[Publib] Reading Recycled Books

[Karen Schneider]

So let's discuss the recommended reading -- the proof of the original
argument. I've read the lesser Brontes, which were raised as one of those
things missing from an immediate-fulfillment local library. I didn't read
just SOME of the Brontes, I read everything, down to the juvenilia. The
"lesser" books and materials have a home: a research library. They have a
way I can get to them: interlibrary loan. Beyond that, copies of these books
will not really belong in local collections unless the community has a
special need for them -- because they aren't that good. The Tenant of
Wildfell Hall is worth reading if you have a need to to check off every book
associated with major 19th century writing powerhouses and their families,
but if you don't, well, your life will not be poorer for giving it a pass
and you are better off with Life of Pi or Then They Came to the End or for
that matter, the latest issue of Vanity Fair (or the latest New Yorker, with
its sui generis, startling piece on the "Van Dykes").

As for Oliver Sacks, he's good, but you know, you could trade a Sacks for a
lot of books immediately available to Michael. Really you could.

Funny how we have had the same arguments for almost 150 years.

Do I think people's tastes are over-conditioned? I do. Do I think they read
some great books regardless? That as well. Do I think we have a role in
marketing alternatives and making them appealing choices? That as well. Do I
think someone is better off reading, period? That too.


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-- 
-- 
| Karen G. Schneider
| Community Librarian
| Equinox Software Inc. "The Evergreen Experts"
| Toll-free: 1.877.Open.ILS (1.877.673.6457) x712
| kgs at esilibrary.com
| Web: http://www.esilibrary.com
| Be a part of the Evergreen International Conference, May 20-22, 2009!
| http://www.solinet.net/evergreen
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