It must have been a very good read.
“Famous Composers” by Nathan Haskell Dole, the 1902 edition, explores the lives of 33 composers such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin. It was last checked out of the St. Paul Public Library in 1919, but it was never returned, lost to the ages — until this week.
A Hennepin County resident found the book while sorting through their mother’s belongings. Library officials confirmed it was their book. There are two stamps on the back page, one reads 1914 and the other, 1916. The two dates mean the book was entered in the Library’s catalog twice.
First, in 1914 when the city’s library was in Market Hall and Central Library was still being built. In 1915, Market Hall burned down. The book was likely added back to the collection in 1916 before the 1917 opening of the Central Library.
These stories come up every few years and, of course, returning a book that old is just symbolic, but some people will take out a new book and never return it because of the late fees and really, the library just wants the book back. If you are really nice about it, they might waive the late fee. The absolute worst thing they will do is tell you that you can’t check out another book if you pay the fee.
Some libraries have even eliminated late fees because they have a disproportional impact on the poor.
Libraries are run by good people who, in general, are kind, moral and very forgiving. They wouldn’t have gone to library school to take a lower-paying public service job in a non-profit public library if they cared about the money.
One thing that I’ve seen that is misleading about the “no late fees” libraries is that it only applies while its not considered lost, ie if you’re 4 months late you may still have a fee, but its not called a “late fee,” even though its a fee created by you being late. I was very disappointed, not because of it happening to me but because it is purposefully misleading.
At some point of being late it is presumed missing, and the fee is to replace the book so other patrons can enjoy. It’s not a “free books to keep forever building”
Except the return of the book is no longer factored. If is presumed missing book is returned, the restock fee is not waived, even if no book is ordered. I had an at length conversation about this with the staff, because I found it hard to believe.