Back in May, I Love Libraries spoke with academic librarian Jennifer Snoek-Brown about portrayals of librarians in film, from “spinster librarian” Mary Hatch of It’s a Wonderful Life fame (wrong!) to the denim-organizing protagonist of Party Girl (oh so right!).
Lucky for library staff and book lovers everywhere, Hollywood’s only honed their depictions of the library space and vocation in recent years—and they’re not alone. Many books, especially lately, are serving up masterful reflections on the sometimes messy, sometimes magical, and always inspiring realm of librarianship. These stories are found not only in steamy romances, sweeping sci-fi, and dark mysteries, but in necessary nonfiction accounts, too. Read all about ‘em (23 in total!) below.
Fiction
American Dreamer, by Adriana Herrera
The Book Charmer, by Karen Hawkins
The Borrower, by Rebecca Makkai
Check Me Out, by Becca Wilhite
Deal with the Devil, by Kit Rocha
A Good Family, by A. H. Kim
Her Perfect Affair, by Priscilla Oliveras
The Lending Library, by Aliza Fogelson
The Plotters, by Un-Su Kim
Summer Hours at the Robbers Library, by Susan Halpern
Upright Women Wanted, by Sarah Gailey
Weather, by Jenny Offill
Nonfiction
Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism, by Safiya Umoja Noble
The Card Catalog: Books, Cards, and Literary Treasures, by the Library of Congress
Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks, by Annie Spence
Diversity and Inclusion in Libraries, edited by Shannon D. Jones and Beverly Murphy
E.J. Josey: Transformational Leader of the Modern Library Profession, by Renate D. Chancellor
Freedom Libraries: The Untold Story of Libraries for African Americans in the South, by Mike Selby
Information Hunters: When Librarians, Soldiers, and Spies Banded Together in World War II Europe, by Kathy Peiss
The Library: A Catalogue of Wonders, by Stuart Kells
The Library Book, by Susan Orlean
The Original Black Elite: Daniel Murray and the Story of a Forgotten Era, by Elizabeth Dowling Taylor
Reading behind Bars: A Memoir of Literature, Law, and Life as a Prison Librarian, by Jill Grunenwald
You Could Look It Up: The Reference Shelf from Ancient Babylon to Wikipedia, by Jack Lynch
For more book recommendations, check out the Booklist Reader, a publication of the American Library Association; subscribe to their newsletter and follow them on Twitter for even more bookish content.
http://ilovelibraries.org/article/our-favorite-books-about-libraries-and-librarians
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