Librarians in popular culture

Tracy Hepburn and Spencer Tracey in a publicity shot for Desk Set.

According to Ann Seidl, director of the documentary The Hollywood Librarian, librarians in film are often portrayed as meek, timid, and unassertive in nature.[1] After indexing hundreds of appearances of librarians in film, she found that "the shorter the reference to a librarian in a film, the worse the stereotype."[2]

By the 1950s, movies had established the stereotype of librarians as "spinsters" and "eggheads".[3] Thus, female movie librarians are usually unmarried, prim, and introverted. They are usually young and may be attractive, but dress drably and are sexually repressed. The "fate-worse-than-death view of librarians" is particularly evident in movies such as It's a Wonderful Life and The Music Man.[4] In It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Mary Hatch Bailey (played by Donna Reed), is depicted as an "old maid."[4] Male movie librarians – mild, intelligent, and timid – have fewer and less important roles.[4]

Another stereotype mentioned is the staggeringly rude and unhelpful librarian (John Rothman) in Sophie's Choice (1982), who barks at Sophie Zawistowski (Meryl Streep) "Do you want me to draw you a map?!" More recently and continuing the stereotype of unpleasant librarians, in the Disney/Pixar film Monsters University (2013), Alison Nastasi of Flavorwire says the university librarian "isn’t fond of noise and doesn’t think twice about tossing rowdy students out the window into a pond below".[5]

These negative portrayals are in contrast with such more well-rounded characters, such as librarian Bunny Watson (played by Katharine Hepburn) who teaches Richard Sumner (played by Spencer Tracy) a few things about modern research methods in the movie Desk Set (1957) and the no-nonsense "Marian the Librarian" (Shirley Jones) in the movie The Music Man. Mary (played by Parker Posey) as the ultimate Party Girl (1995) who discovers, "I want to be a librarian!" in a notable exception to the prim librarian stereotype.[3]

Librarians in film are usually ordinary people caught up in circumstances, rather than being heroes; likewise they are rarely villainous although they may have flaws, such as racism in Goodbye, Columbus.[4] The Public, a 2018 movie by Emilio Estevez depicts a librarian, Stuart Goodson, who is comfortable with the homeless people who use his public library every day.[6] Goodson becomes involved in a fight over doing the right thing: in this case finding shelter for the homeless on a bitterly cold night.[7] Goodson, as the film reveals, has overcome his own personal demons in order to achieve a career as a librarian.[7] Alicia Hull (played by Bette Davis), is a small town librarian, who befriends young Freddie Slater (Kevin Coughlin) but is herself ostracised for refusing to remove a book on Communism from the public library during the height of the Red Scare in Storm Center (1956). This movie was inspired by the real-life dismissal of Ruth Brown, a librarian in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.[8]

The comedy film Tomcats (2001) features Heather Stephens as Jill, a seemingly shy, repressed librarian who leads a double life as a lifestyle (nonoccupational) dominatrix. In Only Two Can Play (1962), Peter Sellers portrays a poorly paid and professionally frustrated Welsh librarian and occasional drama critic, whose affections fluctuate between glamorous Liz and his long-suffering wife Jean.

Librarians can serve a function in fantasy films. In 1994's live-action animated film The Pagemaster, frightened and pessimistic Richard Tyler (Macaulay Culkin) meets an eccentric librarian, Mr. Dewey (Christopher Lloyd), who encourages Richard to get a library card and starting off an adventure. By the end of the film, Mr. Dewey is hinted at being the titular Pagemaster and none of the adventure in the film was a dream. Mr. Dewey introduced Richard to the adventures possible in libraries and books as he "knows just how magical of a place a library can be."[9]

The main character of The Mummy (1999) is librarian Evelyn Carnahan (Rachel Weisz), who is awesomely clumsy and later moves away from her profession in the sequels. A memorable quote from her, upon introduction to the other main character shows a more positive depiction of librarians:

Evelyn: "Look, I... I may not be an explorer, or an adventurer, or a treasure-seeker, or a gunfighter, Mr. O'Connell, but I am proud of what I am."

Rick: "And what is that?"

Evelyn: "I... am a librarian."

From 2004-2008, the John Rogers fantasty-adventure television film franchise, The Librarian, aired on TNT. The three films focus on a librarian (portrayed by Noah Wyle) who protects secret artifacts in the Metropolitan Public Library in New York.[10]

There have been several characters associated with the library field in the realm of interactive entertainment,[11] often portrayed as guides and/or purveyors of knowledge who help the user progress within the game.

Monkey Island II: LeChuck's Revenge, a PC game from 1991, features a notably large library, complete with a female librarian who wheels around in her chair between shelves and shushes the protagonist.[12]

Stardew Valley[13] an indie role-playing game released in 2016, features a town library and museum, staffed by Gunther, the museum curator. The museum is empty at the beginning of the game, and Gunther asks players to help fill it by donating artifacts and minerals and finding the library's lost books.

Cosplay of Batgirl, who worked as a librarian in Gotham City when she was not fighting crime.

Children's literature offers a generally positive portrayal of librarians as knowledgeable, helpful, amazing and friendly, becoming more positive over the course of the 20th century. Adult literature, however, portrays the profession more negatively. Between these, portrayals of librarians in young adult fiction are neutral to negative. Here librarians are predominantly female, middle-aged, usually unattractive in some way, and mostly unmarried. Personality is mixed between positive traits such as intelligence, likeability, and kind-heartedness; and negative traits such as strictness, timidity, excess fastidiousness, and eccentricity. While some provide assistance to the main characters, several are the villains of the story. Duties generally include reference, but may only show clerical tasks; however the amount of technology used by librarian characters has increased over time.[3]

A disproportionate number of the librarians represented in novels are in the detective fiction genre, frequently as an amateur detective and protagonist. Although the stereotype of the librarian as "passive bore" does not seem reconcilable with the intensity of a mystery, the stereotypical librarian does share many traits with the successful detective. Their mindset is focused, calm, unbiased in considering viewpoints, and focused on the world around them. By personality they are industrious perfectionists—and eccentric. The drab and innocuous look of the stereotypical librarian is perfect for avoiding suspicion, while their research skills and ability to ask the right questions allow them to procure and evaluate the information necessary to solve the case. The knowledge they have gained from wide reading successfully competes with a private investigator's personal experience. For example, Jacqueline Kirby is drawn into the mystery in Elizabeth Peters' novel The Seventh Sinner (1972) due to her awareness of her surroundings. Wearing the stereotypical bun, glasses, and practical clothes, together with an eccentrically large purse, she is self-possessed and resourceful, knowledgeable in a variety of fields and skilled at research.[14] Batgirl as Dr. Barbara Gorden in DC comics is depicted as working as librarian in Gotham City's Public Library.[15]

Papers on librarians in popular culture have also analyzed:

• Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash features a commercialized melding of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Library of Congress, along with a virtual librarian who assists the main character, and raises questions of the role of the librarian in an increasingly information-rich world.[16]
• The eponymous character in Garth Nix's Lirael (2001) is an assistant librarian whose curiosity about the library she works in leads her into trouble and whose research skills save her. The head librarian is intimidating and the library itself is a dangerous place.[17][18]

In the Sune series, Sune's mother Karin is a librarian who does not like comic books, a reference to the comic book debates of earlier decades.[19]

Other appearances of fictional librarians in literature include:

• Allison Carroll in Jo Walton's Among Others serves as a mentor to the main protagonist.
• Madam Irma Pince is the librarian at Hogwarts during the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling.[20] Madam Pince embodies many negative librarian stereotypes- she's controlling, intimidating, she shushes, and she values books over patrons.[21]
• The Librarian in Terry Pratchett's Discworld fantasy series, a once-human wizard who manages the library at the Unseen University.[18]
• Lucien serves on the Dream palace staff as chief librarian in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman series.
• Welcome to Nightvale's Rabid Librarians will go to incredibly violent ends to ensure that the community is reading.
• Many of the central cast of characters in The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins refer to themselves as librarians, though their skillsets tend to be far more magical and violent that your average librarian stereotype.

Ashanti White, author of the 2012 book, Not Your Ordinary Librarian: Debunking the Popular Perceptions of Librarians, wrote that the shushing buttoned-down, older librarian was the most common depiction of librarians, in fiction, followed by the sexy librarian] stereotype.[22]

• Tori Amos' retrospective compilation album is called Tales of a Librarian (2003).
• My Morning Jacket's album Evil Urges (2008) features a song called "Librarian."
• American punk band Swingin' Utters's 2013 album Poorly Formed includes a song titled "The Librarians Are Hiding Something."
• From the Go-Betweens' album Lee Remick (1978), "Karen"[23] is an ode to a librarian.
• Velocity Girl's album Copacetic (1993)[24] contains the song "Lisa Librarian".[25]

The PBS puppet series Between the Lions promotes early reading to little children. Theo and Cleo Lion are the librarians.

The television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) features the character Rupert Giles as school librarian at Sunnydale High and Buffy's mentor. At the start of the series Giles is often portrayed stereotypically, for example he wears old-fashioned clothes and spectacles, is intelligent and well-read although he dislikes computers, and is overly concerned with following regulations. As the series progresses the character is given the opportunity to develop beyond these stereotypes as we learn that Giles was a rebellious and angry teenager who was partly responsible for the death of a friend after dabbling in dark magic. He is also depicted at being competent with weaponry and hand-to-hand combat and at playing the guitar and singing. Though Giles never has a long-lasting on-screen relationship and has never been married, he does have brief romances on screen and is acknowledged as an attractive man by other characters in the show; therefore at least partially refuting the usual stereotype.

In CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, season 2 episode 6 ("Caged"), actor Michael A. Goorjian plays Aaron Pratt, an autistic librarian who witnesses the death of a colleague. Pratt states that he has "a master's in library science and an English degree from UNLV."[26][27]

In the Parks and Recreation episode "Ron and Tammy" (2009), Leslie Knope's dreams of a local park are almost squashed by Tammy, the new library director at the Pawnee Public Library and Ron Swanson's ex-wife. Tammy places a claim for the lot that Leslie intended to use for her park. Tammy then tries to sexually manipulate Ron into giving her the lot for the library. Leslie calls librarians "diabolical, ruthless bunch of bureaucrats" as well as "punk-ass book jockeys." In "Ron and Tammy: II", Leslie says Tammy is "just a manipulative, psychotic, library book-peddling, sex-crazed, she-demon." Tammy also has books on "Approved" and "Rejected" shelves, which insinuate that the library operates in a biased manner. The depictions of the library on Parks and Recreation "illuminate the nature of library anxiety."[28]

Actress Christi Waldon appears in Stranger Things as Marissa, the librarian of the Hawkins Public Library, in season 1 episode 3 ("Holly, Jolly") and season 2 episode 3 ("The Pollywog").

The Librarians is an extension of the eponymous film franchise which began airing in 2014 on TNT. It follows a new team of librarians who solve mysteries, recover powerful artifacts, and fight against supernatural threats.[29]

In an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark? called "The Tale of the Quiet Librarian", an elderly librarian named Mercy MacGregor haunts the library during closing hours and uses the box to steal the patrons' voices, mostly noisy children.

In an episode of The Crazy Ones called "The Monster", a drunk librarian named Flora (Melody Thomas Scott) who uses a lot of big and complex words, whose library is on a verge of shutting down but with the help of Simon and the group, her library was saved.[30]

In the animated series Phineas and Ferb, Swampy (the drummer of Love Händel) became the librarian after Love Händel's disbandment and goes now by the name "Sherman".

In creating the Australian miniseries The Librarians, co-producers and writers Wayne Hope and Robyn Butler consulted with real librarians for research, and took their advice to avoid shushing and cardigan-wearing librarian characters.[31]

In currently running SyFy show The Magicians (based on the series by Lev Grossman), the Library of the Netherlands is an archive that contains all of the knowledge in the universe. Librarians formed the Order of the Librarians, a group that protects that knowledge. The Library is staffed by Zelda Schiff, a prim, glasses-and-cardigan wearing librarian whose biggest concern is possible defacement of library books.

In 2006 Microsoft introduced an early version of what was to become the Bing search engine that used over 600 pre-recorded video clips of actor Janina Gavankar, portraying the character of "Ms Dewey", described as a sexy librarian character.[32][33]

Ramirose Ilene Attebury, in Library Philosophy and Practice, reported she found that the sexy librarian stereotype was more popular than the old maid stereotype, in YouTube videos.[34]

In 2003, Archie McPhee brought out a librarian action figure, modeled on Seattle Public Library librarian Nancy Pearl. 28,000 action figures were sold in the first week of their availability.[35] Wearing a suit, hair bun and glasses, the action figure sparked controversy, particularly for the button-triggered shushing motion. Many librarians took it in a light-hearted spirit, while others felt it perpetuated negative stereotypes.[36] The original version of the action figure was discontinued, but Archie McPhee now sells a super-hero version of Pearl with a "removable cape and a deep understanding of how knowledge is organized."[35]

Stereotypes of librarians in popular culture are frequently negative: librarians are portrayed as puritanical, punitive, unattractive, and introverted if female, or timid and effeminate if male. Such inaccurate stereotypes are likely to have a negative impact on the attractiveness of librarianship as a profession to young people.[3][37]

In modern times, the archetype of the "sexy librarian" has also begun to gain some traction, introduced in an effort to subvert the popular matriarchal image and make them more appealing to the average consumer. Both archetypes boil down to a similar idea, however – an authoritative, implacable guardian of the books who, through either power or sex appeal, keeps the library patrons in fear and thus remains exclusive guardian of the otherwise obscure organization system in the library.[38]

• Films set in libraries category

• Reel Librarians – a blog about librarians in film, plus filmographies, librarian character types, and extra resources
• Librarians in the Movies – an annotated filmography
• The Hollywood Librarian
• Songs about Libraries and Librarians
• Librarian Wardrobe – user-submitted blog of what real librarians look like and what they wear to work
• You Don't Look Like a Librarian! – a collection of resources relating to the perception of librarians in the Internet age
• Libraries at the Movies – a blog about the representation of libraries and librarians in movies
• This is What a Librarian Looks Like – going beyond the bun to challenge outdated librarian stereotypes