The American Spectator

Reader Mail

p> LIBRARY OF PROGRESS br> Re: G. Tracy Mehan, III's Purging the Classics From the Local Library : /p>

In reference to Mr. Mehan's article on the Fairfax County Library's ruthless purging of texts -- I am a lifelong resident of Annandale, Virginia and use the library system regularly and have watched as books have disappeared from the catalog.

One of my favorite books is Harvey Cushing's brilliant life of Sir William Osler -- a book for which Cushing, a distinguished neurosurgeon, won the Pullitzer Prize (1925). One copy of this book was available in the Fairfax County system -- and I tried to check it out once in a while to make sure that it stayed in the system. I neglected my duties for the past few years and the book is now gone -- shame on me.

Librarians, when not chatting about their pets, like to talk about a thing called "serendipitous browsing" that occurs when a patron wandering the stacks comes across a title by accident and is enlightened. Some of my favorite books have come to me in this way -- especially Cushing's Life of Osler.

p>One has to wonder what the content of those stacks would be like if they were only to be filled with books people have checked out over the previous two years. If we are to judge by the quality of the television shows they watch, the music they listen to, the news services they revere and the politicians they elect, someday soon I may have to browse my old Mad magazines for pith. br> -- Joseph Provenzano br> Fairfax County Librarian Patron

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