Librarians have a bit of a reputation to live up to. We expect them to be kind and resourceful. Well-read. Soft-spoken. These days, the bun and glasses are optional, but if you ask us, still fun in a kitschy way. But have you ever wondered what real librarians think an ideal librarian should be like? And more importantly, who are the imaginary librarians that they look up to? To find out, we caught up with our favorite blogging librarians from The Desk Set. Check out the results after the jump.
Maria Falgoust: “The obvious answer here is the gorgeous, brainy, and saucy Bunny Watson, played by Katharine Hepburn in the 1957 film Desk Set from which we [at The Desk Set] take our name. Bunny proves that she is at least as valuable as any computer, and she proves it while breaking hearts and cleverly outdoing Spencer Tracy.”
Emily Nichols: “My fictional role model is the Orangutan who runs the Library at Unseen University in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. A wizard who was transformed by a stray bit of magic, he refuses to be changed back. I have adopted a mute animal expression in many reference interviews hoping to elicit the complete query from a patron while using only the word “ook?” Surprisingly effective. I also admire his strength, agility and good judgment — he can locate and wrestle the unruly books from shelves in any dimension, but knows when it’s a good day to sit under his desk and eat a banana.”
Lisa Goldstein: “Rupert Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, because he proved that you can save the world through research!”
Sarah Murphy: “To me, Ghostbusters is the quintessential New York movie, and the New York Public Library Librarian, played by Alice Drummond, is equally iconic. Her diligence before the ghost shows up is admirable, her terror at seeing the ghost absolutely believable, and her good-natured attempts to respond to Bill Murray’s idiotic reverse reference interview quickly lead to just the right level of annoyance.”
Amber Billey: “Parker Posey’s unabashedly organized character, Mary, in Party Girl is catalog cards down my favorite librarian. Although her life was a mess, she just needed a system to help her get it together. Thankfully for us, it was the Dewey Decimal Classification system. From organizing jeans to records, drunkenly learning the DDC, and making late night love in the library, Mary is one librarian who knows when to follow the rules and when to break them.”
Who is your favorite fictional librarian? Let us know in comments.
Comments (14)
Lucien from The Sandman comic book series… librarian of all the books that are dreamt of, but never written
Probably kind of an obscure one, but in Wim Wenders 1982 film, Hammett,Dashiell’s neighbor is a resourceful and sexy librarian, played by Marilu Henner. When she shows up at Hammett’s door in her barely there lingerie, Hammett’s buddy Ryan (Peter Boyle) asks,”Is that what you wear at the library?” She playfully answers,”That’s what I wear underneath what I wear at the library.” Later Hammett notes: “Here I am, 34 years old, and the only two people I can trust in the world are a librarian with a smart mouth and a would-be bomb thrower.” Yes, Dash, you can always count on those lippy, lingerie-wearing librarians when the going gets tough.
(By the way, the worst movie depiction of librarians hands down is in Sophie’s Choice.)
Here I am, 34 years old, and the only two people I can trust in the world are a librarian with a smart mouth and a would-be bomb thrower.”
Prospero from The Tempest
Batgirl, Giles, and Lucien are tied for me.
“Casanova, the Brothers Grimm, Pope Pius IX, and Golda Meir were librarians.” http://www.casanovawasalibrarian.com/book.htm
I’m a library student, and I agree with Mary from Party Girl. Her freak-out is positively the best.
EXTRACTS (Supplied by a Sub-Sub-Librarian).
It will be seen that this mere painstaking burrower and grub-worm of a
poor devil of a Sub-Sub appears to have gone through the long Vaticans
and street-stalls of the earth, picking up whatever random allusions to
whales he could anyways find in any book whatsoever, sacred or
profane. Therefore you must not, in every case at least, take the
higgledy-piggledy whale statements, however authentic, in these
extracts, for veritable gospel cetology. Far from it. As touching the
ancient authors generally, as well as the poets here appearing, these
extracts are solely valuable or entertaining, as affording a glancing
bird’s eye view of what has been promiscuously said, thought, fancied,
and sung of Leviathan, by many nations and generations, including our
own.
So fare thee well, poor devil of a Sub-Sub, whose commentator I am. Thou
belongest to that hopeless, sallow tribe which no wine of this world
will ever warm; and for whom even Pale Sherry would be too rosy-strong;
but with whom one sometimes loves to sit, and feel poor-devilish, too;
and grow convivial upon tears; and say to them bluntly, with full eyes
and empty glasses, and in not altogether unpleasant sadness–Give it up,
Sub-Subs! For by how much the more pains ye take to please the world,
by so much the more shall ye for ever go thankless! Would that I could
clear out Hampton Court and the Tuileries for ye! But gulp down your
tears and hie aloft to the royal-mast with your hearts; for your friends
who have gone before are clearing out the seven-storied heavens, and
making refugees of long-pampered Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael, against
your coming. Here ye strike but splintered hearts together–there, ye
shall strike unsplinterable glasses!
[...] 17, 2010 by Emily Looky, I’m a librarian pundit! Thanks, Desk [...]
Evelyn (Evie) from the Mummy. Her monologue answering the question…”Who are you?”, which ends in the very passionate “I…am….a LIBRARIAN” is just too perfect. And she lands Brandon Fraser at the end too. Not too shabby.
Nice topic! My favorite fictional librarians are Casanova and Barbara Gordon (aka Batgirl), the head librarian of the Gotham City Library. As a little boy I was madly in love with her :-)
[...] 5 Real Librarians talk about their favourite Fictional Librarians - Brendan whats-his-name is my fave! And yours? [...]
[...] 5 Real Librarians talk about their favourite Fictional Librarians – Brendan whats-his-name is my fave! And yours? [...]
Marion the Librarian, of course! :-)
In IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE George finds out the fate of his wife if he had never been born….SHE’S A LIBRARIAN!!
Post a new comment