Maggie Murphy, first-year writing, visual art and humanities librarian and assistant professor for University Libraries, has been named as one of Library Journal’s 2020 Movers & Shakers — Educators. With this recognition, Murphy joins a distinguished group of librarians that are creating strategies to make libraries more inclusive for everyone, while implementing ground-breaking approaches to literacy, learning and teaching. Movers & Shakers is sponsored by Baker & Taylor and SAGE.
In 2019, Murphy launched the “Uplifting Memes” project in an effort for students in all disciplines to think about art and visual media as sources of information along with textual information sources. Participants learned about copyright and public domain, visual rhetoric and more.
The project is the recipient of the 2019-2020 University Libraries Innovation and Program Enrichment Grant, and it is aimed at connecting students with library resources and spaces. At the same time, “Uplifting Memes” addresses critical, intersecting literacies that help students develop “transformative life skills necessary to be informed and engaged in society” and navigate “digital resources and content” (UNCG University Libraries Strategic Plan, 2018-19) through the theme of memes. Other University Libraries’ collaborators to the “Uplifting Memes” project include Brown Biggers, systems programmer, and Jenny Dale, information literacy coordinator and associate professor.
“Part of what makes this project so noteworthy is that it brings together information and visual literacy skills with a core focus on students as information creators,” said Dale. “Maggie has breathed new life into our information literacy program.”
Murphy holds a master’s degree in library and information science from Rutgers University and a bachelor of arts degree in liberal arts from Sarah Lawrence College. Prior to joining UNCG, she served as a reference and instruction librarian at Georgia Highlands College, a visual resources curator at Queens College-City University of New York and an evening and weekend reference librarian at St. Francis College.
