Business rules for handling overdue library books ... a century overdue!

In Finland, there is a religious annual that comes out (obviously) every year, collecting 12 monthly magazines into a bound volume. The 116th edition of Vartija was printed in 2004 with the theme, “Doctrines Challenged by the Faith of Common Man”. I guess most Finnish libraries stock it, and Finns are regular readers borrowing 3 books every 2 months. If we have faith in common man, we can presume that they also return them. Unless their great grandchildren return them a little overdue….

The 1902 Vartija annual has just been returned to a Finnish library branch that didn’t even exist when the book was borrowed. When it was borrowed, there was a late fine of 10 pennies a week. That’s over 55,000 pennies by my calculations, and many many more if interest was applied. The book was returned anonymously so the fine remains.

How would the book be processed now using the current business rules? Is there a special procedure for handling the return of stolen books? The borrowing system wouldn’t even know about the volume though it would know the title. It wouldn’t have a barcode. Would you process it as a donated book? It couldn’t be a purchase as there was no price paid, besides which it was already in the library. Obviously it would be an anonymous “donor”, as the borrowing record has long since vanished. If no other option was available, perhaps it could be a review copy unless there is a rule that says 100 years after publication is a little late for review! It could always go into the local museum as an example of challenging the doctrine of lending libraries.

One last piece of the contextual puzzle surrounds the condition of the book. I presume it was religiously and faithfully cared for. [grin] Read more about it here