Silence in the Library

"Libraries are supposed to be quiet."

— Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

A common stereotype in media is libraries being quiet! Yes, some–

Shhhhhhh!

Sorry... A common stereotype in media is libraries being quiet. Yes, some libraries do allow sounds, because in real life, you can expect whispered conversations to take place. But many others are always quiet, especially when it comes to films and TV. The stereotype of quiet libraries goes back to an era when libraries were indeed silent, tomb-like places.

Normally, the character will be expected to obey the quiet rule, but depending on their behavior, from well-focused and smart, to clumsy and goofy, to idiotic and stupid, and even the careful ones will still wind up making a sound, either by accident or on purpose.

Not all libraries are noisy though. Nowadays, public libraries aren't strictly quiet zones. While some areas remain hushed, others buzz with activity. In real life, people are quiet in the library because people have to concentrate on their books, but according to the stereotype, you have to be quiet at all costs, even when you close a book.

This can be a Berserk Button for some librarians. Usually used in a Library Episode. May cross over with Scary Librarian, Loony Librarian , Evil Librarians. and even Hot Librarian. Associated sometimes with Cringe Comedy and Hypocritical Humor when someone yells at somebody else for being too loud. Compare this to Disrupting the Theater and Spooky Silent Library.

Not to be confused with the Doctor Who episode of the same name.

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Examples:

Advertising

• An Oreo commercial aired during Super Bowl XLVII involves a brawl breaking out in a library over an argument over which part of an Oreo cookie is better, during which everyone involved speaks in a whisper.

Anime & Manga

• The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You: Shizuka is first encountered doing duties as a library staff member and communicating by having Rentarou read excerpts from her book. He at first assumes that she's using the book to communicate because they're in the library, but the reality is that Shizuka struggles to communicate verbally like a normal person.

Audio Plays

• Episode 4 of This Duckburg Life features a "Ghost" library that will immediately banish anyone who speaks louder than a whisper while inside it. Webby exploits this fact twice, first by tricking the whispering voices inside to speak louder when they're tormenting her and then speaking loudly herself to get out before the entire building vanishes.

Comic Strips

• Billy & Buddy: In one gag, Dad confiscates Boule's whistle to buy him an ultrasound one instead. During an errand at the library (which is laden with "SHHH" and "SILENCE!" signs), he decides to try out the new ultrasound whistle... and mistakenly blows the regular whistle right in the middle of the people reading, which gets him kicked out.
• Calvin and Hobbes: In one strip, Calvin imagines himself as a mighty, roaring dinosaur. Cue the cut back to reality as he's kicked out of a library.

Fanfiction

• Pokémpanions: In I, Snubbot, Minun drops a heavy library book on his foot and yells. The other patrons shush him and he laughs nervously in response.

Films — Animation

• An Extremely Goofy Movie: During Goofy's big speech to Syliva at the library on how to fix all the mistakes he made prior to this scene, only on the last few words do the other library visitors shush him, prompting him to say the last sentence in a hushed tone.
• Monsters University: One of the challenges during the Scare Games is to make your way through the school library and capture a flag without being caught by the librarian, a 50-foot tentacle monster who reacts to noises by chasing down the perpetrator and hurling them out of the room. While this is meant to encourage stealth, Oozma Kappa hit upon the Outside-the-Box Tactic of intentionally causing as much noise as possible to keep the librarian distracted while Squishy sneaks past and gets the flag. The only rule is not to get caught, so what they’re doing isn't cheating.

Films — Live-Action

• Ghostbusters (1984): The ghost of a librarian says, "Shh!" at one point.
• Star Trek: Insurrection: A deleted extension of the scene where Riker and Troi are researching the Son'a in the Enterprise archive is played this way, complete with a Scary Librarian telling them to keep the noise down.
• High School Musical: When Chad finds out his best friend Troy auditioned for the school musical, he corners him in the library and chews him out for betraying his roots as a jock. The librarian, Miss Falstaff, admonishes him for being too loud three times, and each time, he claims Troy was the one talking.

Literature

• Are You Quite Polite?: The poem “Quiet in the Library” is all about this trope; a librarian gets increasingly frustrated by all the loud sounds in the library and yells at everyone to be quiet, only to realize that he’s making more noise than anyone else.
• Ban this Book: After after Amy Anne's locker gets exposed and Mrs. Jones is fired, the library gets a new librarian who always wants the library to be quiet at all costs, just so she can read her magazines, unlike Mrs. Jones.
• Harry Potter:
  • It is implied that quiet is a rule in the Hogwarts library, as ruled by the scary Madam Pince: many whispered conversations take place in the library.
  • In the first book, when Harry enters Ollivander's wand shop, he compares the silent atmosphere to being in a very strict library.
• In Homerooms & Hall Passes, a character has a hammy outburst in a public library and is loudly shushed—not by a Scary Librarian, but by his fellow patrons.
• A book of Mr. Men stories shows that Mr. Noisy is no good as a librarian, because he clumps around and drops books.
• Princesses of the Pizza Parlor: A ghost librarian appears in Grandmothers and Other Fearsome Encounters, and people have to be quiet; otherwise, they face her supernatural wrath via magical writing.
• The Worst Witch: When Mildred accidentally turns Ethel into a pig, Miss Hardbroom sends Mildred to the library to look up how to remove the spell. Ethel comes with her, and grunts loudly on purpose, disturbing the silence of the library. When Mildred finally does it after half an hour, she quotes the following rule at Ethel:
  "Remember, silence in the library at all times."

Live-Action TV

• All That: Zigzagged in the sketches featuring Ms. Hushbaum, a local librarian. She demands that everyone remain totally silent in the library—in addition to not being allowed to talk, students are forbidden from sneezing, responding to Ms. Hushbaum's questions, or even choking (when a girl starts suffocating on her sandwich, Ms. Hushbaum immediately kicks her out instead of helping). But the joke is that Ms. Hushbaum herself constantly does extremely noisy things, ranging from sharpening pencils to frying bacon to practicing with a barbershop quartet to herding sheep. Fittingly, the sketches are titled "The Loud Librarian."
• Almost Live!: Being too loud in the library is the reason why Billy Quan attacks The Impolite Man in the sketch "Library of Death".
• Barney & Friends: The song "The Library" has lyrics reminding the listener(s) to not be loud so that everyone can read.
• Bewitched: One episode features a library where patrons aren't allowed to so much as whisper.

Puppet Shows

• Barney & Friends: One lyric in a song about libraries is "But please don't be loud, so that anyone can read".
• Played for Laughs in "Welcome to Woodland Valley (Part 2)" from Bear in the Big Blue House. When Harry the duck asks "What's so great about the library?" the kids of the Big Blue House repeat the question incredulously and then launch into a rocking, rollicking song number called "Everything Is Great About the Library." During various points in the song, they sing about how you "have to keep your voices low," even as they sing at the highest volume possible about how great the library is and Treelo is literally swinging through the shelves.
  Kids: They've got stories everyone enjoys! They're so exciting you may want to clap your hands!
  Harry: Just be sure you don't make any noise.
  Tutter: [deadpan] Yeah, that's good, Harry.
• Sesame Street: In one sketch, Grover explains the library to the viewers, but the librarian forces him to speak in progressively quieter tones, until Grover can barely be heard.

Radio

• Adventures in Odyssey: "The 'No' Factor" has Connie Kendall, a newly converted Christian, trying to honor her new faith by volunteering for every cause that comes up (The lesson of the episode being that you can only do so much, and time management is important), but when she's asked by the librarian to assist, she enthusiastically (and loudly) offers her services, only to be shushed repeatedly by the library's patrons, to which she quickly apologizes each time, then speaks in a whisper until she forgets and the process starts all over.

Tabletop Games

• Girl Genius: The Works: Hilde, the queen librarian, is depicted as a slightly older woman dressed in a tight blouse and a buckled skirt with her fair hair pulled up into a tied ponytail and wearing oval glasses. Looking out at the viewer, she is shown with a stern face entreating all to Shhh.
• Magic: The Gathering: The card Wrong Turn, depicts an imposing beast that's made its way into a library.
  Flavor Text: Its bewildered bellow was met with a stern "shh".

Theatre

• The Music Man: Harold Hill can't get close to Marian the librarian because no talking at all is allowed in the library. Harold threatens to spill a bag of marbles and create chaos if she doesn't at least hear him out. Of course, he gets everyone in the library up dancing and loudly shushing each other.

Video Games

• Being A ΔΙΚ: Isabella enforces this in B&R's library, most notably whenever she finds the tri-Betas playing Dungeons and Gremlins.
• Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge: Guybrush talks to himself a lot due to Informing the Fourth Wall being in full effect. When he is inside the Phatt City Library, the librarian will complain every single time she hears Guybrush comment on anything.
• Mr. Hopp's Playhouse 2: At one point, Miss Beverley yells at the kids for supposedly being too loud in the library. They even point out the irony of her statement.
• Riddle School: In the third game, the school library's background music is much quieter than anywhere else in the game, and the librarian shushes Phil the first time he enters. There is also a large "SHUT UP" sign hanging from the librarian's desk, which Phil finds amusing.
• Tony Hawks Underground 2: In the Boston level, going through the library mutes the music and a woman can be heard going "Shh!".

Web Animation

• Happy Tree Friends: In "Random Acts of Silence", Flippy is being a librarian, and he repeatedly shushes Mime for being too noisy (like when he drags a chair across the floor and sharpens a pencil). He soon transforms into his evil side when Nutty accidentally sets off the fire alarm.
• Hello Kitty and Friends Supercute Adventures: "The Knight Librarian", both the episode title and the alter-ego that Kuromi takes on when disciplining those who do not observe the rules of the library, like Badtz-Maru keeping books overdue, and Keropi reshelving things in the wrong place. She announces her presence in Badtz-Maru's home with an ominous "Shhhh." She also uses it later in the library itself to remind them to behave themselves. "Shhh." The pair clam up and shiver in fear when they hear it.

Western Animation

• Adventure Time: A few episodes take place in the library run by Turtle Princess, where she tends to shush people (usually Finn and Jake) who make too much noise.
• Big City Greens: The episode "Quiet Please" has a strict librarian in the library, whose hearing is so good she kicks out anyone who makes even the quietest sound.
• Danny Phantom: In the episode "One Of A Kind" Skulker follows Danny to the library, as the latter is studying for a serious biology test. Skulker captures a student and loudly brags about his status as a greatest hunter, only for said student to repeatedly scream in terror, with Skulker telling the student to be quiet as it's a library.
• The Dragon Prince:
  • When Viren's attempt to research Aaravos fails due to the every word about him being obscured the moment he tried to read them, his audible frustration earns him a stern "shush" from the librarian.
  • Later Callum earns himself a shushing for making noise while also trying to read up on Aaravos and failing.
• Hypocritical Humor example in "Franklin Migrates" from Franklin. Franklin is invited by his friend Goose to attend a party for a goose holiday called Migration Eve, but doesn't really know anything about it. He and Bear visit the library, hoping to research it. They get a little too loud and excited while doing so, so Goose's mother, Mrs. Goose, who happens to be the librarian, comes over to remind them to use their library voices. She then mentions that Goose had told her about having invited Franklin to the Migration Eve party and tells him, in her loud, musical voice "Bring your dancing shoes!"
• In the Futurama episode "A Taste Of Freedom", in Washington, D.C. during a Decapodian invasion, Fry, Leela and Bender all run inside the Library of Congress loudly panicking; after someone inside shushes them, they switch to quietly panicking.
• Home Movies has Coach Mc Gurik go to a library, after hitting his head several times while swimming laps, where due to the concussion he now has, can't control his emotions and acts, as Brandon puts it, "really weird and aggressive". When someone tries shushing him, he jumps on a table and screams at them to shush, before passing out.
• Kiff: In “Club Book'', Kiff’s loud reactions during her book club at the library catch her repeated shushes from librarian Miss Moufflée. Kiff takes it personally and calls for the librarian to be fired at Town Hall. Kiff is appointed the new librarian and allows people to be as loud as they want, which backfires as the library turns into a loud nightclub, making it near-impossible for anyone to actually read. Kiff realizes she was wrong to change the library’s rules and gets Miss Moufflée’s help to restore order. In return, Moufflée gives Kiff’s book club her personal soundproofed quiet room to hold their meetings, since in there they won’t disrupt the library.
• Looney Tunes Cartoons: In "Overdue Duck" Porky Pig has the difficult task of keeping Daffy quiet in a library, lest he upset a very big and easily angered man who's trying to read poetry there.
• The Mr. Men Show:
  • In "Library", Mr. Noisy orders Mr. Nervous (who wasn't even being that loud) to be quiet in the library even though he's been extremely loud himself. Mr. Quiet is quite dumbfounded by this irony.
  • In "Books", Mr. Persnickety tries to ask Mr. Noisy something, only for Mr. Noisy to yell in his face with a microphone that he should speak more quietly.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: In "Mare in the Moon – Part 1", when Twilight Sparkle moves to Ponyville, Pinkie Pie throws her a loud surprise/welcome party in her library with seemingly the entirety of Ponyville as guests. Twilight, being rather antisocial at the beginning of the series, mutters in an annoyed tone that libraries are supposed to be quiet:
  Pinkie Pie: Surprise! Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie and I threw this party just for you! Were you surprised? Were you? Were you? Huh, huh, huh?
  Twilight Sparkle: Very surprised! Libraries are supposed to be quiet.
• Nina Needs to Go!: In the episode appropriately titled "Library", Nina visits a library, only to get the urge to pee. She asks several people if they know where the bathroom is and they simply shush her in response.
• The Owl House:
  • In the episode "Lost in Language", Luz tries to grab one of the Flying Books that she sees at one point. After she exclaims "Wow!", several patrons of the library shush her.
  • In the episode "Through the Looking Glass Ruins'', Luz and Amity have to be even quieter than usual when they sneak into the forbidden section of the Library to get a book Luz desperately needs, as Amity could lose her job if Malphas the head librarian catches them. Unfortunately, the book has had all of it's pages eaten by an echo mouse when they find it, causing Luz to angrily yell "You little rat!", immediately alerting Malphas to their location.
• A Pup Named Scooby-Doo: During a chase sequence with a giant robot at the gang's school, when they reach the library Velma stops everyone (halting the chase music) and tells everyone they have to be quiet in the library. So the gang and robot tip-toe through the rest of the library and only after reaching the hallway do they continue running at full speed with the chase music continuing.
• The Replacements: In the episode "Quiet Riot", Todd has to deal with Mrs. Shusher, who shushes him when he makes even the smallest noise.
• Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: In the episode “Mystic Lybrary”, the Turtles go to a magical library where you have to stay quiet or you'll be dragged away by Hush-bats. The Foot Lieutenant and Brute try to get the Turtles to make noise so that they'll get dragged away and fail to get the book they need.
• Rocky and Bullwinkle: In the story arc "The Ruby Yacht" when the duo ask the librarian for books on boats. The librarian rudely responds Can't You Read the Sign? that says "silence" and then throws a book at the cat stomping around.
• The Simpsons: Homer is kicked out of the Kwik-E-Mart for reading magazines without buying them, Apu shouting "This is not a lending library!" We next see Homer being kicked out of the library, holding nachos and a squishee, the librarian shouting, "This is not a Kwik-E-Mart!"
• SpongeBob SquarePants: In "Mid-Life Crustacean", SpongeBob and Patrick take Mr. Krabs on a series of Incredibly Lame Fun activities in a misguided attempt to help him feel young again, and during each one, SpongeBob asks him, "Can you feel it, Mr. Krabs?" One of the activities is reading in the library, and when SpongeBob asks it there, he's immediately shushed by the librarian.
• Tiny Toon Adventures: In the opening wraparound of "Weirdest Story Ever Told", Buster and Babs tell the viewers about the ACME Looniversity library, and are about to tell them that in a library, you have to be quiet. Foghorn Leghorn, who is working as the librarian, reprimands the two rabbits for being noisy by yelling at the top of his lungs.
• Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum: A Running Gag in "I Am Helen Keller" is one of the main characters yelling in the library, only to be shushed by the library patrons.

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