Presentation: Quiet Please, Librarians on Film

Depictions of librarians in feature films include stereotypical tropes as well as positive portrayals. This presentation by former SFPL librarian Jim Van Buskirk will offer carefully selected scenes provides perspective on the image of librarians – humorous or poignant – throughout a century of cinema, in honor of National Library Week.

Film clips will feature 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 is the former manager of the Hormel LGBTQIA Center at San Francisco Public Library. He is a book group facilitator, writer, editor, public speaker, exhibit curator, and collections manager. He lectures frequently on film history, queer history and Jewish literature.

Jim Van Buskirk - Website