Oz man fined $5K for library book that’s 19,350 days overdue

MELBOURNE - An Australian man has been fined 5000 dollars for a library book that is 19,350 days overdue.

Raymond McLaren, 73, had borrowed the book, ‘Knot, Splices and Fancy Work’ from Newcastle Library in 1957, shortly before moving away from Newcastle as an apprentice engineer and never returned it.

McLaren was 19-years-old when used what he learnt from the book to establish a cable and rigging company that has since grown into a multi-million dollar enterprise.

“I learnt from that book some fancy knotting, rope-making, plaiting and weaving and applied that to making steel slings,” News.com.au quoted him as saying.

“It’s old and tattered now but still readable. I have had it for 53 years and I’ve used it from time to time and always kept it because it was one of those lovely keepsakes.

“I’d been thinking about it for quite some time. I’m getting a bit older and I thought: ‘Maybe before I shuffle off I should do something about getting the book back to the library’,” he explained.

McLaren will hand the book and a 5000-dollar cheque for his overdue fees to Newcastle Region Library.

The library will use the money for a special one-off purchase, possibly of some Australian landscape prints, but they believe in doing a good turn, and so they have decided to give the book back to McLaren.

“We thought it would be a nice thing to give it back to him. It is probably where the book belongs,” the library’s public programs co-ordinator Carol Edmonds stated. (ANI)