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
• Beauty and the Beast
  
• Being Jane
  
• Breakfast at Tiffany's
  
• Breakfast Club
• Carrie
  
• Cookie Monster in the Library
  
• Curse of the Demon
• Day after Tomorrow
  
• Desk Set
• Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library
  
• FBI Story
  
• Foul Play
• Game of Thrones Library
• Ghostbusters
  
• 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
• The Library
  
• Mitchell and Web
• Music Man
• My Side of the Mountain
  
• Name of the Rose - Scriptorium
  
• Only Two Can Play
  
• Philadelphia
• The Public
• Regarding Henry
  
• Rollerball
  
• Sesame Street: At Your Library
  
• Seven Library Scene
  
• Shawshank Redemption - New Books in Library
  
• Shifting Sands
  
• Star Wars
  
• Stephen King's IT
• Ted 2
  
• The Station Agent
  
• Time Enough at Last - Twilight Zone
• Time Machine
  
• UHF
  
• Wings of Desire - Old Man Scene
  
• The Wire - Prison Library
  

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

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