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Booth: All right, what I want you to do is take off your glasses, shake out your hair, and say, "Mr. Booth, do you know what the penalty is for an overdue book?"
Brennan: Why?
Booth: ...Never mind.
— Bones, "The Passenger in the Oven"
Marian: Well? What would you like to take out?
Hill: The librarian.
A very attractive but prim and prudish woman, who would be gorgeous if she would just take off the glasses ( or not), let down her hair, and unbutton her top button (or not, even without blueshifting). However, they tend to prefer more intellectual pursuits. (Too bad she didn't become a Hot Scientist.) Sometime during the course of the season, the character will be forced to do all of these things to solve some sort of problem involving a lecherous man, but will always manage to escape the situation without sex.
Naturally, there's a segment of people who find this the reason they're hot in the first place. Possibly there's also a hope that she's deeply familiar with stuff in the 155.3 or 613.9 sections of the Dewey Decimal Classification System, If You Know What I Mean.
Contrast Scary Librarian, see also Beautiful All Along. Note that the character doesn't actually have to be employed as a librarian to fit this trope. This is also common among school teachers, especially in Westerns and Historicals.
For Troper Tales.
Examples:
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Anime and Manga
- Yomiko Readman from Read Or Die. So hot she's pictured above.
- Lilith in Yami To Boushi To Hon No Tabibito is a literal librarian and is literally hot (without the "prim and prudish" part).
- "Yomako-sensei" aka Yoko Ritona/Littner in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, though like Wonder Woman/Diana Prince, it's just a cover.
- Nodoka from Mahou Sensei Negima kind of fits this; she extremely bookish and wears her hair over her face. It's generally agreed upon by all that she's very cute when she gets her hair out of her face. Haruna also most definitely counts.
-
Albireo Imma Ku:Nel Sanders is a male example.
- What? No love for Yue?
- Male example: Yuuno Scrya of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Head librarian of the Infinity Library who grew up to be quite the bishie after the Time Skip.
- And in a cute librarian example, we have Nanoha's daughter, Vivio, who was already a title librarian of the Infinity Library at the age of nine.
- Sheska/Sczieska (or however you spell it) from Full Metal Alchemist is a librarian, and cute as a button to boot.
- One of the chapters of the H-manga Warau Kangofu is called "Love in the Library" (or "My Librarian," depending on which English translation you have), which is Exactly What It Says On The Tin between an Ordinary High School Student who is very bad with women and...well...a librarian.
- Iina, Aruto and Kokoro from Kokoro Library: Why be satisfied with one librarian? These sisters make this trope triple. Just too bad that there usually goes days between the costumers of the titular library...
- Eighth squad lieutenant Nanao Ise from Bleach wears glasses in her sleep, carries a book everywhere, scolds her Brilliant But Lazy captain for slacking off and in return, receives some "compliments" from him. Her ex-liutenant and now membress of the Visored, Risa Yadomaru, was a Hot Librarian when in their squad and used to read to young Nanao regularly. She's still a Meganekko, but is more often seen reading jousei manga now.
- Mia Kouji/Nasuti Yagyuu from Ronin Warriors isn't a 100% librarian, but she is the granddaughter and heiress of a dead university professor and handles his research to help the Five Man Band so she counts anyway.
- The library worker, Akane, from Kampfer. Fits the trope in normal form, looses the glasses and lets down her hair in alternate form (also goes a little gun crazy).
Comic Books
- Diana Prince in Wonder Woman, whose unbuttoning is part of her transformation into the titular character.
- Similarly, Barbara Gordon, secretly the first Batgirl in the Batman comics and the Batman TV show. Even as the wheelchair-bound computer hacker Oracle, she's drawn as hot with glasses, simply proving that Nerds Are Sexy.
- Mimi Masters of the Ninja High School comic series, a studious and bespectacled teenage redheaded witch who is undeniably extremely attractive for all of her bookishness.
- Empowered's "much-vaunted disguise, the legendary Librarian Sexy",
played drawn to the hilt.
- Hillary Page from the Fables Spin Off: Jack of Fables. She even wears a T-Shirt that says "Hot Librarian."
- Arguably, the three Page sisters qualify under this. Jack seems to think so.
- Jeanne-Marie Beaubier, secret identity/other personality of Alpha Flight's Aurora, dresses like a hot librarian, but she's a school teacher.
- A male example; Khan from the library of time in Gold Digger
 .
Film
- Jessica, a Schoolteacher and the future Mrs. Claus from Santa Claus Is Comin'To Town, right down to the Letting Her Hair Down and taking off her glasses.
- Rachel Weisz' character from The Mummy actually is a librarian. And extremely hot. Apparently they discover contact lenses or laser surgery in the twenties, though, because she never puts the glasses back on after the first time she takes them off.
- Arguably, they're reading glasses, and she doesn't need them to see other things. At least until the sequel, in which she is required to read again, and still doesn't put the glasses back on.
- Mary Bailey in Its A Wonderful Life - in a world without George Bailey, she's a spinster librarian. (But still hot!)
- Carolina (Salma Hayek), in Desperado, although she, like the entire town, acts as a mule for the Big Bad's money; the library is just a front.
- Best film noir example: the rare-books shop girl Marlowe encounters in The Big Sleep, who whips off her glasses, lets her hair down and closes up the shop suggestively (with Marlowe still in it) at the end of her scene.
- Oddly enough, this scene, and the one with the taxi driver offering Marlowe her number, don't happen in the book, where Marlowe's ability to control his sexual desires is a big part of his character. However, even in the book, Marlowe notes that the bookshop clerk is very good-looking for a Jewish girl, so the trope stands.
- Marlowe is very muchin control in the movie as well; he's just luckier.
- Darla, the band nerd from My Best Friend Is A Vampire - once she takes her glasses (and possibly a dorky hat) off, she's hot.
- Rare male example: Unless this troper, her mother, and several female friends are all wrong, Noah Wylie's Flynn Carson from The Librarian made-for-tv movies definitely qualifies. He niether removes glasses nor shakes down his hair, but damn, the man is fine—the Shirtless Scene in the third one, phwoar. Especially if you're a geek fetishist like I am.
- In Tomcats, Jerry O'Connell dated a librarian at one point. She's prim, proper, a bit shy and lives with her Gramma. Oh, and they're both into S&M.
- The Librarian from The Station Agent definitely quantifies as an HL.
- Finn's friends even draw attention to it, telling him to buy her glasses so they can play Hot Librarian.
- Lucy Sherwood in The Man Who Never Was was this. Her roommate was an intell analyst who was a Lady Of War.
- Maggie Gyllenhaal in Secretary. I have no interest whatsoever in S&M, and this movie is still a favorite just cause she's so fucking sexy. Of course, much to this troper's chagrin, Your Mileage May Vary. (Goddamn Philistines.)
- Glenne Headly in {{2 Days in the Valley}}, and Dick Tracy come to that. Again, Your Mileage May Vary.
Literature
- Harry Potter and Ron learn the hard way in The Goblet of Fire that Hermione can be dazzlingly beautiful underneath the bushy hair, know-it-all attitude, and book fetish — she just finds it to be too much trouble.
- One of the penultimates is Elizabeth Peter's Jaqueline Kirby. She was a pre-Amelia Peabody Emerson, and though never as popular as that character ended up with I believe six or seven excellent third-person mysteries to her name. She is, when she lets herself "unbutton" (i.e. takes off her glasses, lets down her hair, and...well, unbuttons her blouse) a gorgeous redhead who manages to turn men to a weak-kneed jelly and is a remarkably proficient sleuth.
- Miss Christobel Charteris, the female lead from Florence Barclay's book Through the Postern Gate. Also The Ojou.
- On the Discworld, Sacharissa Crippslock (introduced in The Truth) was a prim and severely-dressed young woman who impressed her new boss, newspaper editor William de Worde, as no more than average-looking. However, he eventually realised that she was in fact stunningly beautiful if considered over several centuries - the equivalent of a Renaissance face, pre-Raphaelite eyes, Classical figure and, for some reason, "good medieval ears". And that as just her face; her body featured "a well crafted supply of other features that never go out of fashion at all", and for some reason she seemed to think that wearing extremely plain dresses would downplay this fact.
- Did anyone ever try to paint a portrait of her?
Live Action TV
- Dr. Lilith Sternin-Crane from Cheers.
- Christine Sullivan from Night Court.
- Maya from Just Shoot Me.
- Theora in Max Headroom.
- Shannon Elizabeth's character in That 70s Show.
- Samantha Carter on Stargate SG-1
- If we're bringing men into this, Daniel Jackson starts hot and gets hotter. Although, in his case, it's not so much shaking the hair out as cutting the hair off. Glasses optional.
- Talk about knowing you're hot when...
- Subverted with Kitty on Arrested Development: after GOB tells her to take off her glasses and let her hair down, he shrieks at her ugliness/crosseyedness and requests she undoes them. Later, he tries various combinations of these, to no avail.
- An episode, "Page Turner" of CSI:NY featured a fairly attractive librarian. She was, however, "hot" for another reason - she'd been murdered with radioactive Thallium 201.
- In the first episode of Dollhouse, Eliza Dushku puts her hair up, wears severe clothes and glasses, and looks completely different. Still hot, but completely different. (She's actually a negotiator, not a librarian.)
- Also Bennett although with a side of Ax Crazy. It's even lampshaded by Topher.
- Wesley from Buffy The Vampire Slayer and later Angel, especially once he gets that sweet, sweet magic book set.
- Can we say Giles? I want to say Giles!
- In one of the audio commentaries it's stated that Tony Head had been cast in the role precisely because of his sexiness, so yes.
- Joanna Frankel, one of the Power Trio on East Wick, has a habit of looking up from under her ridiculously hot glasses.
Music
- The music video for Tears for Fears song Head Over Heels features a Hot Librarian.
- The journalist in the music video for Adam Ant's "Goody Two Shoes." Complete with the glasses-off, hair-down, top-button bit at the end.
- The Beatles' "Lovely Rita" has the characteristics of a hot librarian.
- My Morning Jacket has a song off of Evil Urges called "Librarian", which includes the lyrics "Simple little bookworm,/Buried underneath/Is the sexiest librarian./Take off those glasses and let down your hair for me." Its a really good song, too.
- Really? "No Hot for Teacher" by Van Halen?
- I brought my pencil...
- NOW GIVE ME SOMETHING TO WRITE ON!
Myth And Legend
- The modern Hot Librarian is anticipated in spirit by the goddess Athena, virgin, warrior, goddess of wisdom, protector of civilization. Also, quite hot, and desired—but never actually achieved—by any man, god, titan, or other being. Older Than Dirt, anyone?
Theater
- The archetypal (and possibly first) Hot Librarian was Marian Paroo from the play and film The Music Man, who was literally the town librarian.
- What can I do my dear/ to make it clear/ I love you madly, madly madame librarian, Marion!
Video Games
- The title character of the game Bayonetta, to the point that people joke about her resemblance to Sarah Palin.
- She's more like Porn Star Librarian.
- Quistis Trepe of Final Fantasy VIII certainly applies for the hot part, if not the librarian. She became a teacher at the age of 18 because she was a prodigy, though she did get fired after a year for not having "good leadership skills" (Seifer was one of her students, and look how ''that'' turned out). Even that gets reversed by the end, so it's all good.
- Victorian Principles, from Leisure Suit Larry 7, a literal librarian example. One of Larry's goals, which he eventually achieves all too well, is to unleash her inner sex maniac, which he accomplishes by swapping one of her books with The Erotic Adventures of Hercules. (But, unsurprisingly, she's not very interested in Larry after the first time.)
- Male example: Alphonse Michel from Pop N Music.
- Manaka Komaki in To Heart 2. She's also really adorable.
- Depending on whoever draws her, Patchouli Knowledge is either Hot Librarian, or Cute Librarian.
- Obligatory Tales Of Symphonia example: Professor Raine Sage isn't anything special normally, but in her alternate outfits, she's pretty hot.
- Maria/Mary in various Harvest Moon games is more of a cute Meganekko, but still,she is a libarian. Also, Maria, in Magical Melody, is a librarian (in her original, and only other appearance, she is a nun.
- Jolene from Paper Mario: TTYD. On the job, she wears average business attire and glasses, but in the local juice shop, she sports a cocktail dress and loses the glasses. She doesn't actually say her name, just the fact that you already know her rather well.
Webcomics
Western Animation
- Silvia Marpole from An Extremely Goofy Movie is just like this, seeming to have never got over the end of the 70’s and turned to books to compensate. Later in the film Goofy, who never really noticed the decade was over, manages to convince her into a Beautiful All Along moment (with Bell Bottoms and boobtubes no less!)
- The Simpsons has an episode in which Marge and Lisa go to see the movie Tango de la Muerte, in which an aspiring champion dancer rejects all other partners to prefer a librarian "who's only read books on dancing." The dancer then takes her in his arms and spins her around a couple of times, prompting her glasses to fall off, her hair to come undone, and the top button of her blouse to pop off, precisely in that order.
- Worth noting that the top button pops off because her cup size spontaneously goes up a few letters.
- And that is the mystery of the dance.
- Tonight: Dance Contest. Tomorrow: REVOLUCION!
- According to the fans, Ghost Writer of Danny Phantom is this.
Real Life
- Might as well add it because it's going to be mentioned a lot over the next few years... Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, former Republican Vice-Presidential candidate, and one-time Miss Alaska runner-up was described by Late Late Show host Craig Ferguson as “the hockey mom, who's governor by day, naughty librarian by night” ...
- ... and logically, also the notorious Sarah Palin impersonator, described in-show as a Hot Librarian, the lovely Tina Fey.
- In Bollywood Hero, Chris is informed that Reginald has a friend who can get him a Real Doll that looks like Margaret Thatcher. He recoils in disgust, before saying "Why would I want a Margaret Thatcher doll? Now, a Sarah Palin doll...yeah. That could be fun."
- Sarah Palin is, ironically, something of a subversion — she actually attempted to fire a chief librarian for not going along with her censorship demands.
- Need I Say More?◊ (Not Safe For Work)
- And of course Kate Beckinsale, who studied language and literature at Oxford. Talk about your study group partners....
- This picture of Felicia Day has this kind of vibe.
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