Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

"Punk-Ass Book Jockeys": Library Anxiety In The Television Programs Community And Parks And Recreation, Eamon Tewell

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Library anxiety, defined as the fear of using libraries, is a psychological barrier that impedes academic achievement and the development of information literacy. Using key episodes and protagonists from Community and Parks and Recreation, this paper will demonstrate how library anxiety is represented in these series. From the infamously manipulative public librarian Tammy Swanson in Parks and Recreation to the library as pillow fight battlefield in Community, these indications of anxiety towards libraries will be evaluated with the intent of illuminating current discourse in popular television regarding library use.