Library Gets Book Back After 35 Years: Outrageous Overdue Fine

WINONA, Minn. — Librarians at Winona Public Library were thrilled this week when someone returned a book that had been checked out some 35 years ago. The book is called "Small Voices: A Grownup's Treasury of Selections from the Diaries, Journals and Notebooks of Young Children." It's a collection of journal entries that prominent public figures had written as children. Someone left it in the library's drop-box as part of the its Amnesty Week for overdue books.

Reference librarian Robin DeVries said she's thrilled to get it back.

Records suggest it was checked out in the early 1970s. But because the circulation system has since changed, it's not clear who last checked it out.

The Winona Daily News said the overdue fine would have been more than $1,400.

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Information from: Winona Daily News, http://www.winonadailynews.com

Comments

[YABookShelf]

07:46 PM on 09/14/2010

Wow - and I thought my library fines have been bad in the past. :)

[Ojodelgato]

04:10 PM on 09/14/2010

The library where I worked had a policy that a fine was capped at the value of the book. Unless the book was worth $1400 the guy who returned it had nothing to worry about.

[eric14]

09:01 AM on 09/14/2010

In 1963 I found a book in an old attic room. It had been checked out of Durham University (UK) library over 90 years before. It was about he Achaeans. I returned it anonymously.

[Bruce Forbes]

10:35 PM on 09/13/2010

This reminds me of the hilarious Seinfeld episodes involving Jerry and the overdue "Tropic of Cancer". The man who played the "library detective" in those episodes was brilliant.

[JackiChan]

05:21 AM on 09/14/2010

Am I the only person that did not like nor watch Seinfeld?

[GraceNotes]

09:08 AM on 09/14/2010

No, you are not. I confess, I never could get into Seinfeld. I was raised on a steady diet of TV, and love the half-hour situational comedy, but I hardly watched a full episode of this one. It will be in syndication forever though, so I figure I have a few years to discover it.

[Arthur Vibert]

05:06 PM on 09/14/2010

Can't stand the show. I've never watched an episode all the way through, nor do I intend to. Can't say I think much of Seinfeld the man, either.

[Montcalms Revenge]

11:35 AM on 09/14/2010

That's Mr. Bookman... Got that "Joy Boy"? LOL! ;-)

[ema6406]

08:14 PM on 09/13/2010

Library rates are capped. It varies, but it's usually around $5, and then they just charge you for the replacement of the book. I know this because I used to work in a library circulation department. This article is a ridiculous waste of space.

[Leviathan21]

07:33 PM on 09/13/2010

That is the wrong policy. Book fines should be capped at the price of the book. After a certain number of days, they should just charge how much it would cost to replace the book.

[pbromberg]

06:12 PM on 09/13/2010

I love the huffpo, but seriously your headlines are incredibly misleading and sometimes downright inflammatory. "Outrageous Overdue Fine"? Excuse me, which outrageous overdue fine are you talking about? You mean the outrageous overdue fine that doesn't actually exist and wasn't charged to anyone? Yeah, that sure is outrageous...except for the not-really-being-true part. C'mon Huffpo, I expect more from you. Let's keep things based in reality, ok? Thanks.

[windtalker]

07:30 PM on 09/13/2010

Did not Adrainna Huffington herself eschew the "other" media networks in the same way that you are, when they gave so much hoopala about the "Balloon Boy" that was not after all in the balloon that captured headlines?

[JackiChan]

05:20 AM on 09/14/2010

Balloon Boy!

[Redgriffin]

05:06 PM on 09/13/2010

Hey it was returned wasn't.

[Dru Zod]

04:56 PM on 09/13/2010

What exactly is outrageous about a potential $1400 fine for a 35 year-old checkout? That's 77 cents per week, a pretty nominal fee to encourage book return.