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Librarians do not often show up as main
characters on television shows. The closest main character
librarian on recent television is Rupert Giles on Buffy the
Vampire Slayer. There has been some debate on whether Giles
is a good role model for librarians or not. Maria DeCandido
believes that he is "our hero librarian: a pop culture idol whose love
of books and devotion to research hold the key to saving the universe -
every week." (30). She does
acknowledge his shortcomings, he is
a Luddite, and is "tweedy, [and] occasionally befuddled..."
(31). Jon Cullen, on the other
hand, believes that Giles
"provides one of the most negative and over-simplified images of a
librarian ever depicted by the entertainment industry." (32).
This is an issue everyone must decide on their own (personally, I think
despite his shortcomings, Giles is great). If
television has as much influence as some people believe then
librarians have something to gain from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where
Giles wholeheartedly believes that answers can be found in books.
As
one character, Xander says, "knowledge is the ultimate weapon." (33) In most other television shows librarians appear in an episode or two as a passing character, or are only mentioned by characters on the show. Many of the librarians that have appeared on television in the past have been characters on made for tv movies. A list of various shows that have had librarians on them can be found on the Librarians in Entertainment site. Also, a short list, with abstracts, follows. Clicking on the bullets will take you to the bibliographic references for each source.  Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
Rupert Giles is the librarian at Sunnydale High School. He moved
to Sunnydale to be Buffy's Watcher, meaning he trains and guides
her. Although educated, he is not really trained as a librarian,
which may explain why he is a Luddite and does not spend much time
helping students other than Buffy and her friends. Giles is a
middle-aged man who wears glasses and is moderately attractive.
He looks to
books for answers when helping Buffy, and is not afraid to occasionally
get involved with fighting evil forces. Friends,
"The One With the Rumor": During this Thanksgiving episode, an
old friend from High School drops by and the friends start talking
about high school rumours. One of the rumours was that Ross had slept
with the very old, not so attractive, librarian. The Lucy
Show, "Lucy Gets a Roommate": Carol Burnette guest
stars as Carol Bradford, a college graduate working as a librarian who
becomes Lucy's roommate. She has glasses (with contacts on!), and
her hair pulled back. She is very clumsy, tripping over the same
stairs numerous times. She admits to being very
strict about noise in the library, and annoyed by customers who do not
know what they want. The only thing she talks about is the
library. She sneezes and laughs loudly and obnoxiously. She
talks baby talk to her pet goldfish. She is extremely shy around
people and does not have much of a social life (she sometimes goes to
an after hours library). Overall, this character is ripe with
stereotypes. Reading Rainbow, "Alistair in Outer Space":
In this episode of the classic children's program the viewer is taken
on a tour of the Library of Congress, the biggest library in the
world. Various areas of the library are explored, each one very
interesting and informative. One learns about what the librarians
in each of the areas does. The narrator, LeVar Burton, states
that librarians are the best discovery since they know where everything
is and how to find it, and will always lend a helping hand.
Various kind and intelligent librarians are met during this
program. A cartoon of "Conan the Librarian" is shown. He is
a half naked librarian who wears a loincloth, and has blue hair.
He is a little scary as he yells and believes that children must prove
they are worthy of a library card. Despite being dated, this
program was very enjoyable and informative. The
Twilight Zone, "The Obsolete Man": Rumney
Wordsworth is a librarian who has been deemed obsolete (since there are
no books there is no need for librarians). He is an older man
with gray hair who wears a cardigan vest. He is nervous but
strong minded, standing up to the State in the face of death.
According to him his profession stands for freedom, intellect, and
dignity. He has lived in the same room for twenty years and it is
stacked high with books on furniture he made. That '70s Show, "The
Acid Queen" and "I'm Free": Shannon Elizabeth appears on the
sitcom for two episodes playing a friend of Donna's who sleeps with
Kelso at a concert and gets pregnant. She works at a library and
is definitely not a stereotypical librarian as she is very beautiful,
wears her hair down, form fitting clothes, and has sex with a virtual
stranger at a concert. |