PICS: This book was returned to a library in Clare 29 years after it was first loaned out

Better late than never.

Using libraries to obtain books or video stores to rent out movies might seem like alien concepts to the current generation, but many of you of a certain age will remember doing so in the not so distant past. Most of us who did were probably guilty of failing to return said books or movies on time on occasion, but it’s one thing being a day late and another thing altogether not returning a book for nearly three decades. On Tuesday, Clare County Council revealed that a copy of 'Makers of History; Abraham Lincoln' was returned to Shannon Library recently having first been loaned out way back in 1987. A volunteer from a local charity shop returned the book to the library after identifying it as library property when going through a pile of donated items. The maximum fine imposed by Clare County Council for an overdue book is €7.50, probably a good thing for whoever was guilty of not returning it, because if there was a fixed charge for every day the book was overdue they’d probably be bankrupt at this stage. Good news for the library member who's been waiting 29 years to read it all the same.