Bye Bye Mr. Hyde!

Some libraries around the country are taking the classics and, well, putting them on the B list. Fox News reported tonight from a library in Buffalo, NY that is shuffling their inventory of books around to keep their selections current. Thus, if any book hasn’t been checked out in two years, they’ll place that book in a separate storage area so as to make way for more popular reads.
Granted, I’m a businessman, so I often think about supply and demand, but one of the reasons great classic novels are being put in the back room is to make room for computer corrals. I’m kinda torn over this-I love the idea that anyone and everyone can have access to the net if they so choose, especially those who cannot afford their own machine and internet access. Therefore, the library is meeting the needs of those citizens…and, isn’t this the sorta thing we pay taxes for?
But it just makes me sad that the great classics of the English language are seen as archaic and not worth the time of the public. This year, I’m keeping track of every book I read. Why? BBecause there is just so so so much great lit out there that I want to see what I’ve been skipping. And, if Mr. Hyde and his pal, Dr. Jekyll, aren’t on that list? Well, there’d at least better be some Hemingway. Or Faulkner. Or Steinbeck. Or Dickinson. I hope there’ll bbe some of the greats on your list, too.