GoScreen: The Hollywood Librarian

Ever wonder what a librarian's life is like? Are they really nothing more than a heavy pair of horn-rimmed glasses and a rubber date stamp? Or do they have complex personal lives that most media choose to ignore, rendering these vehement bibliophiles as flat as the plot of a Danielle Steele novel?

While it may be the media's fault most people think all librarians get their fashion tips from a 1950's Vogue magazine, first-time director (and, appropriately enough, graduate of DU's library sciences program) Ann Sield is taking action to stop the perpetuation of this stereotype. Whether you think of all librarians in terms of Lorenzo's Oil or It's a Wonderful Life, her documentary The Hollywood Librarian: A Look at Librarians through Film, will counter the preconceptions that have been so deeply embedded in the American conscious.

The film features interviews with professionals across the field, including a medical librarian, a cataloguer, a library director, a corporate librarian, and a children's librarian. These testimonies on what it means to truly love books are interwoven with clips of cinematic librarians that transition between themes of censorship, intellectual freedom, children and librarians, funding, and of course, the value of reading. The film travels between the libraries of prisons and elementary schools, and investigates the budget cuts that are forcing libraries to the point of extinction in the information age of the Internet.

The Hollywood Librarian: A Look at Librarians through Film is being screened by the Auraria Library as part of the documentary's unique opening process-it's premiering exclusively in libraries. Admission is eight dollars for adults and five for seniors 61 and up, with tickets including popcorn and a beverage. While entrance is free for librarians and library staff, the film is sure to surprise even the most dedicated of the Dewey Decimal set.

The Hollywood Librarian: A Look at Librarians through Film

Plaza Building, Rooms 138 & 112

October at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Be the first to comment on this article!

Add comment


I am not posting spam. I understand posting spam or other comments that are unrelated to this article will cause my comment to be flagged for deletion and possibly cause my IP address to be permanently banned from this server.

Enter the characters in the image above:

log out