and so it goes..
Awwww. As Frances and Terry drive off into the dusk and another series of The Librarians draw to a close, what better time for a little cogitation on what we’ve learnt? For a lot of us, the fact of the setting of the series was our focus in the first series. I don’t know if you are like me and now find the setting is not really front of mind anymore. As much as I loved the work and creativity that went into that setting - the culture pod, the huge map of Australia, the posters from assorted ALIA campaigns on the walls - the show wasn’t about libraries, it was about a bunch of people.
Which is exactly what the writers told us the first time round. I prefer not to think I am a slow learner, but I do now get that better than I did last time when there was so much conversation around the roles, the qualifications and the things that went on in the library. I guess we were all a bit new to it and of course, like workers implicated in every other such setting (think council staff dealing with the biting sarcasm in Grass Roots, dog lovers portrayed mercilessly in Best in Show, the long suffering Olympics volunteers watching the too-close-to-the-truth-for-comfort reportage style of The Games back in 2000, and more recently, public servants cringing under the scrutiny of The Hollowmen), we had our buttons pushed. But good. (And frankly, as familiar as we all are with Yes, Minister, perhaps we ought to have known better!)
To be honest, I am not sure where this line of thought will take me - I’m still thinking it. But I am glad a library finally made it into a tv series just because it got people talking. I like the way Robyn and Wayne used this and their experiences in libraries. I love that they and the whole crew ended up adoring the generosity and support of the library community in Victoria for the show. They were amazed by us as a ‘breed’. They may well continue to share good and happy library stories with their friends and if they do, then that’s great for libraries everywhere.
And the writers and crew were very generous to us too. We had ALIA members on set as extras, we had signed merchandise to give away, we had footage to share and special messages from the cast. I’d like to thank everyone involved for all of that. So, on to the next thing for all of us. May all our new friends in tv land continue your emerging love affair with all things library, and may all the folk in libraryland enjoy your memories of fleeting stardom!