Library amnesty, return your overdue books and in lieu of the fine donate a tinned food product

Fairfield City Mayor Frank Carbone said the amnesty applies to any of the 583 library items currently overdue.

“The amnesty applies regardless of whether the item is overdue by two days or 20 years,” Mayor Carbone said.

“We understand it’s easy to get busy in our lives and forget to return items, and we want to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to borrow items from the library.

“We last had an amnesty in 2011 with many items successfully returned without penalty, one of which was 48 years overdue.

“Let’s see if we can achieve even better results this time, although we aren’t likely to beat the world record overdue book return of 288 years in England!”

Mayor Carbone said that in the spirit of the amnesty, Council would like borrowers to bring a donation of tinned or non-perishable food for each overdue item.

“We will donate the food to two local charity helping families facing hardship,” Mayor Carbone said.

“This gives the amnesty a three-fold benefit – borrowers can return overdue items without fines, the library will get many items back for others to borrow and local people will benefit from the food drive.”

In the last amnesty in 2011 a woman returned The Peloponnesian War, by Thucydides, 48 years after she borrowed it from the Whitlam Library - Cabramatta. With the book was a letter and a donation of $2500 for the library’s Local Studies Collection. The letter was signed Madame X. She said she was far too embarrassed to give away her identity, but that returning the book made her “heart feel lighter”.