An audiobook was returned 42 years after being checked out from a Kansas library in 1976.
Librarians at the Johnson County Library in Kansas were stunned Friday when they found the audiobook of Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" had been dropped off in the donation box, according to Inside Edition.
"We can see this person checked it out in March and renewed it in April of 1976," librarian Megan Bannen said.
The audiobook, which predates CDs and audio cassettes, was made for the blind by the Library of Congress and features six vinyl records.
It was first checked out in December 1975, not long after the library first opened its doors to the public.
What kind of penalty would someone face for returning a book over four decades late?
According to Bannen, not much.
"You know, I don't know how much we were charging for overdue books in 1976," she said, according to KCTV5 News. "Currently, we charge 30 cents a day in overdue fees, but we do cap our overdue fees at $6 an item. So the maximum overdue fee for this item would be $6."
It seems that librarians are rather tolerant when it comes to late returns.
Last year staffers at the Attleboro Public Library in Massachusetts waived a $2,800 late fee after a book that was due in 1938 was returned 79 years later, The Daily Mail reported.
"A gentleman was cleaning out a friend's basement and saw that the book had our markings and a due-date card, and he thought we would want it back," said Amy Rhilinger, the library's deputy director, said per WPRI-TV.
Fairfield, California, resident Webb Johnson also evaded a hefty fine of $3,650 when he returned a San Francisco library book that was 100 years late last year, the San Francisco Chronicle said.
The book, which featured a collection of short stories published in 1909, was checked out in 1917 by Johnson's great-grandmother.
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