MTV and the 20th Century Library

Well, our friends in pop culture continue to perpetuate tired stereotypes of libraries and librarians. The new kid on the block is MTV‘s Silent Library. Oooh, interesting! A reality show based around a library?

Um, no.

Actually its a game show where contestants have to be silent while their friends and competitors perform wise-cracking pranks. What about the title? Doesn’t it have anything to do with libraries? Well that’s just it.

Aside from being filmed in a room with books (again, is this all there is to libraries?), the library connection is “SILENCE.”

Yeah. Thanks, MTV for maintaining last century’s tradition. Apparently to MTV, the defining characteristic of a library is that it is absolutely silent. I wonder if the show hosts hold up their index fingers and “shush.”