The Backroom . . .

One day, I hope to have an amazingly HUGE collection of all the great books that we and others deem as classics. I think that I already have a great start toward that goal . . . (My husband would say that I am a little obsessed with books. Yes, I would rather buy books than food. Isn't that a great diet plan though!) . . ., but every once in a while, I need to visit the local library to get a book that I don't yet own. To find the book, I do the usual; look it up in their catalog and find the call number by which to locate it. There have been a few occasions when the call number is followed by the group of letters, BKRM. These letters, I have found out, mean that the book is located in the backroom of the library that only the librarians have access to. So, in order to get the book, one has to ask a librarian to get it. It is not a bad thing, but a lot of people don't know what the letters BKRM refer to, so they look on the regular shelves and when the book is not to be found they just get something else.

The reason I bring this up is because the books that I have had to ask for have all been great classics like The Lonesome Gods and Walden, just to name a couple. The first time this happened to me, I asked the librarian why they keep these books in the backroom and she gave me two reasons; because they belong to the classic collection . . . (not sure why that is a reason, I guess because they are expensive?). . . and because those books are often stolen. Really? People go in and steal books from the library? I've heard of people keeping books they've checked out, but to steal them? People, THEY ARE FREE TO READ!!!!!

So, I understand why they put them back, but here is the negative part of it. A lot of people don't know about the "classics". There are alot of people in this world that love to read, but don't necessarily have direction and so they just browse the shelves. The books that I got had not been checked out for the last four years; that's really sad. Is there a better way to keep these materials safe but also readily available to everyone? It would be nice.

It is nice though that when I go to the library and approach the front desk, the librarians usually ask me what I need from the backroom. I guess that's a good sign! Enjoy!