NF You Checked It Out When? And You're Returning It Now?

[Library Lady]

I love stories like this! What library person doesn't? I think I'll keep my eyes out for more like this to add to the thread.

MSN

I particularly like this story because they talk a bit about the author as well as about library processes. I think it's so cool that patrons there can once again check the book out because it is still in good enough condition to circulate. I'm not sure I'd want to be responsible for it through interlibrary loan, though. I'd feel terrible if it got damaged or lost in the mail.

 

[LoyaltyOfDogs]

Sounds like it's still popular, too. Both the 1926 edition and the replacement the library purchased are currently checked out. Well-told stories never grow old!

 

[Library Lady]

Sounds like it's still popular, too. Both the 1926 edition and the replacement the library purchased are currently checked out. Well-told stories never grow old!

Both copies are out and there's 3 holds waiting. Well, duh! I should have looked that up before I posted. Thanks for getting me back on track, @LoyaltyOfDogs.

 

[LoyaltyOfDogs]

Both copies are out and there's 3 holds waiting. Well, duh! I should have looked that up before I posted. Thanks for getting me back on track, @LoyaltyOfDogs.

I happen to believe that both were checked out immediately by CivilWarTalk members who read your post! Those 3 other members will just have to wait...

 

[Sivart]

Really cool story! I probably would have fainted had I been the librarian! Anyways, I got curious to see what the book looked like, so I've included some images. The book seems to be in excellent condition (for a 98 year old book that is).

 

[Library Lady]

This book has had quite a life! I love that the finder not only returned it, but donated what would have been the accumulated "old money" fine to the library.

Coventry library book returned 84 years late

The copy of Red Deer by Richard Jefferies is back in Earlsdon Library after 4,385 weeks on loan.

www.bbc.com

 

[Library Lady]

Another book has finally found its way home! Almost 82 years after checkout, Your Child, His Family, and Friends by Frances Bruce Strain has been returned to the San Antonio (Texas) Public Library. Lucky for the gent who found it (and his grandmother who checked it out), SAPL no longer charges late fines. At the standard 3 cents/day from back in the 1940s, the fine would have been $900 but with inflation $16,000. The book is considered to be in good condition, is on display at the library and will be donated to the Friends of San Antonio Public Library for sale to help support the library.

Library Book Returned Nearly 82 Years After Due Date

An overdue library book has found its way back to the San Antonio Public Library nearly 82 years after its due date. “Your Child, His Family, and Friends” by Frances Bruce Strain was checked out in July 1943 and due back 28 days later. The book was received at the library in June 2025 from...

www.mysapl.org

 

[Belfoured]

Another book has finally found its way home! Almost 82 years after checkout, Your Child, His Family, and Friends by Frances Bruce Strain has been returned to the San Antonio (Texas) Public Library. Lucky for the gent who found it (and his grandmother who checked it out), SAPL no longer charges late fines. At the standard 3 km cents/day from back in the 1940s, the fine would have been $900 but with inflation $16,000. The book is considered to be in good condition, is on display at the library and will be donated to the Friends of San Antonio Public Library for sale to help support the library.

Library Book Returned Nearly 82 Years After Due Date

An overdue library book has found its way back to the San Antonio Public Library nearly 82 years after its due date. “Your Child, His Family, and Friends” by Frances Bruce Strain was checked out in July 1943 and due back 28 days later. The book was received at the library in June 2025 from...

www.mysapl.org

When I was in 2nd or 3rd grade and got a library card every time I checked one out the stern lady at the counter would point to the due date, look me in the eyes, and warn me to finish reading it by then. I developed a fear of librarians at an early age …

 

[Library Lady]

When I was in 2nd or 3rd grade and got a library card every time I checked one out the stern lady at the counter would point to the due date, look me in the eyes, and warn me to finish reading it by then. I developed a fear of librarians at an early age …

Yeah, we library workers, even the shelvers, are a fearsome bunch. I had a little boy tunnel through the bottom shelves of a metal shelving unit in the Kids Room to get to his mom. I'm shelving in the area and hear these thuds. I go investigate to make sure no one is hurt. There are books all over the floor and a mortified mom trying to pick them up. I tell her I'll take care of them; it's a shelver job. She tells her little boy to apologize to "the librarian" for making a big mess. He looks up at me with wide, scared eyes and says in a tiny voice, "I'm sorry. Will you forgive me?" I take a few seconds to consider it and then ask, "Can we make a deal that you won't ever do that again? I don't want you to get hurt." He solemnly nods his head. I stick out my hand and ask, "OK then, can we shake hands on this deal?" We shake hands to seal the deal, and his mom reinforces it by telling him he's just made a promise to "the librarian" that he won't do this bad thing again. I don't know if the little one has ever been back after that, but nobody has taken out two shelves of books in that way since. They've found other ways, though.

 

[Belfoured]

Yeah, we library workers, even the shelvers, are a fearsome bunch. I had a little boy tunnel through the bottom shelves of a metal shelving unit in the Kids Room to get to his mom. I'm shelving in the area and hear these thuds. I go investigate to make sure no one is hurt. There are books all over the floor and a mortified mom trying to pick them up. I tell her I'll take care of them; it's a shelver job. She tells her little boy to apologize to "the librarian" for making a big mess. He looks up at me with wide, scared eyes and says in a tiny voice, "I'm sorry. Will you forgive me?" I take a few seconds to consider it and then ask, "Can we make a deal that you won't ever do that again? I don't want you to get hurt." He solemnly nods his head. I stick out my hand and ask, "OK then, can we shake hands on this deal?" We shake hands to seal the deal, and his mom reinforces it by telling him he's just made a promise to "the librarian" that he won't do this bad thing again. I don't know if the little one has ever been back after that, but nobody has taken out two shelves of books in that way since. They've found other ways, though.

I wish you had been at the front desk.

 

[Library Lady]

I wish you had been at the front desk.

I think all my clerk colleagues make sure that patrons who check items out at the circulation desk (as opposed to the self-checkouts) are aware of the due date(s). I've never seen one give a patron the evil eye while doing it, though.

 

[Library Lady]

Here's another great story of a world-travelling library book that has finally made its way home.

MSN

 

[milhistbuff1]

Here's another great story of a world-travelling library book that has finally made its way home.

MSN

Neat story. Curious if Chantilly keeps the book in circulation. Probably long since marked lost.

 

[Library Lady]

Another book makes it way home to the San Antonio (Texas) Public Library. It sounds like this was its first checkout, and it was returned in excellent condition such that it could be placed on the shelf again.

MSN

 

[Library Lady]

A biography of Henry Ford by Allan Nevins has made its way back to the Richland Public Library in Richland, Washington. It was only 63 years, 11 months and 1 day overdue. The gentleman who returned it found it in the personal library of a friend which he had inherited. He told the library that he found another book that belongs to them, and he'll return it, too, as soon as he's done reading it.

MSN

 

[Library Lady]

A wartime novel checked out from a library in Norwich (Norfolk County, England) with a due date of October 10, 1949, has been returned to the library's mobile book service after being found in an attic. The overdue fine at the time was 1 penny a day so after 77 years and adjusting for inflation the total fine would be in the neighborhood of 800 pounds. The fine has been waived, and there are already 2 patrons who have put the book on hold.

MSN