LAURINBURG — From Laurinburg to Staten Island, New York, one book has finally made its way back home.
Recently, a package was delivered to the Scotland County Memorial Library — inside was a book and a letter. The letter stated the book, the “Kings Row” by Henry Bellamann, was found when the sender was cleaning out her mother’s apartment after she passed away and noticed the overdue book.
She figured she should return it to the library.
The letter read that her mother had visited her husband sometime in 1942 or 1943 at Fort Bragg and checked the book out, only to take it home with her. The exact date of when it was checked out is unknown, but the book was added to the system in 1943.
The late fees that would have accumulated for the 70-plus years would total just under $1,400. Though the returner won’t be paying any fees, if they were to do so using the canned food process through the library’s Food for Fines program — which allows those with late fees to use a can to pay off $2 — it would take around 700 cans to pay it off.
“I’ve been here 11 years and this is the first time we’ve had anything like this,” said Library Director Leon Gyles. “It just showed up in the mail one day. I was like, what am I going to do with this thing?
“A lot of the staff was dumbfounded,” he added. “You’ve got to think about it 75 years ago that book left the county, but it found it’s way back.”
The book is also from the original library location back when it was called the Scotland County Public Library. Gyles said that the location moved and the name was changed to Scotland County Memorial Library after World War II. Giles added that, to his knowledge,the book could be the only one from the original library.
“The book is not in the collection anymore,” Gyles said. “The book’s not in the collection because it’s been lost for so long. All we know is it was once in the collection and it was checked out. Once it’s been out for so long, it’s declared lost.”
The book itself isn’t in bad condition, as it’s still intact — though the binding is a bit loose and the cover has never had a dust jacket on it. Currently, the book will sit in Gyles’ office until a decision is made on what to do with it, but it could end up on display for anyone entering the library to look at.
“There are people out there that do return materials that they check out from the library,” Gyles said. “Though they might be late.”
Katelin Gandee can be reached at 910-506-3171 or [email protected].
