’s reputation for being a place of quiet study and contemplation, and its role in promoting civic discourse and freedom of speech… there’s no easy answer. This student staged a protest of his own, and the internet community responded.
Have you been in a library when a protest occurred in the space? How did people react? Does anyone enforce the expectation of quietness? Or is the “sshhsshh”ing librarian gone forever?
Regardless, you should know – the year of memes kicked off in a library.
February: “Libraries are for everyone” @Hafuboti #librariesR4Every1 #librariesresist
Blogger Harfuboti, in a February 2, 2017 post called “LIBRARIES ARE FOR EVERYONE,” gained traction with a grassroots messaging campaign for libraries. The content exploded in library-related social media circles.
The images – which we’re calling memes due to the design style of the content and the enthusiastic way it spread in the culture – were intended for wide distribution. The creator explicitly stated a Creative Commons Attribute/Share Alike license for the work, and encouraged people to download, share, modify and have fun with the work. It was quickly reprinted for buttons, T-shirts, and coloring pages. The memes were made available in seventy-eight different languages.
This content spread along with tags such as #librariesresist which rose to popularity after the January 20th inauguration of President Donald Trump. The controversial executive order – Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States – or the “travel ban” had taken center stage in mainstream American media at the end of January.
The American Library Association responded on January 30, 2017 with a statement saying that the ALA opposes new administration policies that contradict core values of professional librarians. The messaging of Harfuboti’s images enforced the position of the library professional community toward inclusivity, and Twitter indicates that circulation of the meme picked up speed throughout February and March.
March: Beauty and the Beast Hits Theaters (March 17, 2017) #beautyandthebeast #library
With the March 17, 2017 release date for the new adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, memes circulated widely in library-loving communities. Anyone who admired the library in the original Disney animated film was left to wonder: how would the library be represented in the live action film?
The film starred Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as the beast. The movie grossed $1.264 billion in the box office. As of December 2017, that makes it part of the top ten highest grossing films of all time according to Box Office Mojo.
Meanwhile in Saskatchewan … on Wednesday March 22, budget cuts were announced including a $4.8 million overall cut to rural and urban library systems. #SaveSKLibraries began the next day with a Facebook group that attracted 500 members in the first 8 hours, according to Headtale, a librarian blogger involved with the advocacy work. Which leads us to …”
Okay – check out the entire article here to get all 12 months!