UPDATE 1/5::Fairfax Libraries Cull Classics...
UPDATE: The library system has gotten a blast of criticism for the policies outlined in the article, but it disputes the sweep of changes portrayed in it. A spokeswoman said the system has available plenty of copies of the books mentioned, that it is trying to reduce the number of older, less-used texts, not do away with them. Its view of the practice and of the coverage is at http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/classics.htm.
/bob samsot
According to this article from today's Metro section administrators with Fairfax County Public Library system have taken an aggressive stance on weeding out seldom read materials from library stacks. Popular new titles are replacing books long regarded as classics of literature to meet public demand.
Some librarians reason that the library should serve the public by giving us what we want and that the classics won't be lost since many of them are available for free on the world wide web. Others say that libraries have a responsibility to archive great works even if they are unpopular today.
What do Focus on Fairfax readers think?
By Focus on Fairfax |
January 2, 2007; 9:42 AM ET
| Category:
Misc.
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Posted by: Igor | January 3, 2007 7:12 AM
This article caused a lot of surprise and consternation online, but Fairfax County is not actually eliminating all copies of the classics mentioned in the Washington Post article. The library staff kindly corrected the misunderstanding. Here is a link to a post I wrote to clear up the misunderstanding:
http://zealandactivityblog.wordpress.com/2007/01/08/classics-in-no-danger-at-fairfax-county-public-library/
Posted by: Timothy | January 8, 2007 9:07 PM
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I believe that software is a crime! Think to what would have happened if european monks, in the year of 1000, had thought like that software does. Centuries of ancient culture and knowledge would have lost. Libraries are the XXI century's monks, and they have to put culture through the time. The right cultural marketing is making Hemingway, Faulkner, Shakespeare and Dante live near Grisham, dan Brown, Eggers ad others. That software seems like a coach who decide that Steinbeck is unfit and that is time for Clive Cussler to play. But culture is not a game.
Anyway, on my blog (http://gasolina.blogosfere.it) I criticized David Sassoon's opinion about culture. He's an english professor who affirms that culture is what we buy as consumer (the book we read, the music we listen too, etc). Well, I do not think that Beethoven is the real culture and Springsteen not; however, I Have a doubt: is prof Sassoon maybe that software's author?
PS: I'm italian, forgive my out-of-control english
Ciao!