More Than a Shush: Librarians, Comics and the Power of Popular Culture

Congratulations to Jane Burns from the Technological University of the Shannon, whose blog post has been awarded 2nd place in the A&SL Blog Post Competition 2026.

The competition invited library staff and LIS students based in Ireland to submit a blog post exploring how library staff, libraries and information work are portrayed across film, television, literature, art, social media, gaming, news media or other cultural formats.

Before I begin, a confession: I have always loved comics and I still do.

As both a librarian and a comics fan, I have noticed something interesting. Comics do not simply represent librarians differently; they often reimagine librarianship as a form of agency, leadership, and social impact. In these stories, librarians are not passive custodians of books but knowledge guardians, researchers, strategists, and sometimes even superheroes.

Comics are more than entertainment. Like other forms of popular culture, they both reflect and shape social attitudes. This makes them a fascinating lens through which to examine librarianship. Rather than reinforcing the stereotype of the lonely, rule-bound librarian, many comics portray librarians as intelligent, resourceful professionals whose real superpower is connecting people with information and ideas. In this post, I explore two favourite examples and consider what they reveal about librarians and libraries in popular culture.

How It Started

My fascination with libraries began in childhood. The local public library felt magical, full of possibilities waiting to be discovered.

One visit remains particularly memorable. I arrived clutching a newspaper comic strip, convinced my older brother was inventing the story because the pictures and words did not seem to match. Instead of dismissing my confusion, a librarian showed me how comics worked, explaining how pictures and words combine to create meaning.

Looking back, that moment revealed something fundamental about librarianship. Librarians do more than provide access to information; they help people understand it.

Perhaps that is why I never questioned Batgirl being a librarian. To me, librarians were already superheroes. Batgirl simply wore a cape.

Figure 1. Barbara Gordon's first appearance as Batgirl in Detective Comics #359 (DC Comics, 1967).

Barbara Gordon is arguably the most famous librarian in comics. As head of Gotham Public Library, she challenged stereotypes of librarians as passive figures. After being paralysed by the Joker, she evolved from Batgirl into Oracle, transforming adversity into a new form of heroism.

As Oracle, she became the information hub of the superhero community. Her power lay not in physical strength but in gathering, analysing, and sharing information. Heroes relied on her expertise and networks to make informed decisions.

Figure 2. Barbara Gordon as Oracle. Image based on the DC Comics character created by Ostrander et al., 1989.

What makes this portrayal so interesting is how closely it aligns with contemporary librarianship. Oracle embodies many of the skills information professionals use every day: digital curation, knowledge management, information literacy, and research support. Through Barbara Gordon, librarianship becomes a source of intellectual and social power rather than a background profession.

Lucien: Guardian of Knowledge and Imagination

A very different vision of librarianship appears in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. Lucien serves as librarian of the Dreaming, overseeing a library that contains every book ever imagined, including those never written.

At first glance, Lucien seems to embody the traditional image of the quiet, bookish librarian. Yet he is one of the most trusted figures in the Dreaming, drawing authority not from force but from his stewardship of knowledge, memory, and imagination.

I have always found Lucien compelling. One of the most rewarding aspects of librarianship is helping people make unexpected connections and discover new ideas. Lucien's library captures that same sense of possibility, where knowledge and imagination combine to create something new.

Although thoughtful and reserved, Lucien is far from passive. When the library is threatened, he shows courage and an unwavering commitment to protecting knowledge. In this respect, he reflects contemporary librarians who increasingly defend intellectual freedom, cultural memory, and access to information.

Figure 3. Lucien, librarian of the Dreaming, from The Sandman (Gaiman, 1989).

Beyond Books: Reimagining the Library

Comics do not only transform librarians; they also transform libraries themselves. Rather than depicting libraries as silent warehouses for books, many comics present them as dynamic spaces of discovery, creativity, and power. In The Sandman, Neil Gaiman reimagines the library as a repository of human imagination, holding every book that has ever been dreamed, including those never written (Gaiman, 1989). In James Turner's Rex Libris, a public library becomes an interdimensional gateway where the librarian is charged with protecting both knowledge and reality itself (Turner, 2002), European creators have explored similar themes. Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières's Valérian et Laureline (Christin, et al. 1967-2010) and Jacques Tardi's The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec feature archivists, researchers, and information professionals whose pursuit of knowledge leads them to hidden truths, forgotten histories, and complex mysteries (Tardi, 1976). Together, these works present libraries not as passive repositories but as active spaces where information shapes worlds, identities, and possibilities.

These portrayals suggest that libraries are not simply places where information is stored. They are places where knowledge is created, shared, interpreted, and transformed. They also raise an interesting question: how does popular culture shape what people believe librarians are?

The relationship between representation and perception matters. The stories people encounter in books, films, television, and comics influence their understanding of professions and institutions. For many readers, popular culture becomes a first point of contact with ideas about what librarians do and why libraries matter.

Conclusion

Comics are one of the few areas of popular culture where librarians are frequently portrayed in a positive and empowering light. While some familiar stereotypes persist, contemporary comics increasingly present librarians as researchers, strategists, knowledge guardians, and agents of change.

From Gotham City to the Dreaming, these stories remind us that librarians do far more than organise collections. They connect people with ideas, preserve cultural memory, and help individuals navigate an increasingly complex information landscape.

Perhaps that is why librarians make such compelling heroes. In a world overflowing with information, the ability to find, understand, evaluate, and share knowledge may be one of the greatest superpowers of all.

Comics remind us that librarianship is not simply about managing books. It is about creating connections between people, information, and possibility. That may not require a cape, but it is heroic, nonetheless.

AI Use Declaration

For this blog post submission, I used the AI tool Co-Pilot to brainstorm ideas and for reference structure within the document and as part of the reference section. I also used AI to check for repetition in my writing as an editing assistant.

References & Suggested Reading

Carey, M., & Gross, P. (2009-2015). The Unwritten [Comic book series]. Vertigo/DC Comics.

Christin, P., & Mézières, J.-C. (1967-2010). Valérian et Laureline [Comic series]. Dargaud.

Duncan, R., Smith, M. J., & Levitz, P. (2015). The power of comics: History, form and culture (2nd ed.). Bloomsbury Academic.

Eisner, W. (2008). Comics and sequential art (Rev. ed.). W. W. Norton & Company.

Fox, G., & Infantino, C. (1967). Detective Comics #359. DC Comics.

Gaiman, N. (1989-1996). The Sandman [Comic series]. DC Comics/Vertigo.

Groensteen, T. (2007). The system of comics (B. Beaty & N. Nguyen, Trans.). University Press of Mississippi.

Pfeifferer, O., & Grimm, S. (Eds.). (2020). Comics and critical librarianship: Reframing the narrative in academic libraries. Library Juice Press

McCloud, S. (1993). Understanding comics: The invisible art. HarperPerennial.

McCloud, S. (2006). Making comics: Storytelling secrets of comics, manga, and graphic novels. Harper

Ostrander, J., Yale, K., & McDonnell, L. (1989). Suicide Squad. DC Comics.

Tardi, J. (1976-present). The extraordinary adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec [Comic series]. Casterman

Turner, J. (2002). Rex Libris. Slave Labor Graphics.