Food For Library Fines: Montgomery County Library/MC Food Bank Team Up for The Holidays
Do you have a book you haven’t returned to the library? Let’s say you checked out a book, forgot about it, and the book got accidentally slid under a couch. So you check your library account online, and it shows a whopping $17 or $18 dollars in fines accrued. Well, does the The Montgomery County Memorial Library System have a deal for you. From now until November 30th, the library will be accepting food items in exchange for any overdue fines accrued on a patron’s library account. The collected items will be donated to the Montgomery County Food Bank in time for the holidays.
“We are running a special campaign in partnership with the Montgomery Food Bank this November,” said Anne Neidinger, Public Relations & Program Coordinator
For those that have library fines, here is how the Food for Library Fines program works: A $2 credit for each item of non-perishable food, canned and packaged goods will be given in lieu of dollars. The items must be taken to the Circulation Desk in order to be credited to library accounts. If the book is lost or damaged, then donations cannot be used for replacement.
“Food for fines gives patrons an opportunity during the month of November to reduce or zero out their overdue fines,” said Library Director Rhea Young.
Library fines have an interesting history. The largest library fine ever paid was $345.14 for an overdue book at the Kewanee Public Library in Illinois in 1955. The fine was for the book ‘Days and Deeds,’ which was charged at two cents per day. President George Washington, even had a library fine accrued, for two books he borrowed at the beginning of his time in office, but never returned. One New York student received a $12,000 fine for library infringements. And for the most overdue library book in history, a German text borrowed in 1667 from the Sidney Sussex College at University of Cambridge's was returned in 1956, almost 300 years after it went missing.
In an episode of ‘Married with Children,’ in 1988, Al Bundy was slapped with a $2,163 fine for a copy of the ‘Little Engine That Could,’ that was 31 years overdue. While in a ‘Seinfeld’ episode in 1991, Jerry was hounded by a library cop for a book that was 20 years overdue.
The MCMLS celebrates literacy all year long through fun, educational programs for children, teens, and adults, and by the more than 2.5 million items circulated. The MCMLS was founded and began serving local readers in 1948. Since then, it has grown to serve nearly 400,000 Library patrons and cardholders in seven branches Countywide.
For more information, go to countylibrary.org.
“We are running a special campaign in partnership with the Montgomery Food Bank this November,” said Anne Neidinger, Public Relations & Program Coordinator
For those that have library fines, here is how the Food for Library Fines program works: A $2 credit for each item of non-perishable food, canned and packaged goods will be given in lieu of dollars. The items must be taken to the Circulation Desk in order to be credited to library accounts. If the book is lost or damaged, then donations cannot be used for replacement.
“Food for fines gives patrons an opportunity during the month of November to reduce or zero out their overdue fines,” said Library Director Rhea Young.
Library fines have an interesting history. The largest library fine ever paid was $345.14 for an overdue book at the Kewanee Public Library in Illinois in 1955. The fine was for the book ‘Days and Deeds,’ which was charged at two cents per day. President George Washington, even had a library fine accrued, for two books he borrowed at the beginning of his time in office, but never returned. One New York student received a $12,000 fine for library infringements. And for the most overdue library book in history, a German text borrowed in 1667 from the Sidney Sussex College at University of Cambridge's was returned in 1956, almost 300 years after it went missing.
In an episode of ‘Married with Children,’ in 1988, Al Bundy was slapped with a $2,163 fine for a copy of the ‘Little Engine That Could,’ that was 31 years overdue. While in a ‘Seinfeld’ episode in 1991, Jerry was hounded by a library cop for a book that was 20 years overdue.
The MCMLS celebrates literacy all year long through fun, educational programs for children, teens, and adults, and by the more than 2.5 million items circulated. The MCMLS was founded and began serving local readers in 1948. Since then, it has grown to serve nearly 400,000 Library patrons and cardholders in seven branches Countywide.
For more information, go to countylibrary.org.
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