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Three books were recently returned to Loyola-Notre Dame Library in Baltimore 51 years overdue. (Courtesy Loyola-Notre Dame Library)

51 years overdue, three books returned to Loyola-Notre Dame Library

March 2, 2022
By George P. Matysek Jr.
Catholic Review
Filed Under: Books, Colleges, Feature, Local News, News

If Loyola-Notre Dame Library still charged fines for overdue books, whoever recently returned three volumes checked out more than 51 years ago would be facing quite a bill.

Danielle Whren Johnson, a Loyola-Notre Dame librarian, said the books were recently returned in a bin at a public library and then forwarded to Loyola-Notre Dame Library. They were likely checked out of Mount St. Agnes College’s library in Baltimore some five decades ago.

Mount St. Agnes merged with Loyola College in 1971, and its book collection was joined with Loyola’s at the same time. The current Loyola-Notre Dame Library has served both Loyola University Maryland and Notre Dame of Maryland University since 1968.

Three books were recently returned to Loyola-Notre Dame Library in Baltimore 51 years overdue. (Courtesy Loyola-Notre Dame Library)

“We were surprised and delighted to receive the books,” said Johnson, noting that the library became aware of the returned books Feb. 24. “We really don’t know where they came from or who returned them. There was no note or anything with them, so we don’t know who dropped them off.”

Johnson, who leads Loyola-Notre Dame Library’s social media committee, said her library has migrated multiple systems for tracking books over the last several decades and doesn’t have a record of who last checked out the books. The due date cards were removed, she said.

“We suspect these would have been checked out when Mount St. Agnes was still operational,” she said.

The returned volumes were “The Loeb Classical Library: Suetonius, Volume II” by J.C. Rolfe, “Roman-Political Institutions” by Frank Frost Abbott and “Life and Literature in the Roman Republic” by Tenney Frank.

Johnson speculated that since Loyola is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its merger with Mount St. Agnes, it’s possible someone may have just realized where the long-forgotten books could be properly returned. Mount St. Agnes was a women’s college and Loyola was a men’s college before the two joined to form a coeducational university.

“It’s kind of fun that this is happening while we’re in the midst of celebrating the merger,” she said. “It’s always nice when people try to return things to where they came from.”

Johnson said the Loyola-Notre Dame Library charges for replacing lost books, but, like many other library systems, does not charge overdue fines. She doesn’t know if the returned books will be put back into circulation.

“I don’t think any decision has been made at this point,” she said.

There have been several national stories in recent years about long-overdue books being returned to libraries. “The Fire of St. Francis Xavier” by Arthur R. McGratty, for example, was anonymously returned to the Fort Washington branch of the New York Public Library in 2013 after being 55 years overdue. 

According to the Guiness Book of World Records, the world´s largest fine for an overdue library book was $345.14 for a poetry book returned in 2003 to the Kewanee Public Library in Illinois after 47 years.

Email George Matysek at gmatysek@CatholicReview.org

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George P. Matysek Jr.

George Matysek, a member of the Catholic Review staff since 1997, has served as managing editor since September 2021. He previously served as a writer, senior correspondent, assistant managing editor and digital editor of the Catholic Review and the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

In his current role, he oversees news coverage of the Archdiocese of Baltimore and is a host of Catholic Review Radio.

George has won more than 100 national and regional journalism and broadcasting awards from the Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association, the Catholic Press Association, the Associated Church Press and National Right to Life. He has reported from Guyana, Guatemala, Italy, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.

A native Baltimorean, George is a proud graduate of Our Lady of Mount Carmel High School in Essex. He holds a bachelor's degree from Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore and a master's degree from UMBC.

George, his wife and five children live in Rodgers Forge. He is a parishioner of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland.

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