That Was Georgetown in 1950

[December 30th, 1990: Virginia had a letter to the editor published in response to "Is There a Klepto in the Stacks?" The original article is archived on The New York Times website. Virginia's letter was composed as follows...]

To the Editor:

In 1950, when I lived in Washington and possessed a Georgetown public library card, my eyes were opened to the imagination and strategies of those who shelve books in libraries.

My first surprise was in finding Margaret Mead's "Coming of Age in Samoa" in the "Adventure" section, and my second in finding Havelock Ellis's "Studies in the Psychology of Sex" not on the shelves at all. When I made an inquiry, the librarian motioned me to follow her into the closed stacks. There on a secluded shelf for the most-often-stolen books was Havelock Ellis cheek by jowl with "Robert's Rules of Order."

Oh, well, that was Georgetown in 1950.

Virginia Mann
Stanford, Calif.