Inspired in part by this post of 16 Great Library Scenes in Film, I thought I'd write a little eulogy to a televisual library that continues to occupy a dear place in my heart: a library from a TV series that lasted seven amazing seasons; inwhich a stately English gentleman, ably assisted by a pair of friends, battles against the clock, searching the books for information that will advise the actions of a charismatic blonde-haired young woman of extraordinary athletic ability. I expect you know precisely what I'm talking about. Maybe you have taken some inspiration from it yourself. Perhaps you've even penned some fan-fiction. Here, then, is the library in question:
Xander, Willow, Giles and Cordelia ponder their map of Sunnydale:
"We think you need to fly to the Hellmouth, Buffy!"
It's not a big library: just five bays of four shelves when at the height of its powers. There's a Britannica, a pot pourri of dictionaries, and a few other choice reference books. And there's an awful lot of National Trust guidebooks, so there's no excuse if our heroine gets lost while exploring a castle.
Giles pours over another ancient tome.
The stock may not be very thrilling, but its curator is able to make the most of it. Every great library needs its great librarian, and we have ours: a well-read and intelligent gent who can offer many an answer without necessary recourse to his collection. And it is as well he is there: even the simplest reference task can be difficult for some characters, and many's the time our heroine has been sent the wrong way by shoddy research, only for the librarian to come to the rescue with the real solution.
Giles and Buffy in a pose from the library page of the Sunnydale High prospectus.
This is a programme in which library research plays an essential and central role. The answer lies somewhere on the shelves. Our heroine may have to do battle against any number of foes, but her means to victory is guided from the stacks. For all our other distractions, the library is the real heroine of the piece. Without it we wouldn't have a clue...
Twenty-six minutes left (one for each rugby player on the pitch).
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