The Library (Seinfeld)

"The Library" is the 22nd episode of the American sitcom Seinfeld. It was the fifth episode of the show's third season. It aired on NBC on October 16, 1991.^[1]

"The Library"
Seinfeld episode
Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 5
Directed by	Joshua White
Written by	Larry Charles
Production code	304
Original air date	October 16, 1991 (1991-10-16)
Guest appearances
Philip Baker Hall as Lt. Joe Bookman Ashley Gardner as Marion Harris Shore as Mr. Lippman Biff Yeager as Mr. Heyman Cynthia Szigeti as Sherry Becker Neal Lerner as Guy in the Library (The 'Shusher')
Episode chronology
List of episodes

Plot

The New York Public Library notifies Jerry that he owes 20 years of library fines for failing to return a copy of Tropic of Cancer in 1971. Jerry is adamant that he returned the book, vividly remembering that he did so while ogling classmate Sherry Becker. However, he fails to plead his case to Lt. Joe Bookman, the "library investigation officer"—an idealistic, hard-nosed crusader who vows to guard the library system against miscreants, as he makes Jerry out to be.

George recognizes a homeless man outside the library as Mr. Heyman, his high school physical education teacher. After relentlessly bullying George and giving him a failing grade, Heyman was finally fired for ganging up with other boys to give George a wedgie. Needing to confirm whether he ruined Heyman's life, George introduces himself to the homeless man—and receives another wedgie.

Despite scoffing at library patrons, Kramer strikes up a romance with Marion, a librarian, and becomes enamored with her poetry, which moves him to tears. However, her absence from work to visit Kramer and their after-hours rendezvous in the library draw Bookman's wrath.

At Pendant Publishing, after Elaine's regular lunch order is not picked up, she suspects that her job is at risk. Seeing Mr. Lippman's cold reception towards a Christopher Columbus biography recommended by Jerry, Elaine presents Marion's tear-jerking poetry to him, but to no avail.

Jerry reconnects with Sherry to corroborate his story, but her account of events is entirely different, reminding Jerry that he actually returned Tropic of Capricorn with her, having lent Tropic of Cancer to George. Confronted with this, George remembers that he immediately lost the book during the wedgie incident. Jerry duly pays his fine, while the final scene shows the book still in Heyman's possession as he sleeps in an alley.

Reception

Philip Baker Hall's role as a lieutenant, whom he played in imitation of Jack Webb's Sergeant Joe Friday of Dragnet fame, was very well received.^[2][3] It was considered to be one of the best guest appearances on Seinfeld,^[3] and led to Hall receiving many other offers of work.^[3] It was rated as one of his most memorable performances.^[4] When the New York Public Library decided to eliminate late fees in October 2021, it posted a satiric piece in its blog, supposedly written by another character of that episode (Sherry Becker), wishing Lt. Bookman a happy retirement.^[5]