Stranger Things 4, Episode 3 "The Monster and the Superhero"

In a library research scene reminiscent of Margot Kidder's in The Amityville Horror our heroines Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) and Robin (Maya Hawke) review some old tabloid newspapers on microfilm surrounding the Creel murders. The possibility of a house possessed by demons further analogizes the classic horror film. See also Stranger Things 2 Episode 3 "The Pollywog".

Picket Fences (the television show) "Elective Conduct" Season 3 Episode 6

 

My husband and I were happy to discover that all four seasons of the 1990s television show Picket Fences were available through Hulu. We remembered this thought-provoking, quirky drama series fondly. While we are enjoying re-watching, we were not especially surprised to discover that not all of the stories aged well, and we are  having very different conversations about the show than we did 30 years ago.

The third season begins with the fictitious town of Rome, Wisconsin receiving a federal court order to desegregate its schools via the forced bussing of  Black students from the (not fictitious) city of Green Bay. The (mostly) white residents of Rome face their prejudices, and liberal-minded Mayor pro tem Jill Brock calls in the local police in an attempt to stop the students from getting off the bus. Her plan is thwarted with a countermove by the National Guard (a la Little Rock). The story arc exploring race and racism continues for several episodes.

Episode 6 opens with fifth-grade students reading their reports for Multicultural Awareness Day. The teacher is cringe-ily dressed in stereotypical Native American garb and a girl reads her report indicating that Chinese people in the United States are best known for their restaurants, and are "good fighters". The Mayor's son Zachary reads his report on "Why White Kids Should Help Black Kids", citing academic achievement gaps, and indicating that these gaps are because of small brains that only think about sex. He is cut off by said cringe-worthy teacher, taken to the principal's office, and suspended. 

It turns out that he does have citations for his assertions. The achievement gap statistics came from the Educational Testing Service, and the information about brain size came from the eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. 

Cut to Jill Brock in a library speaking to the librarian (in what appears to be the public library). Brock has the offending volume of the Britannica in her hand, reads from it, and asks why it is in the library. The librarian explains that the 1911 edition is a "classic" and that "museums would kill for this set". Jill insists that it be removed because it "contains racial material". The librarian counters by suggesting that by those standards Mark Twain should be removed as well. She actually uses the N-word (on what at the time of original airing would have been network television).  Brock is able to get her son reinstated by demonstrating that the information came from a book in the library. She also gives him a good "talking to".

Wow. A lot to unpack here.

Let's start with the fact that the mayor wanted the book removed because it contained "racial material". Books about race, or written by people of color are being especially targeted in the United States today. Challenges are coming from the left and the right. And we are seeing classics such as To Kill A Mockingbird being questioned. Learning to question what we read in books is essential to a good education. We cannot question what we aren't allowed to see, however.

Deselection (or "weeding") of materials is part of the professional work of librarians. Libraries should have living collection development policies which outline what kind of materials will be held in the library, as well as what will not. Additionally, the policy should explain when/how/what kind of materials will be removed. Reasons for pulling books are myriad and include that they might be out of date, however, that is not the only consideration. Some works are classics, or perhaps are kept because they have value to historians. There is a lot that can be done with a challenged book between outright removal and leaving it on open stacks to be found by impressionable fifth graders who have not received appropriate research guidance. For instance, the encyclopedia set in question might be moved to a special collections room where it is accessible to scholars, but not necessarily to elementary school students, or it could simply be moved to a higher shelf, where it can't be reached by children without assistance, while keeping a current set in a more accessible place. What shouldn't be done, though, is for the Mayor to come barging in, insisting that a book be removed without input of the library board and without any kind of public hearing.

I will say this for young Zachary - I liked that he clearly used at least two sources and synthesized them. He also had full citations, such that his mother was able to find the exact quote in question. That's what citations are for.

Veronica Mars - great detective, lousy librarian

I missed the Veronica Mars television series when it first aired from 2004-2007. I doubt I even knew it existed. Back then, before there was streaming television,  people had to subscribe to a cable service if they wanted to watch TV, and my husband and I refused to pay for it. The only thing we watched on the boob tube were videos available at our local Blockbuster video store. We now subscribe to Netflix and Hulu which is how I was able to binge watch this smart, sassy show about a young woman who works for her father - a Private Detective. The first two seasons we see Veronica as a high school student. In season three she is a freshman at the fictional Hearst College where she gets a job at the college library. She is disappointed at this appointment, as she feels it is inferior to working for the school newspaper, and her letdown is evident in the crappy way she answers questions. She often appears annoyed, and waves people off to the stacks rather than attempting to do a proper reference interview. Worst of all, she closes the reference desk when her boyfriend shows up so she can go bone him on the ninth floor.

The recently-made fourth season features a grown up Veronica still working with her father at his Detective agency. It also features a reference librarian from the Hearst College library. The librarian has a bit part, and is unimpressed when Veronica points out that she, herself, used to work in the library. Maybe the librarian knew her then, and was aware that she wasn't the best student worker they'd ever had.

Anyway, despite the obvious drawbacks I enjoyed this series. Veronica seriously kicks butt.

The Umbrella Academy (the television series)

When the surviving children of Reginald Hargreeves reunite for his funeral they discover that the apocalypse is nigh. While attempting to save the world they discover secrets that threaten much more than family unity.

Beyond binge-worthy, this dark comedy series begs to be binged. Keeping track of the multitude of characters, each with their own dysfunction, superpower, and history is enough reason to watch this without breaking. Throw in some time travel and flashbacks and it becomes an absolute necessity.

While it is made clear that scenes that take place in the present day do indeed transpire in 2019, it is a parallel world of 2019 than the one viewers know. It is a world with no cell phones; one in which our superheroes must use their wired house phone, or find a pay telephone when not at home, in order to communicate with one another when they are not together. It is likewise a world without Google. A world in which if one wants to find out about their sister's new suitor, for instance, one would have to go to the public library and use the newspaper on microfiche to find out more about him. An excellent use of library resources. There is one other scene over the 10 episodes that takes place in the public library, one in which a couple of judgmental librarians wonder where the parents of the drunk teenager are.

A wonderful cast and a good story with some truly unexpected twists and surprises.

Stranger Things 2 - Episode 3 (The Pollywog)

Back in 1984 you couldn't just Google how to take care of a pollywog, or for that matter, shine your iphone's supernatural creature identification app at unknown beings to find out more about them. You had to go to the library. And look things up in books.

"Mr. Henderson, you know the rules. Five at a time." says the unnamed librarian when young Dustin attempts to check out five books, although Miss Librarian Lady knows he already has five books out. Dustin strategically tries to appeal to her sense of discovery, but she will have none of that. Five. At. A. Time. She emphasizes. The whole stereotypical exchange is so hokey we can almost forgive the cliche solution Dustin comes up with when he points to something behind Miss Librarian Lady and gasps "what the hell...", and then runs out with the five books. Does he ever return the stolen books? We may never know.

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman - the television show, Season one episodes 1-9

Back in the mid 1970s, two soap opera spoofs aired that pushed the limits of parody. Soap was a weekly, prime time show that my whole family enjoyed watching. Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman really went a step further, a daily show that aired during a regular daytime drama slot. The show, however, was far from regular. The usual melodrama found on a soap was compounded and all sets, characters, and scripts were exaggerated. The title character, played by Louise Lasser, represented a suburban housewife in a blue collar family who, in addition to facing the usual stresses of marriage and raising a pre-teen daughter, also confronts the challenges of a mass murderer in the neighborhood, an exhibitionist grandfather, and a host of other problems.

The show is really quite sophisticated in its humor, and without a laugh track the audience is left on its own to figure out what is funny. Exaggerations and stereotypes comprise much of the farce. Re-watching the show now, four decades since it first aired, I commented to my husband that the sets look less like they were created in the '70s and more like they were created in the '90s to look like the '70s. That's quite a trick! Librarian stereotypes are, of course, some of my favorite things to write about, and this show managed to represent two different librarian clichés over two episodes. Episode five ends with our heroine receiving a phone call from a short, bespectacled, older, bun-headed, shusher-type (Iris Korn) informing her that the books she wanted had come in. She goes on to read the titles out loud, all of which fall along the lines of  'Your Orgasm and You', and other sexual self-help titles. The start of the following episode finds Mary arriving at the library to find a rather effeminate male librarian (Ken Olfson) behind the desk. She asks to speak to the "lady librarian" but is informed that she has left. While Mary pretends that the stack of martial aids that were set aside are not really for her, the librarian pretends that he simply cannot check them out to her since they were set aside for someone else. Ultimately Mary manages to wrest the books away from the library and bring them home, where they almost become another character in the story. Mary's husband Tom (Greg Mullavey) is embarrassed when a friend from work notices the books in the kitchen. Tom confronts Mary about them, and is incensed when she doesn't immediately return them from whence they came.

There is practically enough material here to write an entire Master's Degree thesis.

There are two more discs of episodes coming to my mailbox from Netflix. If there is any more drama about libraries or library books you will find out here.

Stay tuned...

What if the Gilmore Girls were librarians?

This is all because of Logan. 

My husband (James) and I finished binge watching all seven seasons of Gilmore Girls over the weekend and started on the new retread. After watching the first episode -"Winter" - I said to James that if I were in charge of the new mini-series I would have had Logan have a complete change of heart, and he would be a social worker. Then I thought a bit more about it and said "no, better yet, a librarian". Then we started joking about what kind of librarian all the characters would be. From there it just got out of hand. So grab a cup of (fair-trade, organic) coffee (in a ceramic mug) and join me in a re-imagined Stars Hollow where everyone finds their true calling in library work. 

Lorelei  is the community program director of Stars Hollow Public Library (SHPL). As a single parent she is keenly aware "that it takes a village". Parents of young children are especially grateful for her free daytime programs where they can take a break from endless mind-numbing games of Candyland, and talk to some other adults. Her annual Banned Books Week display and reading is anticipated more than the town's annual Winter Carnival.

Rory is a research librarian at National Public Radio. She loves hobnobbing with the national personalities and really can't  tell you how much she wishes that the Organization would just stop taking donations from the Koch brothers. For goodness sake she'd rather take money from the Huntzberger Group!

Jess received the prestigious Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers fellowship from at the New York Public Library.

Luke and Dean are in charge of Library maintenance at SHPL. Dean is fantasy fodder for the bubble gum brigade at Stars Hollow Middle School (and that includes the gay captain of its football team - thank goodness it is finally safe to be out in Stars Hollow!) making the teen center at the library the place where all the cool kids go after school. Luke keeps the coffee maker in the break room filled and takes special joy in reminding patrons who are talking on their cell phones to "take it outside". He also gives cooking lessons at the library on Saturday afternoons. Reliable as ever, there is never a burnt out bulb in the stacks, or an un-shoveled walk after a snow.

Sookie found her passion in food research and got a job as a reference librarian at The Culinary Institute of America. She is royally peeved that the Institute's homepage does not include a direct link to the library, but will continue to fight the good fight on that front. She commutes to work from her home on Long Island, where Jackson maintains a lovely garden and runs an heirloom seed library.

Emily runs a homework helper volunteer program at the Nantucket Atheneum. She thinks some of the children must speak Portuguese, but can't be sure. She understands them anyway.

Lane and Zack finally extricated themselves from Mrs. Kim's control by moving the family to Cleveland to be curators at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They are currently creating a special exhibit of 70s rock star jumpsuits - an idea given to them by a 50-something librarian who thoroughly enjoyed her visit to the museum earlier this year.

Paris writes and maintains the pamphlet collection at Planned Parenthood. Her attention to detail and medical expertise assure that only the most current, accurate, and medically-based information is available at all times.

Doyle works as an archivist at the New York Times. 

Miss Patty and Babette maintain a Little Free Library adjacent to the town gazebo.

Logan is a systems librarian at Bunker Hill Community College. He had a spiritual reawakening and a realization that he was just a blond jackass after all after his last business deal was such a disaster it caused the lay off of over 1,000 workers. He had to take out a loan to pay for is Master's degree in Information and Library Science because even his father had had enough of his shenanigans. He is a better person for it though, and is glad to provide service with his signature smile.

Marty is the director at the Bunker Hill Community College library and Logan's boss (an irony not lost on Logan, believe you me). They both still carry a torch for Rory, but she is having none of it. Occasionally Marty and Logan will have a cry over some beers together.

In a twist that surprised even them, Kirk and Lulu became nudists and moved to to Kisamee, Florida where they work at the American Nudist Research Library.

April won the student worker of the year award at the MIT's Dewey library.

Michel and Caesar both volunteer two evenings a week at the New Haven Free Public Library. Michel teaches French for travelers and gets a truly perverse pleasure in telling Emily's former cronies from the DAR that he can't understand a thing they say. Caesar teaches English citizenship classes. Whenever one of his students passes the citizenship test he celebrates by making them his famous chilaquiles.

Taylor is archiving the town's historical documents. Every scrap of paper is sacred and must be cataloged, digitized and, preserved in acid-free archival boxes. He is all about acid-free now.

Richard left a colossal amount money to the Chilton prep school library. The will stipulated that they money be used to update the collections, and that the librarian had to be the highest paid member of the faculty and, of course, that the library be renamed in Rory's honor.

I understand that Paul also got a library job... now if I could just remember where?

A special thanks to James for being my Muse on this one, and for helping me to flesh out some of these ideas.

Desk Set - the Movie

In this most classic of all library films Katharine Hepburn plays Bunny Watson - head reference librarian at a television network. Watson has a keen wit, a sharp mind, a green thumb, a super-cool apartment, and a tosser of a boyfriend (Mike Cutler, played by Gig Young). Spencer Tracy plays Richard Sumner, who keeps hanging around the library and measuring everything. Watson and her three co-workers Peg Costello (Joan Blondell); Sylvia Blair (Dina Merrill); and Ruthie Saylor (Sue Randall, a.k.a. Miss Landers for any Leave It to Beaver fans) are wary and wonder if they will be losing their jobs to a computer, even though they are fully (and accurately) aware that computers cannot replace librarians! This film was made before I was born, but the same questions are relevant. Computers may not take up entire rooms any more, and they may have more information than ever, but it still takes people to provide the information, and to evaluate it. Fortunately Sumner understands that the computer only supplements the work of the librarian. In fact. he points out that their time will be freed up to do real research, and that there will be more work than ever. Again, this point is still relevant today. Just because people can Google for themselves what the Seven Wonders of the World are, doesn't mean librarians don't have real work to do. It has shifted. We do more research and teaching, and less helping people with crossword puzzles.

This film passes the Bechdel test in spades. It was refreshing to see a film about women lifting each other up, both professionally and personally, although I do admit to being a bit let down by the end of the film when the (woman) computer programmer came in and everyone ganged up on her.

No stereotypes here. These librarians were smart, fetching, stylish, and clearly had off-screen sex lives. Gold stars all around.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the Television Series) - Seasons 1-7

Thanks to Netflix I was able to watch all seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in a period of about 3 months. I had heard of the show before, but had not seen it. I had watched the movie of the same name when it first came out in 1992, and frankly didn't like it. Since it has been my experience that television shows based on movies are far worse than the films, I could only guess that I wouldn't like this program much. Its television premier in 1997 also coincided with an 1100-mile interstate move, and my becoming a parent, so adding a television show to my life would have just been too much change. I had been told that I might like the show for its feminist message, and because it had a kick-ass librarian in it, but still, I never got involved. I'm not sure what made me decide late last year to give it a try, but once I started I was completely hooked. Of course, for me Rupert Giles (Anthony Steward Head) Buffy's "Watcher" (undercover as a mild-mannered librarian) was the best part of the show. Giles didn't just pretend to be a librarian, he cultivated good research skills in Buffy and her band of "Scoobies" so that they could most effectively fight their demons. And although Giles was the high school librarian only for seasons 1-3 his determination for instilling good research skills and a love of life-long learning are evident throughout all seven seasons. 

I talked to my sister, a long-time fan of the show,  just as I was starting to watch season 5 and told her that my favorite episode up to that point was "Band Candy" from season 3 and I asked her if anything was coming up that might trump it. She told me to just wait until I got to season six, which was full of surprises. While I concur that that season certainly had a stellar line up of plot lines, plus fun musical numbers, it was seriously lacking in Giles time. And now, after watching all episodes I remain steadfast in my favorite pick. The thing about "Band Candy" is that we see Giles as he was as a teenager - a James Dean-esque bad boy who smoked, and looted, and had sex on the hood of a car. It turned the usual librarian stereotype on its head. So often in pop-culture we see a stuck-up librarian as someone who simply needs to lighten up and let their hair down, but when we are shown Giles as a young person we see the "hair down" persona who then became a straight-laced librarian, and can see that it's okay, good even. And, in this case, the bad boy still comes out when needed to kick vampire butt. Giles is smart, strong, and sexy.