THE LIBRARY AS AN ETHICAL SPACE – RESHAPING PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY IN THE FILM THE PUBLIC

Abstract

This paper explores the American film The Public (2018), directed by Emilio Estevez, in which the library emerges as a site of conflict between institutional rules and ethical imperatives. At the centre of the analysis is the filmic representation of the clash between institutional regulations and fundamental human needs, which unfolds when a group of homeless people occupies the library premises to seek shelter from life-threatening cold weather. Drawing on the theoretical concepts of the semiosphere (Lotman), the poetics of space (Bachelard), and heterotopia (Foucault), the paper argues that the public library depicted in the film functions as a dynamic social space. Within this space, ethics is transformed from an abstract principle into an immediate act of resistance against the unfeeling enforcement of bureaucracy. Furthermore, the paper emphasises the film’s deconstruction of stereotypes surrounding librarians. By examining their work through the lens of the IFLA Code of Ethics, the study highlights how librarians assume responsibility in times of crisis. The analysis focuses on a key ethical shift from passive professional neutrality to active social care – reflecting the contemporary aspiration of public libraries to establish themselves as social refuges and spaces of ethical  resistance. The conclusion stresses that the film successfully rehabilitates the image of the profession,
long burdened by stereotypical representations, by portraying librarians as vital defenders of human dignity during moments of social crisis.