The NY Public Library Meme'd Their Way Out of Budget Cuts

I talked to Victoria Reis, social media manager at NYPL, about their recent meme campaign to get funding restored.

When the news was reported in June that NYC public libraries would have their funding restored after pushing back for months against budget cuts, many people credited the social media team and their strategic use of memes.

The New York Public Library accounts typically post about books, their archives, local events, and items for sale in their shop. But on April 25th, NYPL posted a recreation of a popular meme using their mascot to bring awareness to proposed library budget cuts. It took off—garnering over 18K likes and hundreds of comments. Over the next few months the NYPL accounts would lean into memes (a format they typically avoided) to talk about the proposed cuts and to let people know how they could help.

In today’s newsletter, I interviewed Victoria Reis, social media manager at The New York Public Library, about why they leaned into this format during one of the most consequential moments in the library’s history.

Victoria Reis, social media manager at The New York Public Library, in human form and in meme form. (NYPL let me choose which headshot I preferred, so I chose both.)

Rachel Karten: First, can you tell me about your role at NYPL?

Victoria Reis: I manage all of NYPL's flagship social media accounts—reaching 3.5 million followers across platforms. In addition to our primary brand accounts there are individual social media accounts representing our branches and research divisions for which I provide occasional tech support.

RK: How would you describe NYPL's social media strategy?

VR: Our strategy really revolves around our patrons, readers, New Yorkers, and researchers—and connecting them to the services NYPL provides. As a major tourist destination, a portion of our audience is national and international, too. My job is encouraging people to read and use the library.

I dig through our history, our renowned collections, and surface cool stuff people don’t get to see everyday. But they could! If they went to the library.

So many discussions about third spaces right now and I really want to say: the library is right there. Have you stepped foot in your neighborhood branch? There are people there who will talk to you about books! 

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A post shared by @nypl

RK: I'd love to focus on the memes and posts recently when the budgets were potentially going to get cut. Your team really activated to get New Yorkers to rally behind stopping the cuts! Can you talk me through how you thought about this campaign?

VR: What a lot of people didn’t realize is that NYC public library budgets were already cut midyear in November. After seeming to spare us from the proposed cuts at the start of last fiscal year in June 2023, we were hit with a surprise cut in November that took immediate effect, forcing us to close Sundays.

We needed New Yorkers to know what was going on and I was able to use memes as a quick and punchy way to communicate the seriousness of the situation in a format that’s easy to digest and travels well online. It all started with the idea to place our lion mascot Patience in the classic ‘This is Fine’ meme format. Things were not fine! A huge cut already snuck in under the radar. We were in an extended hiring freeze. The impacts on staff are immense…trying to work under the stress of more potential cuts was perfectly expressed in that meme. 

As the series continued it changed the way we approach social media overall. For the first time, our posts were a super organic two-way outlet for the library and our audience to connect over this mutually devastating situation.

RK: People sometimes complain that memes are ineffective marketing tools or too immature for serious organizations—but clearly they really worked here. Why do you think that is?

VR: I think it worked so well because the meme is so unserious, in contrast to how serious the situation was. It was very unexpected coming from The New York Public Library.

Posting some of these memes at 10 AM on LinkedIn was a direction I could never have predicted for my career either. The sudden tone shift really spoke directly to our millennial (cusp gen-z) audience. I was glad to see that earnestness can still resonate with people! We kept it cute by being really intentional about what memes were used, with wholesome references to Pikachu, Kermit, Geordi La Forge (AKA LeVar Burton), and She-Ra the Princess of Power.

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A post shared by @nypl

RK: Which meme that you posted was your favorite?

VR: My favorite is the Lisa Simpson Presentation. I have never felt such a direct connection between my work, my feelings, and the feelings of those you can reach through social media work. I was speaking through that one. I was tired! But I also really loved Save the Library Tonite Mayor??.

RK: I know you had a link in your bio for people to tell the government #NoCutsToLibraries and nypl.org/speakout—would you see spikes when you posted these memes?

VR: I know the link clicks were going crazy. But the success of the advocacy campaign overall was due to the hard work of the whole comms team and our staff at branches reaching patrons in person. A record number of print and online letters to city leaders were signed.

RK: How does it feel to have your team really noticed and credited for helping get the funding restored?

VR: It was such a joy to see New Yorkers immediately rally to defend the library. What we learned is that New Yorkers not only love the library, they will fight for it. We owe the budget restoration to them, more so than the memes.

And to have the response be so overwhelmingly positive. All the comments saying “the NYPL social media team deserves rest.” I felt seen! Despite being a SMM who prefers to stay behind the camera, it was fun getting so much love in the comments. It’s nice when hard work is acknowledged. 

RK: What do you love about doing social media for NYPL?

VR: I love research, I love reading. My background is in art history. But like so many of us, I obviously spend a ton of time online.

So the days I spend in The NYPL Picture Collection sorting through folios of print material and scanning them by hand are an antidote to all the screen time.

I love the quiet.

Getting to work with NYPL’s renowned collections and shining some light on all the wonderful work being done by our curators, librarians, and staff from Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island, and BookOps in Queens, is such a treat.

RK: Any final thoughts?

VR: Please, if you liked any of the budget memes, do me a favor and stop by a branch and get a library card, or renew your old one. And use the library! It’s the best way to make some connections in this city, right in your community, with no obligation to spend money. 

Thanks so much for reading! Heads up that there are some great new jobs on the Link in Bio Job Board.

Social & Community Associate at Magic Molecule. Senior Manager, Social Media at Briogeo. Director, Social Media & Editorial at Epic Games. Social Media Director at The Washington Post.

You can view them all here!