Libraries in Television & Movies

Let's begin with an exploration of how media has viewed the library through history.

• How have libraries been portrayed on television and in movies?
• How does the program reflect the time it was produced?
• How does it reflect the time period of the story?
• Is the program an accurate, stereotypical, or skewed view of libraries?

Dig Deeper
Read Tancheva, Korneila (2005). Recasting the debate: the sign of the library in popular culture. Libraries & the Cultural Record, 40(4), 530-546.

Optional Dig Deeper
Check out a fascinating section of The Meaning of the Library focusing on libraries in fiction, poetry, and movies. Available through IUPUI.

Read Warner, Marina (2015). The Library in Fiction. In A. Crawford (Ed.), The Meaning of the Library: A Cultural History, Princeton University Press. Available through IUPUI.

Read Marcus, Laura (2015). The library in film: order and mystery. In A. Crawford (Ed.), The Meaning of the Library: A Cultural History, Princeton University Press. Available through IUPUI.

Read Crawford, Robert (2015). The Library in Poetry. In A. Crawford (Ed.), The Meaning of the Library: A Cultural History, Princeton University Press. Available through IUPUI.

Watch a Funny Library Montage to get into the spirit.

Because of nature of the Internet, YouTube videos change quickly. If the link doesn't work, try a YouTube search.

Explore the following video clips from movies and television programs:

• 9
  
• 1911
  
• Adventure
  
• All the President's Men
  
• Beauty and the Beast
  
• Being Jane
  
• The Box
  
• Breakfast at Tiffany's
  
• Breakfast Club
  
• Case of the Logical I Ranch
  
• Cookie Monster in the Library
  
• Curse of the Demon
  
• Desk Set
  
• Doctor Who: Silence in the Library
  
• FBI Story
  
• Foul Play
  
• Gangster Story
  
• Ghostbusters
  
• Glee
  
• Golden Girls
  
• Gorilla Librarian - Monty Python's Flying Circus
  
• Grover in the Library
  
• Harold and Kumar
  
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
  
• Hero - Demonstration in Library
• Hero - Fight in Library
• Indiana Jones
  
• Kes
  
• Last Man on Earth - Simpsons
• The Librarians
  
• Lost Horizon
  
• The Man Who Never Was
  
• Mitchell and Web
• Monsters University
  
• The Mummy
  
• Music Man
  
• My Side of the Mountain
  
• Name of the Rose - Lost in the Library
  
• Name of the Rose - Scriptorium
  
• National Treasure
  
• No Man of Her Own
  
• Only Two Can Play
  
• Philadelphia
  
• Philadelphia Story
  
• Rollerball
  
• Screwballs (R rated)
  
• Sesame Street: At Your Library
  
• Seven Library Scene
  
• Shadow of a Doubt - fast forward half way to the library
  
• Shawshank Redemption - Overview to Library
  
• Shawshank Redemption - New Books in Library
  
• Shifting Sands
  
• Something Wicked This Way Comes
  
• Sophie's Choice
  
• Star Wars: Attack of the Clones
• Star Wars
  
• Stephen King's IT
  
• The Station Agent
  
• Storm Center
  
• Superman
  
• Time Enough at Last - Twilight Zone
• Time Machine
  
• Tru Confessions
  
• Twisted Nerve
  
• Two Ronnie
  
• UHF
  
• Videodrome
  
• Wings of Desire - Overview Scene
  
• Wings of Desire - Old Man Scene
  
• The Wire - Prison Library
  

Learn more at http://emp.byui.edu/RAISHM/films/introduction.html