Library Tales

by Paula Gail Benson

I was delighted to read on Facebook that a panel entitled “What Librarians Would Like Authors and Readers to Know About Libraries” will be held on Sunday at Bouchercon 2023 in San Diego. Sarah Bresniker (Past President of Capitol Crimes Chapter of Sisters in Crime) is the moderator and Robert Lopresti (Past President of Short Mystery Fiction Society) along with Leslie Blatt, John Graham, and Michal Strutin are the author/librarians on the panel.

University of South Carolina School of Law Library

From my time working as reference librarian in a law school library, I remember two incidents I could contribute to the discussion. First, not all libraries contain all books and periodicals. Once, a member of the public called the law library asking about a new law mentioned in McCall’s magazine. When I told her I didn’t have enough information to search for the law, she asked why I couldn’t just look up the article in the latest issue. She was puzzled that the law library didn’t subscribe to McCall’s. Today, with the Internet, I might have found the article online, but at the time I would have had to call a public library and ask a librarian to help me.

Second, librarians’ duties involve more than collecting books and assisting in research and may include crowd dispersal. One hot summer day, a disturbance occurred on the law library’s top floor where graduates were studying for the bar examination. When I investigated, I found people clustered around the windows facing a neighboring hotel where a couple were having a sexual encounter on the roof. Thankfully, the hotel manager arrived, confronted the couple, and they left. The graduates returned to their studies.

Photo from "The Lights of Zetar"
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If people wanted to talk about future libraries or how they have been portrayed in fiction, I would mention two episodes from Star Trek, the Original Series. “The Lights of Zetar” (Season 3, Episode 18), co-written by children’s entertainer and Lamb Chop puppeteer Shari Lewis, had the Enterprise journeying to Memory Alpha, a planetoid library research center. Unfortunately, because it was open for all to use and had no protective barriers, the researchers and resources available on Memory Alpha were destroyed by a group of creatures who were thought to be a giant space storm. “All Our Yesterdays” (Season 3, Episode 23) featured a historical library where time periods were preserved on disks and the planet’s inhabitants could escape its destruction by traveling into the past.

Photo from "All Our Yesterdays"
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Star Trek, the Animated Series, had an exchange between Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. Kirk commented that there were times when he thought he should have been a librarian. Spock replied while that would have been no less challenging, it would be a lot less dangerous.

I’m wondering if the librarian authors I know would have agreed with Mr. Spock. While not all have written about librarian sleuths (for example, WWK blogging partner Shari Randall/Meri Allen), some like Amanda Flowers, Dean James, and Miriam Grace Monfredo have librarian protagonists. In addition, there is a long list of authors who have centered their series around libraries and librarians, including Lillian Jackson Braun, Elizabeth Spann Craig, Debbie DeLouise, Eva Gates, Victoria Gilbert, Edwin Hill, M.E. Hilliard, Charlaine Harris, Ceecee James, Con Lehane, Marilyn Levinson/Allison Brook (another WWK blogging partner), Jenn McKinlay, Jess Lourey, Elizabeth Peters, Dorothy St. James, Ian Sansom, and Marty Wingate.

Are there other library incidents, mystery series, or resources that you would contribute to the discussion?

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