[HN Gopher] Overdue library book returned more than 110 years later
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Overdue library book returned more than 110 years later
Author : MilnerRoute
Score : 72 points
Date : 2021-11-29 01:33 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.nbcnews.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.nbcnews.com)
| BitwiseFool wrote:
| I once borrowed a book that hadn't been checked out since 1959.
| Instead of stamping the card, the librarian simply put a barcode
| on the inside cover and scanned that. I felt a little sad that
| the history of the book is no longer stamped into it anymore. I
| felt a sense of connection knowing just how many people had read
| the same book in the past.
| onemoresoop wrote:
| I remember that too. One could infer some useful information
| from those dates alone. Similarly, it just dawned upon me how
| useful the dislike counter from youtube was to me, I was
| drawing some metrics from it that I no longer can. The like
| counter really has no value without the dislike one IMO.
| lettergram wrote:
| You'd have to look at like vs view ratios. But I agree, the
| dislike button made that far easier. Unfortunately, the
| regime didn't like the button lol
| JasonCannon wrote:
| Now you need to determine if you like the video for what it
| is, instead of relying on the masses to tell you if you
| dislike the video.
|
| Or, you know, just read the comments.
| thechao wrote:
| Without naming a place, a friend of mine checked out a copy of
| the parliamentary proceedings (from the UK) of the House of
| Lords from the early 19th c. They were the only one to have
| _ever_ checked any of these books out. Mostly boring, but the
| HoL could get up to funny stuff when they were bored or
| irritating each other.
|
| My only gripe was that they highlighted their favorite bits in
| yellow. I mean -- come on! Their counterargument was that, in
| the year 2150, when the next person checks out the proceedings,
| they'd know where the good parts were.
| Archelaos wrote:
| I have had the opposite experience: I once borrowed a more than
| 100 year old edition of U.S. Grant's autobiography from the
| university library. There were some pencil notes on the first
| pages, but I had to cut open the last hundred pages.
| Apparently, no one has read the book in its entirety in more
| than a century.
| iancmceachern wrote:
| I once bought a used book for a family member for their
| birthday. It turned out to be an old library book and the card
| within was stamped with the last date the book was checked out,
| which was on their birth date, down to even the correct year.
| cableshaft wrote:
| I agree, I always got a kick out of that. Always interesting to
| see when someone thought it was interesting enough to check out
| last.
| [deleted]
| artificialLimbs wrote:
| Will it now be named "The Old Chronicles of Rebecca"?
| chmod775 wrote:
| > "I don't think anybody here has seen a book" that's been away
| for so long, she said.
|
| Those quotes gave me a laughing fit.
| kleer001 wrote:
| Oh gosh, I wonder what the literal and naive fine would have
| been.
|
| I too would have returned in anonymously.
| oh_sigh wrote:
| None, because the borrower has almost certainly been dead for a
| long time.
| boomboomsubban wrote:
| They mention the fine based on when the book was checked out
| would be over $800, but under current rules would be capped at
| price of acquisition of the book or $1.50.
| panda88888 wrote:
| I assume the price is not inflation adjusted?
| boomboomsubban wrote:
| Both are the current amount they would pay based on the
| late fee systems. So no?
| sydthrowaway wrote:
| https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/dec/07/school-lib...
| linuxlizard wrote:
| Nice to see my home state/town making cute national news for a
| change (as opposed to our usual cringe-worthy coverage).
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(page generated 2021-11-30 23:00 UTC)