74 Years Late But Better Late Than Never

Jean Durham was surrounded by books her whole life. Her mother bought a few of the staple books every household has, but for the most part, they visited and checked out countless books from the Berkeley Public Library. One day while Durham was helping her mother clean out their at-home study, she stumbled across a stack of books that were covered in a layer of dust. The book on top was a copy of Sir Walter Scott's "Lady of the Lake" that she discovered her mother had checked out in 1945. That means that the books were 74 years overdue. Most likely, many people would be afraid to bring the books back because of the expected tremendous fines that they might have accrued from the library. Durham did return them but was not fined because the library stopped fining customers in 2018.  Amy Reeder, the communication director for the Berkeley Public Library, said, "After the fines were eliminated the circulation of books increased." They believed that if they continued to charge people they would not bring back the overdue books in fear of the fines when all the library truly wanted was the books back for others to enjoy. After Durham returned the books, the staff said that although they were still in great condition they were unsure if they would be put back in circulation.

By Kathryn Pope