Credit: Photo Courtesy of the Champaign County Library, Facebook

An Ohio bookworm surprised a Champaign County library recently by returning an overdue title- 41 years late.

The library posted a photo to Facebook of the book, “The Real Book About Snakes,” along with a note and $299.30 in cash, which was to cover the $.02 a day fines, WDNT reported.

The note reads, “Sorry I’ve kept this book so long, but I’m a really slow reader! “I’ve enclosed my fine of $299.30 (41 years – 2 cents a day). Once again, my apologies!!”

According to the library’s Facebook page, the book was originally due July 17, 1972.

Ty Henderson, the library’s director, told WDTN that he was amazed by the anonymous returner’s honesty.

“He didn’t like just like return it and not pay, he paid the money. That’s awesome. That’s honesty,” Henderson said. “He didn’t throw it to the wind and say, ‘Oh it’s 41 years, they’re not going to know.'”

That is pretty darn honest.

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  • Photo Courtesy of the Champaign County Library, Facebook

This article appears in Jul 24-30, 2013.

Alaina Nutile is the Web Editor who oversees all digital content and social media initiatives for Cleveland Scene Magazine and Detroit Metro Times. Before joining the staff in June 2013, she interned at Business Insider in New York City, and at La Hora in Quito, Ecuador. Alaina is a graduate of Kalamazoo College in Michigan, where she double majored in English and Spanish. Her interests include Japanese food, Breaking Bad, and career development advising.

2 replies on “A Man Returned an Overdue Library Book 41 Years Late and Paid the $300 Fine”

  2. Unless the guy wanted to pay the fine instead, which for that I commend him. We all get a lot of benefits from our public libraries (if we actually use them), so I’m sure this money will be put towards a good cause.

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