Presentation: Quiet, Please! Hollywood Librarians

Tuesday, 10/13/2026
6:00 - 7:30

Suitable for:

Adults

Depictions of librarians in feature films include stereotypical tropes as well as positive portrayals. This program of carefully selected scenes provides perspective on the image of librarians – humorous or poignant – throughout a century of cinema. Featuring both favorite and long-forgotten films, including A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Shadow of a Doubt, and Desk Set. See Marion the Librarian avoid the advances of The Music Man, Holly Golightly’s first visit to New York Public Library, Bette Davis battle censorship, and “Party Girl” Parker Posey embrace the Dewey Decimal System.

Jim Van Buskirk, a retired SFPL librarian, major movie buff, and public speaker, is the co-author of Celluloid San Francisco: The Film Lover’s Guide to Bay Area Movie Locations as well as other books, articles, blogs and radio broadcasts on San Francisco and film history.

Connect: Jim Van Buskirk - Website

Author Readings & Lectures

Engage with your favorite writers and discover your next read.

Film & Video

Watch party and film discussions.

History

Learn about historical events.

Spotlight

This program is sponsored by Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

Attending Programs

All programs are drop-in (no registration necessary) unless otherwise noted. All SFPL locations are wheelchair accessible. For accommodations (such as ASL), call (415) 557-4557 or contact accessibility@sfpl.org. Requesting at least 3 business days in advance will help ensure availability.

This program will be conducted in English unless otherwise noted.

Notice: This event may be filmed or photographed. By participating in this event, you consent to have your likeness used for the Library’s archival purposes and promotional materials. If you do not want to be photographed, please inform a staff person or the photographer. A sticker will be provided to help identify you so that we can avoid capturing your image.

Public Notice and Disclaimer

This program uses a third-party website link. By clicking on the third-party website link, you will leave SFPL's website and enter a website not operated by SFPL. This service may collect personally identifying information about you, such as name, username, email address, and password. This service will treat the information it collects about you pursuant to its own privacy policy. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of each third-party website or service that you visit or use, including those third parties with whom you interact through our Library services. For more information about these third-party links, please see the section of SFPL’s Privacy Policy describing Links to Other Sites.

The views and opinions expressed in programs presented by groups unaffiliated with SFPL do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SFPL or the City.