Fairfax libraries react

By pointing out that the library has no dearth of classics on its shelves--and you can get them in a variety of formats.

Sample classic literature available in the Fairfax County Public Library:

Works of Aristotle by Aristotle -- 107 copies of various titles

Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner -- 99 copies on CD, cassette, large print and regular print

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway -- 108 copies on VHS, cassette and regular print

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee -- 359 copies on CD, cassette, DVD, VHS, large print, e-book and regular print

Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams -- 116 copies on VHS and regular print (including in some volumes of collected plays)

Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak -- 50 copies on CD, cassettes and regular print

That hasn't stopped John Miller from expanding a Corner post into a piece that laments the degeneration of libraries from cultural treasure houses to sleazy purveyors of mass market crap. BTW, Mr. Miller, the library catalog has 12 copies of Marlowe's Doctor Faustus available to anyone who's interested.

Libraries are, of course, competing with bookstores and online resources for patrons so there's plenty of room for debate about their role. This just isn't the story to peg the debate on.

(Thanks to commenter "Jack Bauer" for the pointer.)