In Honor of National Library Week, Librarians in Film

This week has been National Library Week, a time to celebrate and appreciate libraries and librarians in all the forms they take. As it comes to a close, let’s celebrate by taking a look at some of our favorites featuring a library or librarian!

Robot and Frank 
While compiling this list, this is the movie that occurred to me first. Robot and Frank is set in a not-so-distant future, and focuses on Frank, an aging ex jewel thief, who is determined to live on his own in spite of his children's protests. When his son buys him a servant robot, he protests and protests-- until he realizes that the robot is programmed to do whatever will help Frank-- legal or not. One of Frank's favorite places to go is the library, in no small part due to an obvious affection for-- who else?-- the librarian. Susan Sarandon plays Jennifer, a librarian who is struggling to keep up, as she must watch her library be taken over by a pushy young man and go entirely digital. When Frank decides to engage his robot to pull of one big heist in the library to win over Jennifer, things get messy. Especially interesting if you've ever considered the possible future of libraries in the digital age!

Pleasantville
While not about a library, exactly, there is a great scene in Pleasantville that perfectly captures the spirit of public libraries. David and Jennifer are typical, if opposite, 90s teenagers, until they are sucked into Bud's favorite cheesy 1950s television show, Pleasantville, as Bud and Mary-Sue. When they discover that Pleasantville is not the idyllic world it seems to be, they start coloring the town-- literally. Soon, all the kids are experimenting at Lover's Lane and the library. My favorite line in the movie: "I mean, goin' up to that lake ["Lover's Lane"] all the time is one thing, but now they're goin' to a library? What's next?!"

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 
What would a list about libraries be without a trip to Hogwart's library? For this one, I'd like to share J.K. Rowling's personal apology to librarians for her representation of us with the strict and unhelpful Madam Pince. "I would like to apologize for you and any other librarians present here today and my get-out clause is always if they'd had a pleasant, helpful librarian, half my plots would be gone. 'Cause the answer invariably is in a book but Hermione has to go and find it. If they'd had a good librarian, that would have been that problem solved. So, sorry."

The Mummy
Who can forget the librarian Evelyn? I think she speaks for herself here:

And of course, there are many, many more. You can check out more here on our catalog website, or come and talk to us at the 3rd floor Readers Services Desk!