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On Monday, May 11th, 2009, the Washington Post published a story about a woman who returned a book 31 years overdue to the Arlington Public Library.  Arlington Library spokesman, Peter Golkin, said it might be the longest overdue return in memory.  Washington & Lee University's Library was the scene of another amazing recent story of a book being returned where the return of a book a Union soldier checked out in 1864 (only 52,858 days overdue!) was met with much fanfare.   

After reading these stories, a few librarians at CPL began talking about the interesting phenomenon of patrons returning items that they had stolen or "long term borrowed" from the Library years before.  The note attached to this photo of Greta Garbo ripped from one of our magazines is a great example of a pleasant apology anonymously sent to the the Library in 1995.  For another example of an apology note sent to us, click here.

We are always happy to receive these notes and welcome you back to your Cleveland Public Library to take advantage of the great services we offer, thanks for your support.