For this “best of” post, I tried something a little different. I went through the posts of each month and chose my personal favorite for a month-by-month “best” retrospective. It was a fun exercise to take a look back, and I realized that I had experimented quite a bit this past year with different kinds of posts.

So here goes, the best of Reel Librarians for 2013:

January 2013: The Night Strangler and the underground librarian

It took me a long time to finalize this analysis post, “The Night Strangler and the underground librarian,” for the 1973 TV movie The Night Strangler (1973), sequel to the 1972 cult classic The Night Stalker. There was surprisingly a lot of material to work with — but it was worth it! Wally Cox as newspaper archivist Titus Berry was sooooooo close to being a Liberated Librarian.

February 2013: The shushing librarian: Celebration or scorn?

I quite enjoyed rereading this post, “The shushing librarian: Celebration or scorn?,” which was inspired by writers responding to the Pew Research Center’s 2013 research report on “Library Services in the Digital Age.” Quite a few writers waxed nostalgic about (mythical) halcyon days when shushing librarians were celebrated … a condescending sentiment proved false by several reel examples, including a glimpse at the first shushing librarian in film and the shushing librarian cameo in Breakfast at Tiffany’s:

March 2013: The Jedi librarian

This post about the Jedi librarian in Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones remains one of my most-viewed posts and got a shout-out on the Library Shenanigans blog! I enjoyed revisiting Jocasta Nu and this classic cinematic example of what NOT to do during a reference interview. 😉

April 2013: Blackmail and the British Museum

Funny that my personal favorite from this month was an analysis of a movie that doesn’t include a reel librarian. Instead, director Alfred Hitchcock chose to feature a library only, but what a library! It’s a look at the Round Reading Room in the British Museum — a design that inspired the Library of Congress!

It’s also a study in contrasts; the library’s history of tradition and conservatism is emphasized even more by being tainted by the blackmailer and the indignity of a police chase.

May 2013: Librarian at first sight

I chose this post, “Librarian at first sight,” because it is a prime example of when, sometimes, I watch really bad movies just because they include a reel librarian. But those kinds of posts are always fun to write! (If not to watch.) 😉

June 2013: Reader Q and A

This post was fun, as I had the opportunity to answer a few reader questions, including:

How many movies have librarians in them?
How many movies are there with librarians of color?
What’s the classical music playing during the Stan Lee librarian cameo in The Amazing Spider-Man?

Do you have a question about librarians in film? Please email me and let me know! I’d love to do another Reader Q&A post.

July 2013: It’s a tie!

In my opinion, pound-for-pound, July 2013 had the best overall posts. So it was reallllllly hard to choose a fave. So I didn’t. I chose TWO favorites. (I’m so sneaky. 😉 )

First up, this “first impressions” post about Monsters University (2013), a film that a few people, including my sister-in-law, recommended that I watch in theaters. I was not disappointed, as it includes one of the most memorable reel librarian cameos EVER by featuring a 40-foot librarian. Let’s repeat that: a 40-foot librarian! I also enjoyed looking up trivia about the MU library and reel librarian character.

And my second favorite of July 2013 was this behind-the-scenes look at all the work that goes into a film analysis post. I make no profit off this blog — it is a strictly-for-fun adventure for me — so it felt good to shine a spotlight on how much actual work and time goes into each post. But I hope y’all find that personal investment worth it! 🙂

August 2013: The Lego Librarian in action

I had soooooooo much fun searching for the Lego Librarian mini-figure and then writing about said adventure. (I also had lots of fun posing and then taking pics of the Lego Librarian. I’m not made of stone, y’all. 😉 )

September 2013: Shushing the ‘Old Gringo’ librarian

This film analysis post of Old Gringo (1989) included an interesting side-by-side perspective of the central character, a would-be spinster, and the no-name spinsterish librarian. And the librarian herself got shushed, hah! Good times. 😉

Shushing the reel librarian in Old Gringo

October 2013: Little miss serial killer librarian

In a film analysis-heavy month of horror films featuring reel librarians, this post about Chainsaw Sally was the most fun. And the most twisted. My favorite part of putting this post together was compiling the various looks that could kill — literally — from Miss Sally, our resident serial killer librarian.

November 2013: Special double feature: Miranda and the bibliothécaire

This was a very special post — a double feature co-starring Mister Pamp from the Notorious Bib site, the French counterpart to this site. It was really interesting to get another librarian’s perspective on the same film — in this case, the 2002 film Miranda — and to witness how our different cultures (and language) made a difference in our respective viewpoints.

December 2013: Nancy Drew as a librarian?

Some of the time, ideas for posts come out of the blue, like this post about a scene in the most recent Nancy Drew computer game, The Silent Spy. The best part about writing the post was speculating on how good a librarian Nancy Drew could have been! 🙂