Summer of ’65: Overdue books cost Duluth woman $107.50

DNTcover26Aug1965

Fifty years ago — Aug. 26, 1965 — the DNT reports a Duluth woman was arraigned in municipal court on a charge of failure to return books to the library. It was the first time on record a Duluthian had been charged with the offense, a violation of city code.

Miss Mary B. Connors, 25, of 218 W. 3rd St., pleaded guilty and was fined $107.50 by Judge Thomas J. Bujold.

It was revealed during the arraignment that Miss Connors had checked out and failed to return 30 books, valued at about $150, over the past year. She did so under three aliases, police said.

The books have been recovered by the Duluth Police Department and will be returned to the library.

Miss Connors may be the first one to be charged with the violation, but she isn’t by any means the only Duluthian who is violating this law.

Miss Lucile Roemer, director of Duluth Public Libraries, said there are 184 Duluthians who have 300 books valued at $1,200 that are long overdue.

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1 Comment

Paul Lundgren

about 9 years ago

It's not entirely clear in the story above whether the 184 Duluthians who had 300 books valued at $1,200 overdue represented all of the overdue books or just the ones that were "long overdue."

I checked in with the library for a modern comparison and the overall figures show 823 patrons have 2,166 overdue items. That number includes all overdue items, even if they have been overdue just one day.

Of course, the comparison isn't fair even if the 1965 figure does include all the overdue books, because the library has so many more items available these days.

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