Found Bookmarks
June 19th, 2008
This is worth repeating: Kate over on Adventures in Library Land highlighted an AbeBooks article that listed a few examples of things that were found in used books:
- Forty $1,000 bills
- Piece of bacon
- Credit cards
- Valuable baseball cards
- A diamond ring
I’m sure most libraries have a collection of odd things, too - just this week I found a Pokémon card (in a book about dealing with bullying). I tend to use receipts myself, or whatever random scrap of paper is handy at the time. Perhaps there should be a Where’s George?-like program for bookmarks, too.
[June 19th, 2008 at 12:30 pm | permalink]
I wish there were a lost-n-found for important bookmarks left in books & returned to the library. My dad once wrote on a bookmark from his local bookstore & gave the book to me with the bookmark tucked inside. His note was pretty generic: “happy birthday, love dad” or some such, but it was very meaningful to me.
I was very happy to rediscover the bookmark after his death, and I used it for several months. Then I left it in a library book I returned. It’s gone into the Found Bookmarks pile, never to be seen again, and with no value to anyone else (unlike those $1,000 bills!).
I’d love to see a Where’s The Bookmark program.
[June 19th, 2008 at 1:45 pm | permalink]
Just wanted you to know how much I enjoy your blog! Always something either interesting, useful or laugh out loud funny. Thanks…
[June 19th, 2008 at 4:26 pm | permalink]
Thanks for the link.
With you being a public librarian and all, I would have expected you to have found, or at least heard of, far more interesting bookmarks than a Pokémon card.
I am pretty sure I found money once when I worked at a public library - but only maybe $3. And pictures, and bills, and receipts, and the other usual things.
I am currently using a bookmark from the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Spain. Several were left in books donated to the academic library at which I previously worked.
[June 20th, 2008 at 3:18 pm | permalink]
I once found a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a returned book. It wasn’t messy as it sounds and appeared to be truly misplaced and not done as a prank.
[June 20th, 2008 at 4:22 pm | permalink]
The sandwich might top all - how could they not notice it was in there when they dropped it off? Wow. Since I work in reference and not at the circ desk, I don’t get first crack and finding things in books. I know our circ desk does have a bin for recycling found bookmarks, and also a folder of photographs (in case library staff recognizes someone to return it). Most of the rest gets thrown away, sadly - a display of found items would be a lot of fun.
Oh, and since posting this, I found a report card from January 2008 in a book. Yay.