A book recently made its way back to the Library 81 years after it was checked out.
Yes. Eighty-one years.
And after we got over the fact that it actually came back, we had a question:
What would the overdue fine have been?
To be clear, nobody actually owed an 81-year overdue fine. SJCPL is fine free. But once the question was out there, we had to know.
So we did the math.
Then we adjusted it for inflation because, apparently, just calculating 81 years of hypothetical overdue fines wasn’t enough for us.
The damage
Original Due Date: February 17, 1945
Returned: June 10, 2026
Days overdue: 29,698 days
Hypothetical overdue fine: $890
Adjusted for inflation: $15,728.81
Thankfully, the actual overdue fine was much easier to calculate:
$0.
St. Joe County Public Library doesn’t charge overdue fines. If something is late, bring it back. That’s it. You may still be charged for materials that are lost or damaged, but simply being late isn’t going to leave you with a giant library bill.
So if there’s a book under your bed, a DVD hiding in a moving box, or something from the Library that has somehow survived several changes of address, we’ll still like it back.
Preferably before 2107.
