The school library
The original Sunnydale High School library was located directly above the Hellmouth. It served as the Scooby Gang's base of operations since the librarian, Rupert Giles, was a member of the Watcher's Council and employed the use of this area. Giles brought in old supernatural texts and medieval weapons, to provide his Slayer Buffy Summers with training during and after school hours as well as holding a source of demonic research when dealing with various threats. It was destroyed when Buffy planted it with a large amount of explosives and detonated them in the face of the newly ascended Mayor Wilkins, destroying him along with the rest of the school.[1]
Description
The center of library was octagonal with a skylight above and a red painted line on the floor below, clearly defining its shape.
The Scooby Gang taking research during Christmas
It included a small balcony that was shaped from half of the octagon, facing opposite to the entrance with a pair of stairs each lying at the end of the balcony which also had stacks located within that held books. It also contained a wooden table with chairs in the center of the octagon. There was also a doorway at the back of the balcony which contained another room which, according to Giles, was an old boarded up cellar.[2]
To the right of the library, in front the balcony was the counter where the books were checked in and beyond that was Giles' office.
Book cage
Xander in the book cage.
The book cage was located opposite to Giles' office and resembled a white steel cage with a built-in door and a rectangular slot, for book returns. Inside it housed a cupboard and a window.
It was employed by Rupert Giles to store weapons. It was also employed regularly to contain Oz during his werewolf transformation. The possessed Xander and Philip Henry, as well as Vampire Willow, were also held inside in different moments.
Books Available from the Library
- Vampyr[3]
- Witches: Historic Roots to Modern Practice[4]
- The Pagan Rites[4]
- Emily Dickinson's poetry[5]
- Writings of Aurelius[5]
- Legends of Vishnu[6]
- Black Chronicles[7][8]
- Writings of Dramius[9]
- Bristow's Demon Index[10]
- Hell's Offspring[10]
- Biography of Joseph Stalin[11]
- Exploring Demon Dimensions[12]
- The Mystery of Acathla[12]
- Sir Robert Kane’s Twilight Compendium[13]
- The Diary of Lucius Temple[8]
- Blood Rites and Sacrifices[14]
- Hebron's Almanac[15]
- Books of Pherion[15]
- Merenshtadt Text[16]
- Kippler Volumes[1]
Behind the Scenes
- The Sunnydale High School library is the original, and longest running headquarters of the Scooby Gang, having been used as a meeting place for three seasons. The Magic Box is the second longest, having been used for two seasons until its destruction, while Giles's apartment and Buffy's house only served as headquarters for one season.
- The books in the library lend an air of humor and verisimilitude to the mystical, metaphysical, paranormal, and supernatural character of the show. The library provides a convenient means for the characters to discover the true nature of the latest forces and entities that the Hellmouth has unleashed upon them and supports the show's own nature as a Bildungsroman, or coming-of-age story, symbolizing the importance both of growing up and of growing in knowledge and understanding, as many critics have pointed out.[17]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Graduation Day, Part Two Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "Grad2" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ "School Hard"
- ↑ "Welcome to the Hellmouth"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Witch"
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date"
- ↑ "Out of Mind, Out of Sight"
- ↑ "Prophecy Girl"
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Amends"
- ↑ "What's My Line, Part Two"
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Bad Eggs"
- ↑ "Passion"
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Beauty and the Beasts"
- ↑ "Revelations"
- ↑ "Gingerbread"
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 "The Zeppo"
- ↑ "Enemies"
- ↑ "Educating Buffy: The Role of Education in Buffy the Vampire Slayer" by Michael Betancourt.