Need a short message of good wishes

April 16, 2020 1:05 PM

My library is thinking about doing a social media post next week to let our patrons know that we miss them, appreciate them, are thinking about them while we're all staying at home. The plan is to take a picture of 15-20 staff members, each one holding up a word or two on a piece of paper that, when put together, all spell out a message of hope/appreciation/inspiration. Normally I am not a great collector of inspirational quotes. Do you know of one that might work for such a thing?
posted by lyssabee to Grab Bag (6 answers total)

You should take one that spells

AAAA AAAA AAAAA
AAAA AAAA AAAAA
AAAA AAAA AAAA!

and then have them flip over the cards to say

We miss you.
Keep reading and
Stay home, OK
posted by advicepig at 1:21 PM on April 16, 2020 [3 favorites]

"Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are" -- Mason Cooley
Stay home. Stay safe.
posted by kate4914 at 2:11 PM on April 16, 2020 [9 favorites]

I would start with a quote about libraries and finish with a few words riffing on the quote.

"We may sit in our library and yet be in all quarters of the earth.” [Come back to us soon!]
― John Lubbock

“A library in the middle of a community is a cross between an emergency exit, a life-raft and a festival.". [Looking forward to restarting the party!]
― Caitlin Moran

"Overall, the library held a hushed exultation, as though the cherished volumes were all singing soundlessly within their covers.” [Our books miss their audience]
― Diana Gabaldon

"The public library is where place and possibility meet.” [We look forward to arranging the meeting]
― Stuart Dybek

"People made the library. That’s what made a library. Without them, all the sacredness was gone. It was just a building with books.” [We miss our community!]
― Scott Douglas
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 2:17 PM on April 16, 2020 [5 favorites]

"The library is too big without you. We hope we can be together soon. We miss seeing you."
posted by jessamyn at 2:19 PM on April 16, 2020 [3 favorites]

We miss our library patrons is the message I'd like, as a library patron. Maybe get staff to hold up library books, and have a caption Chris in Circulation misses library patrons, and so does The Boy from the Woods by Harlan Coben which Chris is holding. Or pictures of books that have people on the covers, and you add a cartoon balloon and a message. Like this one could be saying Where'd you go, Patrons?

You asked for a library quotation, though, so Libraries are the thin red line between civilization and barbarism. —Neil Gaiman

or Inspiration:
- The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy. —Martin Luther King Jr.
- Danger gathers upon our path. We cannot afford — we have no right — to look back. We must look forward. —Winston Churchill
- What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. —Ralph Waldo Emerson
But most inspirational messages do little for me right now. In your next email, you could ask patrons for the inspirational words that keep them going. We patrons love to be asked.
posted by theora55 at 7:22 PM on April 16, 2020 [1 favorite]

I love theora55's book caption suggestion, if it's feasible. Maybe librarians can select books that also have ebook versions?

If you do go with that, see if you can include the wonderful (and very appropriately titled) Travel Far, Pay No Fare.
posted by basalganglia at 3:08 AM on April 17, 2020 [1 favorite]