A book from the Rockford Public Library recently made its way back from across the Atlantic Ocean – more than 120 years later.
Bridget Finn is director of marketing and communications at Rockford Public Library. She says the sender is from England and inherited the book from her aunt.
Finn says the book that belonged to the library in 1893 is a bound collection of magazines from Great Britain in the 19th century. She says it was a reference book and most likely wasn’t even checked out from the Rockford Public Library to begin with.
“It may have been withdrawn and she bought it at a book sale, but I love the idea that the global interest was alive and well back then and that it made its way back across the ocean to us,” Finn said.
Finn says the librarians don’t think the book will go back into circulation.
“But I love it,” Finn said. “I feel like it just shows that Rockford Public Library has this rich, storied past and that we’re preserving every bit of it as we march into our future and plan the building of our new library.”
Finn says Rockford Public Library is the second-oldest library in Illinois, with the first being Rock Island.
Finn says library staff will be sending a thank-you card back to England soon. She jokes that whatever fines that might have accumulated during the last century will be forgiven.