History Main / MagicLibrarian

[-[[caption-width-right:280:Illustration from ''TheLibraryGhost'' by [[http://leewhiteillustration.blogspot.com/ Lee White]].]]-]

[[quoteright:340:[[LyricalNanoha http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/magelibrarian_536.jpg]]]]

-->"What do you think of the library?"
-->"It's pretty big," I murmured, looking all around me.
-->"Two hundred miles in every direction," said the Cat off-handedly and beginning to purr. "Twenty-six floors above ground, twenty-six below."
-->"You must have a copy of every book that's been written," I observed.
-->"Every book that will ''ever'' be written," corrected the Cat, "and a few others besides."
-->"How many?"
-->"Well, I've never counted them myself, but certainly more than twelve."

Books and [[TheLibraryOfBabel libraries]] in fiction can be mystical things; keepers of information, certainly, of secrets and [[SpellBook sometimes of magic]], as well. It's natural, therefore, that some authors like to spread some of that magic onto the ''librarian'', too--when they aren't making them [[HotLibrarian hot]] or [[ScaryLibrarian scary]], that is. A magic librarian will very often have the ability to send readers (or people who either ''don't'' read or disparage books, to [[AnAesop teach 'em a lesson]]) into the world within the books, and sometimes, pity those who don't return their books to the library before the due date.

* Lilith and Eve, the two dimension-hopping witches in ''{{Yami To Boushi To Hon No Tabibito}}'', happen to be librarians of the {{Library of Babel}}, who are both magical and [[HotLibrarian hot]].

* Our page quote: in ''ThursdayNext'', [[AliceInWonderland the Cheshire Cat]] manages the Great Library, a magical place that contains all books that have been or will be written, and claims to know everything there is to know about them, including how many times they've been read, how many of them ''are being read'' at any given time, and by whom.
* The Librarian of the Unseen University in the ''{{Discworld}}'' series. He's a wizard, and the library is attached to a wizards' university, but he also commands magics that come from the mere fact of it being a library (most notably the secret of L-Space, which connects every library that ever existed). He was also transformed into an orangutan, and decided to stay that way.

* The librarian of the magic school in ''{{Charmed}}'' is magical, just like the rest of the cast. The first librarian we see is a disgruntled troll that keeps burning books.

* Obligatory ''{{Buffy the Vampire Slayer}}'' example: Giles has to be one. Sure, he's not a magician himself per se, but then there was that whole stint when he was Ripper...

* Evil version: "Files & Records" at Wolfram & Hart in ''{{Angel}}'', who has no name and can mentally search the entire content of the firms archives, apparently projecting the results onto her eyeballs.

* Twilight Sparkle in MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic

* Yves, Archangel of Destiny in ''InNomine''. He collects all knowledge in his Library, including the memories of everyone who has passed on.

* The ''DoctorWhoMagazine'' comic, for an explicit homage to ''TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'', casts the Doctor as one for an extended fantasy sequence that takes almost an entire strip.

* Karl Konrad Koreander, of ''TheNeverendingStory'', who kept the eponymous tome in his shop until Bastian stole it. Originally a fairly ordinary old book seller, the film series added implied magical properties (he can appear and disappear at will, apparently), and in the much-maligned third film he works as a librarian at Bastian's high school.

* Lucien in ''TheSandman'', who maintains the Library of Dream, which contains every book anybody ever thought or dreamed about writing, from the masterpieces great authors died before committing to paper, down to the novel you always tell yourself you'll write one day. (''The Bestselling Romantic Spy Thriller I Used To Think About On The Bus That Would Sell A Billion Copies And Mean I'd Never Have to Work Again''. Not exactly the catchiest of titles, is it?) He knows everything about every book in the library, including where each of them is at any given moment, although at one point he admits that this comes at the cost of not being able to remember most things that happen outside the library, including who he was before he became the librarian.
* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' magazine's comic, for an explicit homage to ''{{The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe}}'', casts the Doctor as one for an extended fantasy sequence that takes almost an entire strip.

* ''ThePagemaster'', pictured here, is all about this trope.

* In one of the the ''Bailey School Kids Adventure'' books, the librarian is implied to be {{Merlin}}.

* The librarian of the magic school in ''{{Charmed}}'' is magical just like the rest of the cast. The first librarian we see is a disgruntled troll that keeps burning books.

* Derek the Bard, of [[WarningReadersAdvisory Warning! Readers Advisory]] is a wizard and keeper of the [[LibraryofBabel Greatest Library in the World]]

* Wan Shi Tong, the librarian of the titular library from (you guessed it) "The Library" episode in ''{{Avatar the Last Airbender}}'' is some kind of [[TheOwlKnowingOne ancient owl spirit]] that keeps irritating humans out of his domain.

* By virtue of being staff at Hogwarts alone, Madame Pince from ''Literature/HarryPotter''. She's also a ScaryLibrarian; Hogwarts library books have protective spells on them as a matter of course, but she's been known to add personal touches. [[EccentricMentor Dumbledore]] mentions that absentmindedly doodling in the margins once caused a book to come alive and attack him.

* By virtue of being staff at Hogwarts, Madame Pince from ''HarryPotter'' probably counts.

* The ''DoctorWho'' magazine's comic, for an explicit homage to ''{{The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe}}'', casts the Doctor as one for an extended fantasy sequence that takes almost an entire strip.

[[quoteright:250:[[AvatarTheLastAirbender http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Wan_Shi_Tong_9478.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:250:[[OwlBeDamned Pray you return your book on time.]]]]

* Obligatory ''{{Buffy the Vampire Slayer}}'' example: Giles has to be one. Sure, he's not a magician himself per say, but then there was that whole stint when he was Ripper...

* The Librarian of the Unseen University in the ''{{Discworld}}'' series. He's a wizard, and the library is attached to a wizards' university, but he also commands magics that come from the mere fact of it being a library (most notably the secret of L-Space, which connects every library that ever existed).

* In one of the the ''Bailey School Kids Adventure'' books, the libarian is implied to be {{Merlin}}.

[[caption-width-right:250:[[OwlBeDamned Pray you return your book on time.]]

[[quoteright:245:[[ThePagemaster http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Pagemaster_09_2463.jpg]]]]

Phix of ''WapsiSquare'' is definitely a magic librarian. She's a (the?) sphinx.

Lucien in ''TheSandman'', who maintains the Library of Dream, which contains every book anybody ever thought or dreamed about writing, from the masterpieces great authors died before committing to paper, down to the novel you always tell yourself you'll write one day. (''The Bestselling Romantic Spy Thriller I Used To Think About On The Bus That Would Sell A Billion Copies And Mean I'd Never Have to Work Again''. Not exactly the catchiest of titles, is it?) He knows everything about every book in the library, including where each of them is at any given moment, although at one point he admits that this comes at the cost of not being able to remember most things that happen outside the library, including who he was before he became the librarian.