Top Six Best Movie Libraries

The Oscars are tonight so I decided to look back at libraries in cinema.  The library is an influential setting as it denotes knowledge and a place for the characters to regroup.  And it can have some cool stuff in it.  So here, presented in alphabetical order are the Six Best Movie Libraries:

Ghostbusters: New York Public Library

This is not a made up library, you say.  True, the New York Pulbic Library is a fixture on the biblio landscape, but this movie proves how great it can be: freaking ghosts.  When the boys go on their first job and encounter the irregular stacked books and the librarian ghost, it is hard not to feel a little bad your library is not so haunted.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: Hogwart”s Library

The library shows up over and over in J K Rowling’s fictional tale of the boy wizard, but none so prominent as in the first movie.  This library is badass not because of its fantastical subject matter but because of the Restricted section, a place for evil and uncontrollable books.  Whoa to thee who opens those evil tomes.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: Unnamed Venice Library

Indy checks out the library for a moment before smashing through the floor and finding an ancient crypt below.  While the library itself is not that important a setting, it simply has to be mentioned because of the hilarious part with the “stamp guy.”

Librarian: Quest of the Spear:  The Library

Do I even have to say why this library is awesome?  It holds the ancient artifacts from across history, both magical and mundane.  How cool would it be to catalog Excalibur?

Name of the Rose: Monastery Library

This dark and depressing crime drama set in olden times is home to one of the greatest libraries in written and filmed history.  How many of you wished you worked in a labyrinthine building filled with deadly traps and codes.  Bonus points for Sean Connery in a bowl cut.

Pagemaster: Public Library

Crappy movie only good for mocking and nostalgia, but come’on, the library can turn you into a cartoon.  That’s just a little bit awesome of a plot device in anyone’s book.

Pleasantville: Pleasantville Public Library

While not awesome in the regular sense, it is cool as a narrative device.  In a world without color or passion, books are blank and empty.  As the world fills, so do the books, making the library one of the best places in town.  I have to believe this library is awesome just for that.

Honorable mentions:


Beautiful Mind: Princeton Library
Yeah, not much of a plot point, but images of beautiful windows with reading nooks are awesome.
Breakfast Club: School Library
This movie could be set in any school location, but the dynamic look of library with statues, balcony’s and doors that won’t stay open keep it iconic.
Music Man: River City Library
Again, not all that important to the plot, but the music number is great.
Stephen King’s It: Derry Library
The scene could be left out, but Pennywise showing up and doing a creepy dance in the library was memorable.
With Honors: Widener Library
Maybe I just want to live in the basement of a library with miles of books overhead.
What Dreams May Come: Heaven’s Library
Brief scene with really cool library that you could fly around.  Heaven, indeed.

Special thanks to the project of Movie Librarians for research