High School Library Books Returned 51 Years Late with $1,000 Check
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By Rocco Staino -- School Library Journal, 11/16/2009
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| Librarian Georgette Bordine holds one of the returned books |
More surprising than the return of the two Audubon Society books was a money order for $1,000, accompanied by a letter from the anonymous sender who was a member of the senior class of 1959. The student, who moved and inadvertently took the books along with him, recently discovered them among his parents' possessions.
"I've enclosed a money order to cover my delinquency dues," the letter reads. "At 0.02 cents per day it works out at $745.00 for 51 years,” the letter said. “I've sent along a few more dollars in case the rates changed."
Bordine, a librarian at the 2,000-student school since 1991, says this is the second time she received an unexpected payment for materials. "I got a letter (three years ago) and a check in the mail for somewhere between $75 and $100 from a man who had been going through a 12-step program and wanted to make good the fact that he had stolen a book from the library back in 1962."
The story caught the attention of the national media with Charles Osgood commenting on the story during the opening of this weekend’s CBS Sunday Morning Show and a YouTube video of an interview with Bordine receiving more than 1,000 hits.
This isn’t the first time Camelback High School has been in the national spotlight. The school is mentioned in Alice Cooper’s song “Alma Mater” as part of his 1972 School’s Out album. Neal Smith, Cooper’s original drummer, was a graduate of the school.
Bordine says she’s happy to get the books returned “because there are people in the world who do such nice things.”
The money will be used to purchase new books for the library, and the overdue books will be returned to the shelves.
