Begin your story with a librarian searching for something.

Posted in Fiction on Aug 11, 2023

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 70 stories

“What Happened to the Library” by Solveig Bjermeland

Submitted to Contest #211

It is early Tuesday morning. Gale likes to get to work early. It is 6 AM and the library doesn’t even open until 8. She likes the moments of silence in the building before anyone arrives. She finds it peaceful. Her best friend Per likes to argue that “A library should always be peaceful no matter what time of day. If it is not then Gale, you might not be doing your job right”. Per always finds Gale’s dedication to her work to be amusing but unnecessary at times. The public libraries in general are a dying system not to mention in a small tow...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Paper cuts” by Lucy Popham

Submitted to Contest #211

My fingers are patterned with a few paper cuts from putting books away at work in the library, and for the first time ever I am actively looking, trying to find something my mother has gifted me. They are vibrantly, terrifyingly blue plasters. Usually, she buys hair dye for me, as a birthday gift. Now that I think about it… I don’t really know what she’s trying to tell me. I have never once dyed my hair and neither has she. However, it’s my fault for never asking for anything, so maybe… hair dye is her go-to gift for everyone. Now that I thi...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Pripyat School Librarian” by Sue Hunter

Submitted to Contest #211

The large rectangular windows were speckled with spiderweb-like cracks. Years of heavy snow and brutal winds had battered the library walls and left a few gaping holes in the plaster. Pieces of the green wallpaper had begun to peel, revealing dark brown trails of rotting wood. Bookshelves had toppled over, sending their precious cargo careening into the floor. Those books, their pages faded from exposure to the elements and their bindings snapped on impact, carpeted the floor. You could only imagine the mess Duste Bunni had to wade through ...

5 comments 5

Read story

“Between the Pages.” by Lara Deppe

Submitted to Contest #211

Between the Pages. Sara Lee was bustling through her to-do list with an eager enthusiasm. It was Tuesday. Tuesday was her favorite day at the library. The library was closed on Monday and there was always so much to do after the long weekend. She always liked to map out her day with a list on paper so she could cross things off as she completed them but after nineteen years at the library, taking care of things was like making her bed at home – they were second nature to her; however, her memory was slipping, and she didn’t want to forget a...

4 comments 4

Read story

“Be Careful What You Read After Dark” by Bob Faszczewski

Submitted to Contest #211

Words have meaning--but do they have life? Can they actually leap off a page to take you on adventures--even those which you don’t want to go on? Berlin, Md. historian John Simpson, a long-time friend of mine, called me one Friday and excitedly asked me to meet him at the back door of the Berlin Library at 4:15, right after closing. I couldn’t figure out why he wanted to meet at the library and why not during regular ...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Cold Witch Coffee Brew” by Donovan Santiago

Submitted to Contest #211

Darkness, rain, and the whistle of the trees. The lighting shows a brief flash of a gothic-style castle. It’s resembling an old, twisted set of pipes. Inside large halls filled to the brim with books. A middle-aged woman in a golden top and bottom walks around. Looking at each shelf. She has flowing black hair. This is the librarian. Her name was lost to time. Even she is okay with not remembering it. She manifests an iced coffee in a purple cup. It has a red and gold-colored straw. She sips on the coffee. "Now where is that old thing...

3 comments 3

Read story

“The Red Book” by Asmi B

Submitted to Contest #211

She ran a thin finger along the worn spines of the books stacked high. Her heavy breath was the only sound that pierced through the shroud of silence covering her humble abode for books: Willow. The name had emerged on a Sunday afternoon while swimming laps in the town’s run-down YMCA. Evelyn nurtured the leather-bound worlds in her home, allowing the occasional visitor to trail through the vanilla-smelling library and take home a book to cherish. Now, on a dark Saturday evening, Evelyn felt her small world crushed even further. The waning ...

0 comments 0

Read story

“A Beginning Conspiracy” by Joseph Peck

Submitted to Contest #211

“Where is it, where is it?” The panicked cry was sounded right before the two pinewood doors were thrust wide open. Sweeping through the entrance on swift legs came two robed figures, once clad in viridian and the other in scarlet. The green robed figure was a towering male, bearded face crinkled in worry and movements hurried. His companion wore her almond hair in a simple bun, her face stern. Her eyebrows were furrowed in thought. “Have you checked the Forbidden Section Director Grunwald?” Her query earned her a huff in response.&nbs...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Rare and Exquisite” by Cajek Veilwinter

Submitted to Contest #211

Edmund was not his real name.The young man was a librarian by trade, although one wouldn’t know it by looking at him. He wore a double-breasted gray suit, his neck swathed in a long black scarf. In his hand he held an elaborate pocket watch, which he was studying closely. He was standing outside a wrought-iron gate in a slum of Paris in the middle of the night.He watched as two drunkards across the street stumbled out of what was casually known as a “night cafe.” He eyed them nervously, gripping his walking stick tightly as they walked away....

2 comments 2

Read story

“The Poetry Book” by William Vickers

Submitted to Contest #211

“I’ll pay it for you this time Ethan,” I said with a smile, reaching for my purse, and tried to sound stern when I told him that I wouldn’t pay his fines again. “What did you think of the book?” His grubby face lit up when he realized he didn’t have to pay the £6 fine. “I didn’t like it, it made me feel… bad. I don’t think I’ll read poetry again. Do you have any more adventure books?” After I had found some other books more suited to his taste and pointed him in the right direction, I wrote his name and today’s date into the poetry boo...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Ille Liber de Perdita Praedictas” by Gregg Punger

Submitted to Contest #211

“I know it’s here somewhere,” said Linda the Librarian, and yes, she is aware that is an example of alliteration, which if you are under thirteen, she will find very impressive, but if you are over thirteen, she would really prefer if you’d just keep your trap shut. Anyways, Linda continued hurrying through the castle library’s long, dark, and frankly musty rows filled with a voluminous number of ancient texts until young Princess Alice who had been following close behind her this entire time asked, “Are you sure there was a children’s secti...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Hidden Recipe for Eternal Life” by Madeline Honig

Submitted to Contest #211

“I know it is here somewhere,” the librarian called out from the top of the wooden ladder. “No one has requested this book for as long as I have worked here. But it’s in our database so I know it must be here somewhere. We are quite good about keeping meticulous records. Efficiency is key when you have this many books in a library before computers. Found it!” The librarian retreated from the top of the ladder with care and grace. She then held out a blue hardcover book covered in dust and handed it to Da...

3 comments 3

Read story

“The Library and the Beasts” by Travis Gibson

Submitted to Contest #211

Laura's trembling fingers caressed the ancient leather-bound book of spells. She opened the heavy tome as dust particles snowed in a small town library tucked against the eastern edge of a northeastern state. A feeling of destiny raced through her veins. Laura loved her library, a place of dreams and secrets. But now the town was under siege from mysterious creatures. She felt a strange sense of security here, as if some unknown force was protecting them. A few townspeople had found refuge in the library. Would the books provide an answer to...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Book Bind Library” by Leland Mesford

Submitted to Contest #211

Books towered above Ms. Pratipity on the shelves of the cozy aisle where she stood looking down at a little scrap of paper in her hand. The phrase, "Good luck," was followed by a little snicker, which caught and spread to the others. "Yeah, good luck," was repeated from someplace behind Ms. Pratipity's knees. "Yeah, good luck," was repeated again. This time from a spot in front of her, to her right. Ms. Pratipity stepped to her right and put her hands on her sides, above her hips. "Now, who said that?", she asked. Then she stared...

2 comments 2

Read story

“The Librarian” by Shanda Kersten

Submitted to Contest #211

The man had just quietly disappeared. He left behind the bookmark to end all bookmarks. Adam, the librarian, couldn’t find that at the moment either. It just wasn’t in the book he was fairly certain he was reading. When you have five or six going at once, it’s hard to keep track of what mood you were in last, am I right? He thought he was reading a book of Robert Frost poetry, but the marker was not there. This is the problem with working in a library. It is entirely possible that he had laid it down on a side table during a slow moment, the...

0 comments 0

Read story

Load more stories

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story starring an octogenarian who’s more than meets the eye.

Fiction – 67 stories

Write a story involving a friendship with an adorable animal.

Fluff – 50 stories

Set or begin your story in a room lit by the flickering flames of the fireplace.

Fiction – 70 stories

End your story with two characters reconciling.

Adults – 47 stories

Contest #211

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Cozy Corner

$250

Prize money

304

Contest entries

107

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Aug 18, 2023 EST

Won by Kenz Ross 🏆

Title: Do Flamethrowers Belong In The Library?

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

Menu

CONNECT

BLOG

APPS

TOOLS

ABOUT

Begin your story with a librarian searching for something.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 70 stories

“What Happened to the Library” by Solveig Bjermeland

“Paper cuts” by Lucy Popham

“The Pripyat School Librarian” by Sue Hunter

“Between the Pages.” by Lara Deppe

“Be Careful What You Read After Dark” by Bob Faszczewski

“Cold Witch Coffee Brew” by Donovan Santiago

“The Red Book” by Asmi B

“A Beginning Conspiracy” by Joseph Peck

“Rare and Exquisite” by Cajek Veilwinter

“The Poetry Book” by William Vickers

“Ille Liber de Perdita Praedictas” by Gregg Punger

“The Hidden Recipe for Eternal Life” by Madeline Honig

“The Library and the Beasts” by Travis Gibson

“Book Bind Library” by Leland Mesford

“The Librarian” by Shanda Kersten

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story starring an octogenarian who’s more than meets the eye.

Write a story involving a friendship with an adorable animal.

Set or begin your story in a room lit by the flickering flames of the fireplace.

End your story with two characters reconciling.

Contest #211

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

304

Contest entries

107

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: