Link to September 10 Winona Daily News article, "Library gets book back after 35 years".
Excerpt: If not for amnesty week, the culprit would be facing a whopper fine. At the time the book was checked out, the library charged 3 cents a day for late returns. Assuming the book was checked out in 1970, the person who last took it home would have owed the library $445.80. By today's standards - 10 cents a day - the late fee would cost more than $1,400.
The library's new data bank is so different that the book technically doesn't exist in the system. DeVries has to decide whether put it back into circulation. She flipped through the yellowed pages Thursday and pointed to spots of mold.
"The book gets that old musty smell," she said. "The paper, it loses its crispness. It starts to feel mushy."
DeVries sighed as she related her struggle to balance shelf space with quality reading. Her decision may not bode well for the old tome.
"We're not an archive," she said, doubtfully. "We're a circulating library."
Madison Public Library has the only LINKcat copy. In storage.
Retiring Guy thinks there's a general connection here with this story. (The library viewed as a warehouse or repository.)
You won't find Small Voices at any of the 90 SELCO locations.
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