Man pays huge fine on mum's library book 84 years overdue
A man who returned his mother’s overdue library book that was overdue by 84 years has ended up paying her gargantuan fine — even though he didn’t have to.
Louisiana resident Robert Stroud came across a copy of “Spoon River Anthology” by Edgar Lee Masters in his late mother’s things, The Shreveport Times reported.
She’d checked it out from the Shreve Memorial Library in 1934.
Stroud initially dropped off the book without leaving his name. But then the story of the long-overdue book went viral when the library posted about it on its Facebook page.
According to the 1934 library rules listed inside the book, patrons would be charged 5 cents per day for every day books are late, meaning the book in question had racked up a fine of over $1,500.
And despite the library waiving their maximum fine of $3, Stroud and his family decided to pay the gargantuan fine in the shape of a donation.
They presented the library with a cheque of $1,542.65 in honour of his mother on Thursday.
“My brother and sisters determined (paying the fine) would be a befitting honour to my mom, and also we have an aunt who’s a librarian,” Stroud said.
Stroud said his mother, who was 11-years-old when she checked out “Spoon River Anthology,” loved literature and poetry.
“My mum had a great sense of humour,” he said. “I think she would see a lot of levity in this.”
Shreve Memorial Library Executive Director John Tuggle joked that this story might become a lesson to others.
“What I’m going to use it for is to remind all of our patrons that it’s never, ever too late to return an overdue book,” he said.
