Last night I attended The Hollywood Librarian at GSLIS. I was going to boycott it until I found out it was free for 90-some-odd percent of those who were going to go see it anyway (library staff & library studennts). Fine, call me cheap. Whatever.
It was a real mixed bag. It doesn’t seem to know what its subject, or at least its message really is. Perhaps it has several messages. But, if so, that just makes the problem worse.
Is it about librarians? Is it about libraries? Is it about the media’s and in particular Hollywood’s portrayal of librarians? Is it about the (current) funding crisis in libraries? Is it about the Salinas Public Library?
I think it was K. G. Schneider who had a review of it from ALA that I basically agree with: hone your message, re-edit the thing, make it a bit shorter, and back off a tad on the sermonizing about Salinas.
And some of those librarians…
I almost walked out about 3 times in the 1st 5 minutes! Almost every bit of dialogue at the beginning was just a complete non-starter! I really wish I could have captured/remembered it all, but alas, no.
I know it’s a movie about (well, I don’t know what exactly it’s about) librari*, but that crap about how without libraries we’d be completely in the dark, we’d have no cultural memory, blah, blah is just downright offensive to oral cultures and thus to most individual homo sapiens who ever lived.
There were a few other howlers interspersed throughout, too. E.g., “… the soul of information ….”
Anyway, if you have 90 minutes to spare and can see it for free then perhaps you should. Otherwise, can’t say what you should do.
The reel highlight (hehe) of the evening was an old silent movie shot on campus in 1936 by the Class on Administration. It is about 15-minutes long and is on 2 reels–an actual “movie.” I believe it is entitled “Making the Most of Your Library.” It was hard to tell, though, as I was trying to record the metadata on a small piece of paper with a lot of print on it, in the dark.
It was found by students in our Society of American Archivists student chapter. Really nice to see the Main Reference Room and Circulation from “back in the day.”
It was nice to see how ol’ boy who went to the library finished his essay and got a date … but, uh, what about his grade? I guess in 1936 dates were far more important than grades. Hmmm? Maybe they still are and I’ve just had my priorities reversed. 
Thanks for the warning. I plan to see it Friday.
Did they include my favorite librarian of all time (who was actually a fact checker/reference person somewhere other than a library)? Katherine Hepburn in “Desk Set” was one of my inspirations (along with Jo March and Scarlett O’Hara). I’ll remember to put my suspension of disbelief blinders on.
Well, one should certainly form their own opinion.
I am considering coming only for the 1st 5-minutes to write down some more of the opening howlers, but I doubt I really will.
Yes, Katherine Hepburn is definitely in it but, moreso, her sister who is (was) a librarian is in it.
I have tried not to say much about this movie since posting my original comments, which I have linked as the website for this post, but I’m glad it’s not just me.
Katherine Hepburn’s sister would have been a *wonderful* frame for that movie.
Nope, not just you! Although I haven’t had a chance to talk with too many people who have seen it. At least one agreed that it has too many topics and is unsure of what the main message is.
Perhaps after the 2nd screening this evening there’ll be more people to discuss it with.
I agree about the not saying much. It’s a sticky situation, which I cannot fully explain even to myself, but I wanted to say something.