The Hogwarts Library is located on the third and fourth floors of Hogwarts Castle and contains tens of thousands of books on thousands of shelves. Overseen by Madam Irma Pince, the library is where students can go to peruse or borrow books to supplement their studies (or for personal enjoyment). The library closes at 8:00 pm.
The library books have various spells on them to prevent students from defacing or stealing them. Hermione Granger tore a page out of a library book about magical creatures without being cursed, jinxed, or hexed by the book. How she did this is unknown. Chocolate and (presumably) other food is forbidden in the library. Harry Potter also showed signs of breaking the security of the library in his first year when he entered the Restricted Section under his Invisibility cloak.
Taking out books
Students researching books in the school library.
Students and teachers may take out books from the library, with the librarian’s permission. Books from the Restricted Section require a signed note from a teacher to be checked out. Professor Severus Snape told Harry Potter that it was against the rules to carry a library book out of the castle. However, he may have just made that rule up to get Harry into trouble. Students seem to be able to place books on hold – during the 1992–1993 school year the book Hogwarts, A History had a two-week waiting list.
Professor Dumbledore removed the books pertaining to the subject of Horcruxes due to the fact that they involve such Dark Magic. He kept them in his office until his death when Hermione Granger summoned them before parting in her sixth year.
Sections
Hogwarts Library's Security Seal.
Included in its many sections are:
An Invisibility Section (wherein a browsing student will disappear)
A Legal Section (containing, among others, books on hippogriff-baiting)[3]
A Restricted Section (contains books that explore Dark Magic, books of great antiquity and books of highly advanced magic)
Behind the scenes
In the PC/N64 version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the Library is larger and more labyrinthine than in the films, perhaps closer to what is implied in the books. There are study tables nestled throughout red-carpeted rooms criss-crossed and walled with full bookshelves, many of which are actually secret passages that Filch uses to travel between rooms quickly. Polished wooden catwalks overlook most rooms here, some with stained-glass windows, and the entire complex is housed in the lower section of the Astronomy Tower. If one continues up through the levels of the library, they will eventually gain access to the top of the tower, where Astronomy studies are conducted. In the GBC version of the game, the library has two floors, the lower (acessed by the second floor) being a very large room filled with labirinthic paths between bookshelves. The lower floor is where the Restricted Section and the librarian's desk can be found. The upper floor (acessed by the third floor) consists on a very large balcony, overlooking the lower floor. On the GBA version of the game, the library is a very large room with wine-coloured wallpaper. Annexed to the library is a a room with many tables and a lectern facing them, possibly a place for lectures. The restricted section is through a wooden door, and it's a very odd room, with many secret passages, pressure pads and deep holes on the ground.
In the video game adaptations of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the regular area of the library is a massive, cathedral-like area of the castle, with two long arms stretching to the left and right of the entrance, each lined with bookshelves at least five stories high. Wooden balconies line each level, and books can be seen flying like birds from the large, round librarian's desk in the center of the room, up to the shelves where they each belong. There are also antechambers leading off from this area, up staircases from the main room, some locked or blocked in ways that require certain spells to unseal. These chambers are also lined with high shelves, and some are haunted by seemingly malevolent ghosts. A large cauldron of Wiggenweld Potion can be found bubbling in the Library, free for any student who needs a pick-me-up. The Restricted Section of the library in the game is even more intimidating. Accessed through a portrait in a section of the Library guarded nightly by Prefects, the Restricted section is a set of vast chambers, easily as big as the regular section only much more treacherous to navigate. Ghosts haunt the many halls and antechambers of the Section, some of which will attack the player if File:Foto0699.jpg
Irma Pince office outside the library
they get too close, and many of the doors are smeared with ectoplasm. Objects ranging from books to entire bookshelves may spring to life to assault those who venture here at night, some doors lock themselves, and some are heavily locked to begin with. On the GBC version of the game, the room is quite similar to the same version's previous installment, only slightly smaller.
In the video game adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the Library is divided into seperate sections which are distributed throughout every floor of the castle, still containing a number of known secret passages concealed among their shelves.
In the Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince games, the Library resumes its simple layout from the films. The gate to the Restricted section is unlocked in the former game and locked in the latter.
Another difference in the Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince games is that the library is located on the second floor near the Charms classroom, not the fourth.
